Strategic Area:                           Democratic Governance

Alignment with strategic plan:      Democratic Governance

Duration:                                      2007-9

Project name:                                      QUEST (Qualified Somali Technical Support)

Project Summary:
The QUEST initiative, modelled after the UNDP global initiative of Transfer of Knowledge Through Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN), which encourages expatriate nationals to volunteer their expertise in the service of their homelands for short periods of time, proposes to bring the skills of Somali professionals in the diaspora to Somalia on a short-term, voluntary basis. By doing so, three major needs are addressed:

1. reducing the brain drain
2. supporting lasting peace in Somalia
3. increasing participation of the Somali diaspora in the creation of a conducive environment for sustainable human development.

Through the project, diaspora expertise is infused into the national development process and assist key service provider institutions in the social and governance sectors to improve their efficiency and effectiveness in delivering social services and building best practices of management. The duration of deployment of Diaspora experts ranges from 3-12 months and experts are hired and evaluated by the recipient organization, though paid by UNDP (air fare and living allowance). In this way, the project contributes to deploying Somali expertise to Somali organizations utilizing the unique perspectives, technical skills, cultural knowledge and sensitivity of Somali professionals from the diaspora, thus reducing the dependency on international experts in development programs and Somali institutions.

Expected outputs of the project are:
•    Increased technical capacity in Somali institutions
•    Enhanced spirit of national development and increased resource flow from the Diaspora for local community      development initiatives
•    Improved organizational capacity in the Diaspora

Implementation Description and Achievements:
During the first phase of QUEST (2004-5), the project deployed 27 diaspora professional volunteers from UK, USA, Turkey, Sweden, Finland, Canada, Malaysia, Pakistan, and France to support Somali institutions to improve their technical capacity. In the second phase, more emphasis has been put on the Governance sector and Universities to strengthen the work that is currently being undertaken through various development projects in the area of capacity development. In 2007, 47 experts were hired. Universities all over the country have also benefited from the QUEST project. During the recruitment period, QUEST publicity material was disseminated to various diaspora professional associations in Europe, America, Canada and the Middle East. QUEST assignments are published widely through the Somali websites and through the Somali diaspora associations, currently covering around 100 Somali communities/associations in Europe and US/Canada. Some QUEST volunteers have extended their stay and have been hired by the recipient organizations. The QUEST project has also carried out needs assessment of some of the key institutions and has identified appropriate expertise.