, Somalia
Ilwad runs the Elman Peace and Human Rights Center (EPHRC) in Mogadishu with her mother, Fartun Adan who set it up in honour of her late husband, Elman Ali Ahmed, an ardent Somali peace activist who was assassinated in 1996. As the director of programmes and development for EPHRC, Ilwad is responsible for the organisation’s operations in South and Central Somalia, managing programmes aimed at the rehabilitation and reintegration of children involved in armed conflict. Programmes include vocational skills training, non-formal education and the provision of university grants. Through a charity called Sister Somalia, Ilwad and her mother established the first rape crisis centre in Mogadishu during the height of the 2011 drought and subsequent famine emergency. The centre has helped over 2,000 women and girls rebuild their lives by providing emergency medical care, shelter, education and business start-up grants. Ilwad is also the co-chair of the Child Protection Working Group in Mogadishu.