Gajreport

Somali-born refugee education advocate wins UN award

A former Somali refugee, who became a journalist and education advocate, has won this year’s Nansen Award, given out by the UN refugee agency.

Abdullahi Mire is the founder of an organisation that set up three libraries and provided 100,000 books for displaced children in the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya where he grew up.

The 36-year-old fled Somalia when he was a child to escape unrest.

The head of the UNHCR, Filippo Grandi, hailed Mr Mire as living proof that transformative ideas can spring from within displaced communities.

Abdullah Mire dedicated the award to his fellow volunteers and children in the schools.

The Nansen Award honours individuals, groups, and organisations who do extraordinary work for refugees as well as internally displaced and stateless people.

The winner is awarded a medal and a prize money worth $100,000 (£79,000) to be re-invested in humanitarian causes.

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