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Current Projects
Pillars of Peace
The Pillars of Peace (POP) is a program funded by Interpeace and
implemented by the Academy for Peace and Development. As part of
the POP, the Academy conducts an extensive process of public consultation
on issues essential to peace building and state reconstruction.
This involves meetings across Somaliland that bring local communities,
civil society representatives and political leaders together to
identify and agree on key issues and methods of addressing them
in order to build a sustainable and peaceful society.
Objectives of Pillars of Peace
The vision of the Pillars of Peace is to build upon more the a
decade's experience of peace building and support for institution
building in order to continue to advance and underpin the consolidation
of peace throughout the Somali region, through consensus-oriented,
integrated approaches to state building and peace-building. The
specific objectives of the Pillars of Peace build upon the sustained
efforts of the partners through the Dialogue for Peace programme,
in order to translate the peace building approach into state building
in specific areas.
" Concrete contribution to peace building and state building;
" Transfer of peace building capacity (institutions);
" Transfer of peace building capacity (civic leadership);
" Transfer of peace building capacity (women, youth, Diaspora).
POP Components:
- Democratisation
- Decentralisation
- Social Reconciliation
N.b Gender is mainstreamed through the three pillars
Democratization Pillar
The democratization process in Somaliland continues to move forward
showing signs of strength and stability. The people of Somaliland
have, in the span of four months managed to successfully implement
two back-to-back free and fair elections (the Local Council Elections
in December 2002 and the Presidential elections in April 2003).
The National Electoral Commission (NEC) of Somaliland, in conjunction
with roles played by the civil society, the media, security, the
political parties, the international community, and especially the
people of Somaliland), has gained vital experience during these
two elections and is now in a strategic position to solidly ground
the democratization process in Somaliland through the upcoming presidential
election.
The success of this upcoming election will be an important milestone
in Somaliland's march towards the creation of a democratic society.
It will also demonstrate the deep commitment to change. While these
elections are very important to the people of Somaliland, the elections
will also demonstrate to the larger Somali region, the path that
can be taken to democracy.
The transition from acute conflict to peace in the wider Somali
region and the recovery process through political and social reconciliation
will require further efforts from all those who are involved. Patience
and sustained commitment is needed to build on the cross-cutting
achievements of the process through trust building, dialogue on
the substantive issues and constitutional and institution building
by all the local stakeholders and the international/regional community,
respectively. Somaliland has achieved a political, institutional
and constitutional framework that sets a precedent for the wider
Somali region.
The objectives of the pillar are:
- Working with key actors in order to make sure that the electoral
process stays on its path
- Capturing the process in a report
- To understand the obstacles and challenges of the process
- To provide a neutral space for the key stakeholders to discuss
and debate contested issues
- To provide technical assistance to the National Electoral Commission;
- To monitor the three phases of the electoral process.
Decentralization Pillar
In December 2002, the people of Somaliland went to the polls for
the first time in more than 30 years to elect local councils, of
which 332 were elected. The local council elections offered the
populace a chance to exercise their right to choose their own local
leadership, however, development of functional local government
still remains questionable. The Academy of Peace and Development
(APD) has been conducting various activities and research since
the December 2002 elections, which are aimed at moving the process
of decentralisation forward.
In November 2006 the National Project Group asked the Academy to
continue their practical involvement with the local government institutions,
particularly those dealing with land and local revenues. APD is
also looking at the broader picture, such as the policies, principles
and laws guiding decentralization to establish any gaps, contradictions
etc.
The objectives of the pillar are:
Social Reconciliation Pillar
The many upheavals the people of Somaliland have traversed to attain
relative peace and stability has mainly been accomplished through
a process of painstaking dialogue and social reconciliation. That
process included national clan conferences at the central as well
as the regional levels. The Sheikh Conference (Oct.-Nov.92), the
Borama Conference (Jan.-May93), the Sanag Conference (92-93) and
the 1997 conference in Hargeisa where Mohamed Ibrahim Egal was re-elected
have been the most prominent ones. It ushered in a system of governance
in which all clan groupings were given some representation.
As a result of these clan reconciliation conferences, the House
of Representatives (HoR) as well as the House of Guurti (HoG) comprised
of members from almost all clan identifiable groups. The government
appointed ministers gave a kaleidoscopic refection of the clans
as well. However, the onset of the 2005 elections to the local councils
and HoR paved the way for multiparty elections where seats were
won on the basis of majority votes, and party cumulative votes in
the case of the local council elections. Some major clans gained
seats while less numerous clans got a reduced number of seats or
ended up with no seats at all.
With the advent of democratic elections, significant renewed clan
rivalry also surfaced. The elections were on the surface a competition
between parties but can be characterised as having been essentially
clans jockeying for positions of power. Parties used no political
agendas but aggressively pursued accommodating clan political wish
lists. The outcome became an atmosphere of mistrust and narrow clan
chauvinistic agendas. This atmosphere of competition, albeit harsh
and cut-throat, has been able to maintain and establish institutions
of governance that keep the peace and allow the government to function.
The objectives of the pillar are:
- To contribute towards the establishment of an environment that
encourages communal ownership of existing institutions.
- To promote the formation of inclusive/democratic non-governmental
institutions.
- To encourage the development and/or harmonization of existing
conflict management mechanisms.
Civic Education & Mass Media Campaign Project (CEMMCP)
Under the UN's reconstruction strategy for Somaliland, the Joint
Programme for Local Governance and Decentralized Service Delivery
(JPLG) has since 2008 been providing strategic, technical and financial
support to the Ministry of Interior in its efforts to establish
a more effective and decentralised system of district administration.
Pooling a wealth of expertise and resources from a number of UN
agencies (i.e. UNICEF, UN-Habitat, UNDP, UNCDF, and ILO) as well
as that of independent local experts and Somaliland authorities,
the overall objective of the initiative is to ensure that local
governance contributes to peace and equitable priority service delivery
in target districts of Somaliland.
The Civic Education & Mass Media Campaign Project (CEMMCP),
which is being implemented by the Academy for Peace & Development,
is a major component of the JPLG process and aims to reach a total
of 50,000 beneficiaries across 6 districts, whose awareness level
on their rights and civic responsibilities concerning their respective
district councils will be improved. As such, the project encourages
citizens in target districts to participate in the decision-making
processes at the district level in order to ensure greater accountability
and transparency in the way services are delivered in Somaliland
various districts. The aim is to improve the relationship and trust
between target communities and their respective district councils
in the delivery of basic services as well as in meeting other local
development needs.
The project operates through and makes effective use of a diverse
range of engaging outlets such as the production and dissemination
of audiovisual, audio, multimedia and print materials that are appropriate
and relevant to the country's social, cultural and religious context
in relation to content development and methods of delivery. Parallel
to the production and dissemination of mass media products, the
project also focuses on training and provision of other equally
engaging outreach services such as community theatre and travelling
video screenings for greater geographical coverage.
The project collaborates closely with Somaliland Ministry of Interior
as well as other important JPLG partners in drawing on and adding
value to relevant parallel initiatives in ensuring the overall effective
implementation of the JPLG framework.
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