PROGRAM GOALS AND AREAS OF OPERATION

HARUN, Inc is a non-profit organization that aims to support children, families and vulnerable populations by recruiting volunteers and raising funding in support of humanitarian projects in rural and semi-urban areas in Horn of Africa.
HARUN shares a dedication to working in partnership with impoverished rural communities; to help them gain access to the essentials in life such as education, literacy and vocational trainings, clean water, healthcare things that is often taken for granted in developed countries.

Education, literacy and Vocational Trainings:
Only one out of every five children in Somalia is enrolled in primary school, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in its State of the World’s Children report for 2006. Educating the youth and children through K-12,  helping adults to read and write and initiating vocational training and skill building programs and projects in order to provide educational material for rural poor, and urban displaced children; locate the community educators and ensure rapid training for displaced teachers; ensure girls’ access to education through affirmative action, community elders and parent education of importance of female literacy and education for the wellbeing and advancement of the entire society; train school and community leaders in rapid assessment of needs, advocacy, mobilization, and in management functions to support rapid response in emergencies; support development of the education management information system; provide youth-to-youth education for adolescents and peace mentoring, conflict resolutions, leadership and organizational development training for  youth groups.
Livelihood, Food Security, Natural Resources and Agriculture:

Developing economically viable strategies to enhance food security and local food production while conserving environment and natural resources.

Community Health, Reproductive Health and Nutrition:
Somalia’s children face some of the world’s worst survival conditions. Unresolved ethnic divisions, weak or non-existent administration and prevailing poverty severely limit access to basic health care, safe water and primary education. More than 20 per cent of children suffer from acute malnutrition, and the lack of access to health services as well as ongoing displacement due to conflict and drought make control of preventable diseases problematic. Only 29 per cent of the population have access to safe water sources and 51 per cent to improved means of excreta disposal – in these conditions cholera and diarrheal diseases are endemic. Infant mortality is estimated at 133 deaths per 1,000 live births. Less than 30 per cent of children attend primary school. Vulnerable groups and the displaced face increased risks of violence and exploitation. Although HIV prevalence rate remains below the 1 per cent threshold, the pandemic could rapidly spread if this threshold is breached. Organizing and training community health workers and nursing aides  will help improve community’s overall capacity for health care and public health related matters since the trained members will provide simple health care services and disease control measures such as health education, disease prevention,  as well as community health environment, nutrition projects to their respective communities, towns  and villages.  HARUN aims to provide essential medical supplies for health posts and maternal and child health centers; provide fixed, community outreach and referral for immunization services in order to strengthen routine immunization and improve the knowledge, awareness and utilization; combine social mobilization campaign with capacity-strengthening and supervision of health care providers in order to contain/reverse the current outbreaks of infectious diseases;; support mobile health teams in displaced communities; provide mother and child health services, including feeding centers, micronutrient supplementation and antenatal care; disseminate health messages and healthy mothers and babies campaigns ; support local, regional institutions to develop emergency response capacity for disasters.
Water, Environmental Health and Hygienic Sanitation Facilities
According to the UN, less than 16% of Somalis have access to improved sanitation facilities particularly those displaced or at increased risk of displacement due to drought and conflict.  This is a massive problem for public health, as human waste causes disease and ill health. HARUN will build,  rehabilitate/protect water sources such as WELLS; provide basic sanitation and hygiene services; chlorinate water points in cholera-prone areas; provide water storage, trucking procurement services.
Community Empowerment and Institutional Capacity Building
Enhancing the governance, managerial and institutional capacity of  local leadership  and community based  organizations. Gender and indigenous knowledge are cross-cutting themes for all three program areas.

Entrepreneurship, Small Business Development and Microloans:

This program aims to establish small business and entrepreneurship assistance program and microloans to help the motivated members of community have access to small capital and business counseling.

Habitat for Humanity: Residential Housing
This program objective is to help poor displaced families and vulnerable households achieve a roof over their head in order to improve their safety, health and wellbeing. Without a hygienic and safe place to live, people are more susceptible to serious health problems, and their quality of life is severely reduced as they are exposed to the harsh environmental conditions. We help build and repair houses for the some of the most vulnerable poor and displaced members of the community, to give them a little more than a roof over their heads and to help them retreat from risks and hazards of all kind and feel safe and secure.
Foster Parenting:

The objectives of this program is to help poor, displaced and vulnerable children find foster parents in developed countries who could sponsor and support their future, growth, education and wellbeing.

Child Protection, Youth Rehabilitation, Human Rights and Peace Making:
HARUN aims to develop community capacity in human rights and protection issues; develop community mobilization tools on protection issues related to internally displaced children and sexual and gender-based violence; widen access to information and life skills development for HIV prevention, violence and piracy prevention, care and support amongst vulnerable women; support local legal and cultural institutions; engage religious and secular leaders in violence and piracy prevention, HIV response; train and deploy psychosocial workers and establish peer support mechanisms for protection from abuses; document/disseminate information that  peace and security is the pillars for community development.