UNDP Somalia - UNDP in Somalia

UNDP IN SOMALIA (2009)

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) helps people meet their development needs and build a better life. UNDP is working in 166 countries with local partners to help them find solutions to global and national development challenges. It also helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all our work, we encourage the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women.

UNDP Somalia works with local partners ‒ NGOs, civil society and government ‒ towards a peaceful and secure nation for all Somalis. Together with 15 other UN agencies in Somalia, UNDP is helping Somalis recover from 18 years of conflict, build peace, rebuild their institutions, and set Somalia on the path to development. It works through three main programmes (Governance, Rule of Law and Security, and Recovery and Sustainable Livelihoods).

Governance
Through the Governance programme , UNDP supported the Djibouti talks between the Transitional Federal Government and the opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, leading to the Djibouti Peace and Reconciliation Agreement in September 2008.

Currently, UNDP is the lead agency of the consortium of UN agencies and international organizations providing assistance to the constitution-making process. The support given to the Independent Federal Constitution Commission ‒ the body mandated to develop the Somali Constitution ‒ is intended to build the foundation for drafting the constitution. Further support will be given on constitutional matters to the new unity government.

Support given to the Civil Service Commissions in all three zones of Somalia (Somaliland, Puntland and South Central) through the Somali Institutional Development Project has resulted in the review, development and adoption of various policies and legislation. A number of policies have been amended to comply with international service delivery standards and good practices. Examples are the Local Government Recruitment Laws and Policies, the Civil Service Grade Scales and Placement Levels, and the Service Delivery Survey. In Somaliland, a gender strategy (now awaiting formal cabinet approval) and a strategic plan for the Ministry of Family Affairs have been developed. In Puntland, a similar process was initiated, leading to the review of the government’s gender policy.

QUESTS-MIDA ‒ a joint project between UNDP and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) – continues to draw on the skills and expertise of Somalis from the diaspora to develop Somalia. The aim is to offer qualified Somali expatriates the opportunity to play a role in the development of their homeland through short-term missions that assist institutional development and build the capacity of beneficiary institutions in Somalia. It targets institutions such as the Ministries of Planning, Finance, Family Affairs, Labour, and Public Works; Civil Service Commissions, the Civil Service Institute, the Auditor General’s Office, and the Accountant General’s Office; and the Central Bank. QUESTS-MIDA is part of the Somali Institutional Development Project and builds on UNDP Somalia’s previous QUESTS project.

The Governance programme also supports Somali authorities in their commitment to participatory local development, in a bid to increase access to basic health, water and sanitation services, as well as education and housing. This is done through the United Nations Joint Programme on Local Governance and Decentralized Service Delivery, which is implemented by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and UNDP. The project works with relevant central government institutions, notably those ministries responsible for local government, planning, public works and finance.

Rule of Law and Security
The UNDP Rule of Law and Security programme focuses on developing public and externally accountable rule of law institutions that have effective management and transparency mechanisms. The programme sees governance and community security as central to all its activities.

In 2009, the programme facilitated a 3-month basic recruit training for 450 Somali Police Force recruits from Mogadishu and 150 Puntland Police Force recruits at the Federal Police Training Academy in Armo, Puntland, having already revised the basic recruit training curriculum to include human rights, gender, HIV/AIDS, community-based policing, child protection, and sexual- and gender-based violence modules. The programme also facilitated the following activities: rehabilitating civilian police infrastructure, including the upgrading of police stations and police headquarters; training 80 members of the Somali Police Force and 40 custodial corps officers from Mogadishu on human rights related to the administration of justice; and holding a Justice for Children Symposium at Puntland State University hall, which was attended by 60 participants. It also supported the establishment of the following: community security structures in all three regions of Somalia; internal and external oversight mechanisms to ensure accountability and high policing standards; and mobile court teams, which have to date heard and tried 20 cases in 13 districts in Puntland. In addition, the programme sponsored legal aid projects with the Puntland Legal Aid Centre, which has provided legal assistance and representation for 79 individuals in police custody and prisons.

Recovery and Sustainable Livelihoods
The Recovery and Sustainable Livelihoods programme supports vulnerable and marginalized groups to improve their food security and economic opportunities, improvements that work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The programme also seeks to create an enabling environment for reconstruction and development. It has an early recovery approach, bringing emergency interventions and traditional long-term development interventions together at the onset of a crisis. The programme particularly focuses on community support and works with a wide range of partners at the community level and in the private sector.

