West London Somaliland Community (WLSC) is a community organisation which is initiated by concerned professionals who intend to serve their community. WLSC consists of the different age groups of the Somaliland community. WLSC, guided by the principles of representation, accountability, participation, equality, dialogue and respect, intends to serve those who most need assistance and support i.e. parents, children and young people.

Vision: Our vision is to make West London Somaliland Community a successful organisation which addresses key issues concerning Somaliland community including education, family matters, sports and youth activities, and meaningful integration in the mainstream society. We are committed to seeing our community to be successful citizens in this country.

Mission: Our mission is to empower Somalilanders in West London to enable them to participate meaningfully in the society as proud citizens, knowing their rights and responsibilities. We also strive to promote community cohesion.

Community background information: West London (Ealing, Hillingdon and Hounslow) is home to about 4,000 British Somalilanders with their numbers growing each year. British Somalilanders are originally from Somaliland, East Africa, a country that had been a British protectorate for 76 years (1884-1960), before it gained full independence from the United Kingdom on the 26th of June 1960. The relationship between Britain and the Somalilanders therefore dates from the colonial times. Many Somalilanders, mainly men, served in British armed forces and fought in both world wars. Also Somaliland seamen came to settle mainly in coastal towns, such as Cardiff and Liverpool, some of whom married to British women. The second wave of migration from Somaliland arrived in Britain in the late 80s and early 90s when the civil war broke out in Somaliland in which atrocities were committed against civilians by the oppressive regime of Mohamed Siyad Barre, the ex-president of the then Somali Republic. During this period, thousands of Somalilanders came to Britain as refugees and some of them through family reunion. They settled mainly in the big cities such as Bristol, Cardiff, Greater London, Liverpool and Sheffield. The third wave of Somalilanders and other Somalis came into Britain in early 2000 from other European countries such as the Scandinavian countries and Holland. Now it is estimated that approximately one hundred thousand Somalilanders live in the UK. Despite this large number of Somalilanders there are effectively no community organisation that serves their interest or binds them together.