Full Chronology

January 12, 2019 marks the official birth of the Djiboutian Association for Solidarity and Development. A group of ambitious young people committed to community development laid the first stone of a human adventure that would, over the years, become one of the pillars of the Djiboutian associative landscape.

Under the presidency of Mr. Habib Mohamed EBO, the association adopted statutes covering a deliberately broad spectrum: social protection, education, health, and the fight against the consequences of climate change — particularly thirst and desertification. From its very inception, DJIB-SOLIDEV stood out for its commitment to building structuring partnerships rather than one-off actions.

Seven years later, the association has 65 regularly contributing members and has reached over 50,000 direct beneficiaries.

This is the first major publicized event of the association — the one that laid the foundations of the DJIB-SOLIDEV model. At Masguidlou, in the Dikhil region, the members organized a convivial collective Iftar with the inhabitants, followed by food distribution to the most needy. The gathering reflects the very essence of Ramadan: piety, sharing, spirituality, living together.

According to President Habib Mohamed Ebo, 200 households in total benefited from this humanitarian assistance. The food allocations included rice, flour, sugar, pasta, dates and tomatoes. This is also the occasion at which the partnership with the Amoud Relief & Development Foundation (UK) was sealed — soon to become the most important historic partner.

The event was widely covered by La Nation, Djibouti's national daily — a founding moment of the association's public visibility.

DJIB-SOLIDEV extends its scope of action towards environmental education with an ambitious project: the establishment of 4 eco-ambassador clubs in the primary schools of the As-Eyla sub-prefecture.

These clubs have a clear mission: to raise awareness among schoolchildren, the parent-teacher association, and the communities about eco-citizen best practices — « clean school » campaigns, waste management, water conservation. But the project goes further, with the creation of school gardens allowing children to grow nutritious balanced food themselves, then duplicate this knowledge at home.

The project is showcased by the United Nations under the Equator Initiative as an example of good practice in resilience, adaptability and self-sufficiency. DJIB-SOLIDEV plans to replicate it in all rural areas of the country via a memorandum of understanding with UNDP.

Under the cold January sky of the Tadjourah region, DJIB-SOLIDEV inaugurates its annual cycle of winter operations with a distribution of over 100 blankets to the inhabitants of AD BOUYA. The ceremony took place in the presence of Mrs. Ahadi Ahmed Deberkeleh and Mr. Mohamed Ali Mohamed, local representatives who validated the list of beneficiaries according to the principle of community participatory targeting.

The operation kicks off the Winter Program 2024, followed by a similar distribution two weeks later at Allalli Dada. The partnership with the Amoud Foundation, now well-established since 2022, allows for smooth logistics and extended territorial coverage.

One kilometer from Aseyla's last houses, at Sissalou, the construction site is nearing completion. The Community Electrified Zone building rises from the ground — a stocky cinder-block edifice painted yellow, on which the words that say it all will soon be written in blue letters: « Sissalou Community Electrified Zone ».

The project, funded by the Embassy of France in Djibouti via the PISCCA program (Innovative Civil Society Projects and Coalitions of Actors), embodies DJIB-SOLIDEV's ambition to move from ad-hoc aid to sustainable infrastructure. The building will house three complementary spaces: a Local Digital, a children's Reading Corner, and a craft area for village elders.

This step marks the crossing of a new threshold: DJIB-SOLIDEV is no longer content with distributing — the association builds.

Two weeks after AD BOUYA, the winter operation continues in the Obock region. More than 100 blankets are distributed to the inhabitants of Allalli Dada in partnership with the Amoud Foundation — crucial protection against the cold winter nights of northern Djibouti.

The chaining of two operations (Tadjourah then Obock) in less than a month testifies to logistical maturity: field teams have rehearsed their procedures, beneficiary lists are validated in advance, and convoys follow tested routes.

On the pink and white banners deployed behind the distribution points, the slogan is unambiguous: « 2 Million Meals — FEED THE FASTING — DJIBOUTI — RAMADAN 1445 / 2024 ». On the left, the logo of the Amoud Relief & Development Foundation. On the right, that of DJIB-SOLIDEV — Together for Development. On the ground, hundreds of kits meticulously aligned in parallel rows: bags of ASMA PPP Indian Long Grain Parboiled rice packaged by Moumin Group, orange jerrycans of Liba oil, packets of Foster Clark's juice powder, premium date trays sealed with the Amoud logo.

