The Office of the Special Envoy is staffed by an experienced and highly skilled team. With backgrounds in governmental, humanitarian, and development affairs as well as disaster management, the Office staff are dedicated to improving their country for the benefit of its most vulnerable communities who continue to be affected by repeated drought and other climate shocks.
Abdusalam Mohamud Jama “Salwe”
Chief Coordinator
Salwe is the Chief Coordinator in the Office of the Special Envoy where he oversees the work of the Office and acts as a strategic lead. He is a policy-advisor and practitioner with more than 15 years of experience in state-building, peace, security and communications. From 2015-2019, he worked for the Federal Government of Somalia in executive and senior advisor capacities. His assignments included Permanent Secretary for the Prime Minister, followed by Senior Financial Intelligence Advisor for the Prime Minister and Senior Strategic Advisor for the Minister of Planning, Investment and Economic Development. Prior to that, he worked as a contractor and independent consultant mostly in media, governance and economic development.
Hassan Isse
Senior Operations Advisor
Hassan has over 15 years’ experience in development, humanitarian and other programming with the Federal Government of Somalia and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Somalia and abroad. As the Senior Operations Advisor with the Office of the Special Envoy, he focuses on improving operational systems and ensuring standard operation policies and procedures are adhered to. Prior to this role, his career highlights include working as a Senior Technical Internal Displacement and Durable Solutions Advisor seconded by the Norwegian Capacity (NORCAP) to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management (MoHADM), Senior Resilience Advisor for the Somalia NGO Consortium, Country Operations Manager for Relief International and Resilience Programme Manager for Diaspora Emergency Action and Coordination (DEMTAC).
Abdihakim Ainte
Senior Diaspora Advisor
Abdihakim is a Senior Advisor to the Federal Government of Somalia’s Special Envoy for Drought Response, with a focus on diaspora engagement. Prior to this role, he co-founded the iRise Hub, which is the first innovation and technology space in Somalia. He has over 10 years of experience working in both the private and public sector.
Ayan Harare
Drought Management and climate adaptation advisor
Ayan is the focal person for climate change at the Office of the Special Envoy and brings knowledge and experience from many years within the humanitarian and development sector, including government positions and international NGOs. Most recently, Ayan had been working with Danish Refugee Council and Concern Worldwide in Kenya and Somalia. Her experience is enhanced by a Master’s Global Public Health and Nutrition from the University of Westminster, London. Her interests include climate justice advocacy and adaptation measures, helping address the impacts of climate change.