Search:  

Home arrow Somali Constitution Making Support
Somalia Constitution-Making Support
Strategic Area:                                Democratic Governance

Alignment with strategic plan:    Democratic Governance

Project Name:                                  Somalia Constitution-Making Support

Duration:                                           2006-2009


Project Summary:
A constitution-making process in Somalia provides considerable opportunities for reconciliation, searching for negotiated solutions to major divisive issues in a non-violent and inclusive way, achieving consensus and agreement on the modalities of federalism best suited to Somalia, symbolizing a break with the past and creating an atmosphere of hope and renewal, and devising a legitimate and stable Somali state.
The Constitution-Making Support Project seeks to support the constitution-making process in such a way as to ensure that it strengthens the peace, begins a process of reconciliation, and creates a foundation and road map for longer term state-building. The project comprises many elements, including the provision of advisory support in constitutional making processes, ongoing facilitation, access to comparative legal and human rights expertise, training in negotiation and conflict management skills, infrastructure and capacity building for the relevant national institutions, and support in creating and rolling out a civic education campaign and an extensive process of national consultation.

Expected Outputs:   
  • A consultative and inclusive constitution making process is supported
  • Interim policies and legislation on local and state governance that do not pre-determine the final constitution are established
  • Somali public has a good understanding of constitution making process and key issues to be decided
  • The views of the public are heard and growing consensus is achieved in relation to major constitutional issues


Implementation Description and Achievements:
UNDP leads a consortium of international partners in support of the Somali constitutional dialogue process which should end in a constitutional referendum in early 2009. The Independent Federal Constitutional Commission (IFCC) has the overall lead in drafting a constitution. UNDP has supported the IFCC through high level policy advice. Some of the results so far include:
  • induction workshop for the members of the Commission on the comparative experiences of constitution-making
  • operational and institutional support for the office in Baidoa
  • legal training
  • study tour for the Commission and the Ministry of Constitution and Federal affairs to Yemen to learn from the constitution-making experiences.
  • Seminar for the Commission and Ministry on the different forms of decentralization including federalism, confederation and decentralized unitary system, organized by Max Planck Institute

UNDP is in dialogue with the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs to provide further support in this arena.

 

Copyright Notice & Terms of Use | Information Disclosure Policy | Contact Information | UNDP Staff Webmail
© Copyright 2007 UNDP Somalia