The coordinated operation of March 2024 marks the transition to industrial scale for DJIB-SOLIDEV. Where previous distributions had reached a few dozen to a few hundred households locally, the 2024 campaign aims for 2 million meals to be served to vulnerable Djiboutian families during the holy month. This is the year when the partnership mechanism, refined since 2022, reaches its full capacity.

The deployment is multi-regional, totaling 550 beneficiary households spread across four areas:

• 150 households at Day (Tadjourah, Day Forest) — visible in the photos with the panorama of dry shrubs and the traditional branch zariba
• 200 households between Goubeto and Ali-Sabieh
• 150 households at Bodoyta-ela (Obock) — the arid desert plain with branch shelters
• 50 households at Chekayti (Dikhil)

The field photos capture the essence: at Day, the village elders settle in the center, men in white kufi and women in colorful dresses on the ground, under the banner held by the volunteers. At Bodoyta-ela, where the landscape becomes pure desert expanse, the handovers happen in the open air — a man in a NIKE cap and Gold Mount polo handing a jerrycan of oil to an elderly woman in a green hijab; an elder in a checked shirt receiving his juice packet from a volunteer in a black and white polo; a distinguished man in a white shirt and cobalt-blue futa handing the oil to a woman in a red tie-dye veil.

The operation illustrates the maxim the association regularly quotes: « Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. » And it is also that moment — Ramadan 2024 — that lays the foundations for the next campaign: 5 Million Meals in 2026, equivalent to a 2.5× scaling of ambition in just two years.

A double day: in the morning, food distribution to 150 households spread across three Aseyla localities — Afahtou, Dagadleh, Galaxto Ela. In the evening, Collective Iftar in Sissalou itself, in the now-familiar framework of the sub-prefecture.

But the event is more than a simple meal: it is also a community debate platform. Local authorities are there — sub-prefect, regional councillors, traditional chiefs, imams. They openly discuss the sub-prefecture's priorities: water supply, schools, health, access to digital. It is in these moments that future projects are born — the Community Electrified Zone itself was born from these conversations.

A less publicized but deeply human operation: the distribution of new clothes to orphans and vulnerable people in the Dikhil region. Over 100 beneficiaries.

For many orphan children, it is the first time in months — sometimes years — that they put on a new garment, tailored to their size, chosen for them. The gesture, seemingly simple, restores dignity and sends a signal: you are seen, you matter.

At the Tourist Camp of the Day Forest, in the heart of the Goda massif, DJIB-SOLIDEV signs a strategic partnership agreement with the SIRIDDO Association. This is an important step in the association's strategy of geographical expansion, which now seeks to anchor its action in northern Djibouti.

The two partners define synergies along two axes: climate resilience (the Day Forest is an ecosystem threatened by desertification) and ecotourism (a potential generator of income for rural communities). The North/South alliance strengthens the national dimension of DJIB-SOLIDEV.

First inauguration inside the still-being-finished PISCCA building: the Children's Reading Corner. The ceremony brings together two figures of Franco-Djiboutian cooperation: Mr. Mahamoud ABDI, Director of Rubis Energy Djibouti, and Mr. Victor BERNARD, Deputy Director of the French Institute of Djibouti.

The three-way partnership — Rubis Energy for equipment and furniture, French Institute for the library collection, DJIB-SOLIDEV for local implementation — produces a simple but deeply useful space: wooden shelves, youth books in French and Arabic, a reading area for the schoolchildren of Aseyla. A commemorative plaque formalizes the date — October 8, 2024 — and the names of the inaugurators.

Before the Numérique Pour Elles project rolls out its training to the beneficiaries, the trainers must be trained. Three preparatory training sessions are held in November-December 2024:

• November 30 — Aseyla
• December 6 — Yoboki
• December 12 — Mouloud

Over 50 investigators are trained to conduct field surveys to precisely identify the needs and profiles of future beneficiaries. The project, funded by the France Team Fund — Civil Society Organizations (FEF-OSC), is run in partnership with the Dikhil Women's Union (UFD).

Eid al-Adha 1446H is one of the most sacred moments of the Muslim year. For DJIB-SOLIDEV and the Amoud Foundation, it is also the occasion of a large-scale coordinated operation in five rural areas of southern Djibouti: Cheikayto, Kontali, Masguidlou, Ab Youssouf, Sissalou.

