Iftiin Peace Hub

The Iftiin Foundation has been operating within Somalia since 2012, providing employment training, entrepreneurship incubation, and psychosocial support for hundreds of at-risk youth. In 2021, the Iftiin Foundation and MASS Design Group received support from USAID's American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA) Program to design and build the first phase of the Iftiin Peace Hub, a new entrepreneurship and community center for at-risk youth in Somalia, offering facilities for Education, Entrepreneurship, Healing and Gathering.

The Iftiin Peace Hub will host programs dedicated to giving at-risk youth and ex-combatants in Somalia a clear pathway to employment stability and mental health support. The Hub’s goals are threefold; to promote communal healing and reconciliation, improve employment opportunities for youth and inspire broader systemic change. The Iftiin Peace Hub aims to achieve this individual, community, and national change by providing vocational training, entrepreneurship support, psychological support and employment assistance through both local and international inputs.

The project will allow Iftiin to double the number of program participants they serve per year, and provide community services not previously provided. The campus will also have a small housing component, allowing Iftiin to recruit participants who were not previously proximate to the program.