CAYO
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CAYO
Who we areAbout CAYOOur storyLeadership and governanceYouth Advisory CouncilCross-cutting commitments
Our workAll programmesIlays LearningGanacsi Youth FundNabad GenerationHiigsi LeadersFursadaha DigitalSafe CommunitiesCaafimaad YouthCivil Society and ProtectionGreen Horn InitiativeStrategy and results
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Invest where youth leadership is already rooted.

CAYO partners with donors, UN agencies, international organizations, government and companies on programmes in the Somali Region and on our growth into new regions. We seek multi-year partnerships.

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What CAYO brings.

A youth-led organization with deep community roots, a clear structure and a record that checks out line by line.

  1. Reach

    A youth network of 13,000+ members in the Somali Region, and 400+ active volunteers in Jigjiga.

  2. Roots

    Headquarters in Jigjiga and ties across the Somali Region, with community youth-led groups, government institutions and networks.

  3. Platforms

    Collaboration Over Competition for local CSOs, and the Somali Region Peacebuilding Actors Network (SR-PAN) for peace actors.

  4. Structure

    A General Assembly, a Board of Directors and an Executive Director, with Operations, Programs and Monitoring and Evaluation.

  5. Record

    5 projects with 6 institutional, corporate and civil society partners in 2025/26.

Who we work with.

Partners we have delivered projects with, and those we are delivering with now.

  • Current

    Agence Française de Développement (AFD)

    Empowering Civil Society Groups for Social Justice and Resilience, Phase II, ongoing to January 2027.

  • Current

    Civil Society Resource Center (CSRC)

    Implementing partner with CAYO on both phases of the civil society project.

  • Past

    International Solidarity Foundation (ISF)

    Community-Led Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls and Harmful Traditional Practices, completed October 2026.

  • Past

    Ethio Telecom

    Back2School with CAYO, completed.

  • Past

    Ugaaso Women Space Org

    Back2School with CAYO, completed.

  • Past

    U-Report Ethiopia

    Peace Ambassadors Fellowship Program, completed.

See the projects

Participants at a capacity-building training for emerging civil society organizations, in front of CSRC and CAYO banners

A capacity-building training for emerging civil society organizations, with CSRC and CAYO banners.

Office
Jigjiga, Somali Region, Ethiopia

Our partnership principles.

The terms we ask of our funders are the terms we will offer our own partners.

  • Local first

    Funds and decisions should move toward youth- and women-led local groups, building on structures that already exist.

  • Multi-year by default

    We seek multi-year grants, and we will offer the same to our own partners.

  • Shared credit

    Partner names will appear beside CAYO’s on every report, story and press release.

  • Fair partnership

    We aim to give local partners the same trust and flexibility we ask of our own funders.

What we ask of funders. Multi-year grants long enough to measure what lasts; fair overhead, shared with the community groups we work through; crisis modifiers so programmes can adapt when drought hits; and direct funding that reaches local organizations rather than layers of sub-granting.

The case for support: Youth in the Lead 2026–2030.

Our strategy sets out how CAYO will grow from a youth movement in the Somali Region into a national platform for youth leadership.

Read the strategy

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