At the heart of the operation: standardized green bags, identifiable by the Amoud Foundation logo, containing the portion of fresh packaged meat marked « QURBANI UDHIYA 1446H / 2025 — www.amoudfoundation.org ». Each bag is a dignified meal for a family that may not have eaten meat for weeks. Under the banner « Eid Mubarak Djibouti 2025 », men and women of all ages receive their bag with that mixture of modesty and pride characteristic of dignified giving.

In the ceremonial room with its red and gold padded chairs, the Dikhil Regional Council experiences a moment it will not soon forget. Under a banner aligning four logos — the Embassy of France, the Dikhil Regional Council, the Dikhil Women's Union and DJIB-SOLIDEV — a new generation of women graduates in digital comes into the light.

The « Numérique Pour Elles » project, funded by the France Team Fund (FEF-OSC), has trained dozens of Dikhil women for weeks in basic computing, office software, and internet use. This ceremony marks the official handover of the certificates. Among the names identified on the diplomas signed by President Habib Mohamed Ebo: Halima Ali Asso, Fatouma Daoud Houmed, Asia Ali Abdoulkader, Atou Oudoun Mohamed, Bivimara Sheila Aaba.

All display that particular smile — the smile of those who know a door has just opened. Djibouti Radio-Television (RTD) covers the event.

The day has come. Under a scorching sun, in front of the brand-new yellow building, sixteen women in identical orange dresses form a wall of color, French and Djiboutian flags in hand. The traditional dance group Arhissa-Gobaad Fiqma opens the ceremony to the sound of clashed sticks and Afar tribal chants. Under the watchful eye of a GIGN Djibouti escort, the French Ambassador shakes the hands of local notables in embroidered yellow boubous.

Under a large military tent adorned with the flags of the two nations, the Ambassador, President Habib Mohamed Ebo and the authorities receive a gift: a hand-painted painting representing the contours of Djibouti — its Lake Assal, its dromedaries, its regions. A simple art object, made in Sissalou itself, that says in a single frame the essence of the project.

The building now houses three complementary spaces: the solar-powered Local Digital, the Reading Corner inaugurated the previous year, and a craft space where the elderly men display woven baskets, beaded Afar jewelry, ancient currencies, traditional blades. The PISCCA Sissalou is not a building. It is a community heartbeat.

The attentive observer of the Winter Program 2025 photos notices three different brands on the blankets: « BE FRIEND », « ICE FORTH », « TURVE ». And something else: YORKOOL G5 LN bags. These are not blankets — they are long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets, a key tool in the fight against malaria. To this are added bags of dry food.

The Winter Program 2025 is therefore not only « staying warm » at night: it is a 3-in-1 winter kit. The blanket protects from cold. The mosquito net protects from malaria. The food guarantees a meal. Three essential needs, one single package. Several hundred households are covered in nomadic and rural areas.

February 13, 2026 marks the kick-off of the association's largest annual humanitarian operation. Alongside the Amoud Foundation, DJIB-SOLIDEV has been deploying the « Feed The Fasting » campaign as part of the international 5 Million Meals program — a coordinated effort that aims, as its name indicates, to serve five million meals to vulnerable Muslim families during the holy month.

In Djibouti, the operation has a particular color. Remote areas — those that main roads bypass, those that cameras do not film — are the priority target. Teams deploy in 4×4 convoys loaded with standardized food kits: rice bags, premium dates, oil bottles, Foster Clark's juice powder, vegetable and meat cans.

On Friday, February 20, 2026, the operation crosses a symbolic threshold: for the first time, DJIB-SOLIDEV intervenes in the Lake Assal sub-prefecture, one of the most emblematic — and harshest — sites in Djiboutian territory. This area, where water salinity and extreme temperatures make agriculture nearly impossible, is home to some of the most vulnerable families in the country.

The operation is conducted as a broadened coalition: DJIB-SOLIDEV, the Amoud Foundation, the Espace Verte de Riptalé Association, and the Akabarta Youth Development Association (AJDA). The latter plays a central role in logistical facilitation at Wea, where the active participation of local youth is particularly noted.

Families receive basic necessities: rice, flour, sugar, oil — essentials for fast-breaking meals. The operation is widely covered by La Nation and Africa-Press, who hail « organized, concrete and sustainable solidarity. » Local authorities highlight the social and spiritual reach of the initiative.