Current Projects
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» Democratisation Programme
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Current Projects
Dialogue for Peace
The Dialogue for Peace is a program funded by Interpeace
(WSP) and implemented by the Academy For Peace and Development.
As part of the Dialogue for Peace, 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, peaceful
society. The process maintains regular linkage with members of the
international community, and engages Somali Diasporas in the dialogue
as well. Where local consultations result in the willingness of
local communities and political actors to directly work towards
reconciliation, the Academy with the support of Interpeace facilitates
such efforts that help underpin the efforts to achieve a sustainable
peace.
The Academy has just finished the first phase of
the program during which it has worked on three entry points, namely:
In all of these entry points, dialogue sessions
have been undertaken, and research papers and documentary films
have been prepared. As soon as the current phase is concluded, a
second phase of the program will be launched in the course of a
National Project Group Meeting that will define new entry points
for the coming years.
Objectives of the Dialogue for Peace:
- To facilitate genuine dialogue through established neutral spaces,
- To ensure strategic engagement throughout the dialogue process,
- To transfer peace-building capacity to civil society and community
leaders,
- To support, in a catalyst role, material contributions to peace-building
and state building.
Key activities carried out in this program include:
- Peace process mapping,
- Civil society peace-building support,
- Action-oriented state and peace-building initiatives,
- Conflict prevention and reconciliation facilitation,
- And on-going dissemination.
Democratisation Programme
(as of March 2005)
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 during these two elections gained important
experience and is now in a strategic position to solidly ground
the democratization process in Somaliland through the up-coming
parliamentary elections (anticipated in August 2005).
The success of this upcoming election will be an important milestone
in the 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 parliamentary elections of Somaliland
can act as a launching pad for a much greater democratization process
which will include parliamentary training, strategic planning in
further establishing and strengthening the democratic process throughout
all Somali regions, and the development of a second phase of the
democratization process for the Somali people.
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 project has four main components:
- To prepare for, conduct and formally assess (post-election)
the parliamentary elections in Somaliland. This electoral process
is intended to build off of the investment that the key stakeholders
of the Somaliland electoral process have put in place in previous
elections as well as provide an example for the broader region
as it also moves towards democracy. It will also be used as a
training and exposure for the other Somali regions.
- To instill basic capacity in the newly elected Somaliland parliament
with the opportunity to develop further capacity through strengthened
linkages with other on-going processes, establishment of external
networks and access to parliamentary training institutions.
- To review and provide recommendations for the legal strength
of existing electoral and constitutional laws with respect to
the democratization process.
- To develop a strategic plan for the next phase of the democratization
process in Somaliland. The strategic plan will be incorporated
into a project proposal that covers the democratization process
over a two year period to follow immediately upon completion of
this phase. This strategy preparation is designed to also support
the creation/development of electoral bodies, as necessary, to
play a key role in Phase Two.
Non-State Actors Project
NSA project seeks to contribute to peace, democracy and poverty
reduction in Somaliland by supporting NSAs to become more effective,
legitimate and representative interlocutors who can engage with
administrations, international agencies and donors, including the
EC. It further aims to safeguard and expand the space available
for civil society in Somaliland.
The project will establish mechanisms for coordination and consultation
with range of NSAs at local and regional levels; it will assist
NSAs to become more effective agents for change by enhancing their
capacity to engage in policy formulation and influence activities;
it will work to establish and support an NSA forum which can effectively
facilitate dialogue, coordinate NSA advocacy activities, and engage
in the development of country assistance strategies.
Objectives
The overall objective of the project is to enable civil society
actors to engage more effectively with decision makers in government
structures and with donors in support of poverty reduction, democracy
and peace building. It aims to safeguard and expand the space available
to civil society and to ensure accepted governance structures and
procedures are put in place which increases the credibility and
accountability of NSAs. The project will establish strategic links
with an extensive range of civic and government institutions in
support of objectives within the Cotonou Agreement.
Specifically the project will:
- Contribute to the effectiveness of NSAs in policy development
and influence though supporting the establishment and activities
of a democratic and legitimate NSA forum.
- Support dialogue, learning and information sharing, through
the NSA Forum, between a broad range of NSAs, administrations,
and the international community on key issues pertaining to peace
democracy and poverty reduction.
- Facilitate mechanisms by which the NSA forum can establish democratic,
transparent accountable governance structures and procedures which
are based on principles of best practice and which guarantee the
rights of women and promote diversity.
- Enhance the capacity of NSAs to play a lead role in the development
of country assistance strategies with the EC and government authorities
in the framework of the Cotonou Agreement.
- Contribute to a regulatory framework for the fair and effective
participation of NSAs which safeguards the space available for
civil society.
- Promote opportunities, within international donors frameworks,
for consultation with NSA.
- Ensure that human security priorities, conflict prevention objectives
and conflict sensitive analysis is reflected in the policies and
practices of government administrations and international donors.
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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