# Zahra Mohamed Ahmad (Saharo Maxamed Axmed)

> Zahra Mohamed Ahmad (born 1952): founder of the Somali Women Development Center in Mogadishu, Women of Courage Award 2021.

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

## Who is she?

Zahra Mohamed Ahmad is a Somali human rights activist and lawyer ([Wikipedia, Zahra Mohamed Ahmad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zahra_Mohamed_Ahmad)). She founded the Somali Women Development Center (SWDC) (same source).

## Early life

She was born in 1952; her father was a police officer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zahra_Mohamed_Ahmad)). She became deputy manager of customs at Mogadishu Airport (same source). In 1992 she and her family left for [Tanzania](/en/diaspora/tanzania/), and they returned to Somalia in 2000 (same source).

## Work in Mogadishu

On her return she worked to get schools reopened and to persuade armed leaders to stop fighting, through an organisation called HINNA ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zahra_Mohamed_Ahmad)). In 2000 she founded the SWDC in Mogadishu (same source). In 2005 she went back to university and earned a degree in international and Sharia law at Somalia University (same source).

The SWDC supports women on remand or on trial and survivors of sexual violence, and reports on abuse ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zahra_Mohamed_Ahmad)). She is its main legal adviser (same source). It set up the Ceebla crisis line, 5555, which answers in Somali and English (same source).

Wikipedia records that SWDC workers were threatened, and that two of its lawyers were among those killed in the 2013 attack on Mogadishu's courthouse (same source).

## Award

The US ambassador, Donald Yamamoto, nominated her for the International Women of Courage Award, which she received in 2021 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zahra_Mohamed_Ahmad)). Jill Biden and Antony Blinken presented it online on International Women's Day (same source).

## In short

A Mogadishu lawyer who founded the Somali Women Development Center in 2000 and received the Women of Courage Award in 2021.

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