The Area-based Early Recovery project (under the Recovery and Sustainable Livelihood programme) supports the recovery of Somali communities affected by conflict, disasters and the movement of populations in the Bay and Middle Shabelle regions by improving their productive and sustainable livelihood assets. The project helps communities diversify their productive agricultural activities, develop their small businesses, and acquire new skills. Over 4,000 households have improved their living conditions through this scheme. Over 3,300 beneficiaries were trained on beekeeping, farming and effective crop management, poultry and livestock production, tailoring, and effective fishery techniques, as well as hygiene, sanitation, participatory approaches, leadership, conflict management, early warning, drought management, HIV/AIDS, and gender. About 35-40 percent of the beneficiaries are women who head households. In addition, 8,300 people increased their income thanks to the rehabilitation of social and productive infrastructure such as water catchments, roads and primary canals. In total, the members of 12,500 households have managed to secure an income and get a short-term job, and now have better access to food.

The Employment Generation for Early Recovery project has employed 30,000 people ‒ mostly vulnerable people, internally displaced people, and women ‒ in the short term to rehabilitate basic and productive infrastructure in South Central Somalia. This is a project that seeks to improve social and economic infrastructure, provide cash incomes, and improve skills while strengthening NGO networks to work closely with communities. As a result, 38 water catchment areas, 378.36 km of rural access roads, and 6 classrooms were rehabilitated. In addition, 15 km of river embankment were strengthened for flood protection and 119.08 km of irrigation canals were rehabilitated to enhance the agricultural livelihoods of the rural population.

The Watershed Management and Flood Protection project has trained communities on early warning systems against floods. It has also supported communities to harvest water for agriculture and livestock. Productive infrastructure and other infrastructure of economic interest (such as markets and small roads) have been constructed or rehabilitated. The watershed management activities address the urgent issue of rehabilitating livelihood assets through job creation and income-generation initiatives in Puntland, Somaliland and South Central. With a particular focus on watershed and water development initiatives, the project addresses direct income generation priorities for the most vulnerable.

To date, the project has provided 3,215 workers with direct employment, generating over 260,600 work days. It has facilitated the construction of 158 km of soil bunds and conservation structures; 126 village development committees member have been trained on environmental management and maintenance of basic services. The project supplied 400 kg of quality seeds for crop production and facilitated the purchase and supply of 1,700 assorted communal hand tools. In addition, it rehabilitated 56 km of feeder roads, rehabilitated or constructed 74 berkads (ponds), constructed 36 communal latrines, and constructed 22 new water catchment reservoirs.

The Millennium Development Goals
The United Nations Development Programme supports Somalis to develop strategies geared towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals . Currently UNDP’s Inclusive Growth and Development in Somalia Project is increasing awareness about and advocating for the goals, strengthening the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Planning and line ministries, and creating awareness about the need for poverty monitoring. This is being undertaken through the development of a comic book and the holding of soccer tournaments; billboards, radio and newspaper messages, and sensitization meetings are being used as well.

The project is also preparing the Somalia Human Development Report 2010. The report, focusing on youth, is crucial for setting the country’s future development agenda.

HIV/AIDS
UNDP’s HIV and AIDS Unit is helping to create an enabling environment, reduce the stigma and discrimination that continue to fuel the HIV and AIDS epidemic, and protect the rights of people living with HIV, women, and other vulnerable population groups in Somalia.
In 2009, UNDP facilitated the development of a second strategic plan (HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan 2009–2013) in the three regions of Somalia and helped create a draft Zonal Operational Plan for each zone to support the implementation of the plan. UNDP also established an HIV/AIDS Steering Committee in accordance with UNAIDS guidelines and held a ‘Leadership for Results’ training course, which was attended by representatives of the AIDS Commissions in the three regions, line ministries, and civil society organizations, as well as people living with HIV and religious leaders. It also supported the establishment of HIV/AIDS Religious Leaders Networks in each zone; trained over 500 religious leaders to become ‘agents of change’ (using the ‘Compassion in Action’ toolkit developed by the UNDP HIV and AIDS Regional Programme for Arab States); and mainstreamed HIV/AIDS into the training for the police, other uniformed services, and ex-combatants, all considered high-risk groups.

How we work
The security situation in Somalia obliges UNDP to run operations from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, but we are present throughout Somalia, with key offices in Garowe and Hargeisa.

The head of UNDP Somalia, Mark Bowden, is also the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, overseeing and coordinating the work of the different UN agencies working in Somalia. Hence, in addition to its own programme, UNDP also supports the overall work of the UN in Somalia through the coordination of UN operations, the management of trust funds, and the provision of other support services.
To read more about the United Nations’ work in Somalia, click: http://www.somalia-un.org

How We Work

Somali Facts