# Hodan Ahmed (Hodan Axmed)

> Hodan Ahmed: co-founder of Somalia's first women's parliamentary caucus and NDI programme officer.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/people/hodan-ahmed/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Who is she?

Hodan Ahmed is a Somali political activist ([Wikipedia, Hodan Ahmed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hodan_Ahmed)). She was born in Somalia and left with her family after the civil war began in 1991, living for a time in India and studying in Kenya (same source). A visit to Mogadishu in 2003 led her to devote her career to rebuilding the country (same source).

## Work for women in parliament

She first worked with the UN Population Fund and Norwegian People's Aid ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hodan_Ahmed)). In 2009, at workshops run by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), she and other women from civil society and parliament founded the Somali Women Parliamentary Association, the first women's caucus in the [Transitional Federal Parliament](/en/history/transitional-federal-parliament-2004-2012/) (same source).

She joined the NDI in 2010 and supported its programme to train women MPs (same source). This work helped shape provisions in the Federal Constitution adopted in August 2012, and the roadmap rule reserving at least 30 per cent of seats in the new parliament for women (same source). In 2013 she spent three months in Washington DC on the NDI's Andi Parhamovich Fellowship (same source).

## In short

An activist who helped build women's representation in Somalia's parliament from 2009 onwards.

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