Fadumo Dayib

Fadumo Dayib is a Somali politician and the first woman to run for President of Somalia, standing for the November 2016 election.

Dayib is a social change activist, a public health expert and development practitioner. She has worked in the private sector on employment for refugees. She worked for the United Nations in Somalia setting up maternal health clinics in 2005, but was evacuated due to security concerns. She then set up HIV prevention offices and trained health care providers for the UN in Fiji and Liberia.In 2017, Fadumo became the first Somali woman to ever hold the position of country director in UN Somalia.

Dayib announced her intention to run for President of Somalia in 2014 in the first democratic elections to be held since 1967. She was one of eighteen presidential candidates in 2016, including incumbent Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and eventual winner Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed. She was the only female. Her decision to stand for the presidency attracted death threats. Her platform included anti-corruption policies, taking on female genital mutilation, ending the 4.5 clan-based governance system and dialoguing with al-Shabaab to encourage the group to cut their ties to international terrorist organisations and stop killing Somalis. She said that she had very little chance of winning because of corruption and the 4.5 clan-based governance system.

Dayib has four children. She has declared her intention to continue being involved in the betterment of Somalia even after the election. Dayib currently lives in Nairobi with her family.