Amina Jali

Somali educator building Africa's first solar-powered mobile schools for nomadic communities.

Amina Jali is a visionary educator from Somaliland who created the Moon Schools Project, a network of solar-powered mobile classrooms serving nomadic pastoralist communities. Launched in 2020, these solar-powered trailers with e-learning kiosks travel across Kenya and Somalia's arid regions, providing education to 8,000+ children annually. The curriculum integrates traditional livestock management with STEM education, taught in Somali and Swahili.

Jali's team developed the Solar Pedagogy app, a offline-capable platform with 10,000+ lesson plans. Her partnership with UNICEF's Education Cannot Wait initiative expanded services to conflict zones in Puntland. The schools' photovoltaic systems also power community water pumps, reducing girls' fetching chores by 60%.

In 2023, she launched the Nomad Tech Hub, training 300+ youth in drone-based livestock monitoring. Her TEDx talk ("Schools That Follow the Herds")" inspired similar projects in Chad and Mali. Jali was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Girls' and Women's Education in 2024 for her gender-inclusive approach.