Deepening peace, improving security and establishing good governance

Support to Peace Initiatives
Rule of Law (ROLS) Programme - UNDP
The ROLS Programme aims to contribute to Somali efforts to restore a peaceful and secure environment that will promote social and economic recovery. Sida supported UNDP’s ROLS Programme (SEK 18.5 million for 2005), within the areas of rule of law, demobilization and reintegration of combatants/soldiers, reintegration of IDPs and refugees and security. For more information on the Rule of Law Programme, click here.

Peace building and democratization - Interpeace
Sida supports the Phase II of Interpeace’s Dialogue for Peace and Democratization Programmes with 10 MSEK over 2007-2009. Both programmes capitalize and build on Interpeace’s 11 year experience in peace-building in the Somali region. The key types of activities being carried out include: support to peacebuilding, electoral and parliamentary processes covering the three main administrative sub-regions of Somaliland, Puntland and South-central Somalia. To find out more on Interpeace’s action in the Somali region, click here.  

Somalia Peace Project – Life and Peace Institute
Sida supported the Life and Peace Institute (LPI) up to 9,5 MSEK in 2003-2005 for the implementation of a peace programme in Somalia involving training and dialogue forums. To find out more about LPI’s Somalia peace project, click here.

Peace Fund initiatives
Thanks to a Peace Fund set up in 2003, Sida is able to promptly respond to developments in Somalia through quick contributions to peace and security activities. Such interventions typically involve financial support to peace initiatives such as conferences and meetings to facilitate the peace process, for example meetings of  the international contact group.

Other types of longer term initiatives supported under the Peace Fund include:

Joint Needs Assessment – United Nations/World Bank
The Joint Needs Assessment (JNA) process carried out throughout Somalia under the leadership of the UN and the World Bank. This major exercise included extensive consultations of Somali stakeholders on Somalia’s reconstruction and development needs and led to the UN/World Bank Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). For more information on the JNA/RDP process, click here.

Support to the Mudug and Galgaduud local peace-building process - Interpeace
“Ensuring peace in Mudug is crucial to the stability of the rest of Somalia” (Peace Activist). Interpeace played a key role in mediation efforts to end the long-running conflict between two wings of one of Somalia’s main clans – the Hawiye - over land and water rights in the arid central Mudug and Galgudud regions, bordering Ethiopia. The Interpeace supported activities have significantly  contributed to a more stable situation in the areas of Mudug and Galgudud. Recently, the successful reconciliation process has enabled people from Mogadishu to seek refuge in these previously highly insecure areas and, despite the extraordinary pressures, to date it appears that the peace accord is holding.

To find out more about Interpeace’s action in Somalia, click here and browse through the following pages. A final report on the Mudug-Galgaduud peace process can be obtained from Interpeace’s website.

Celebration of the International Women’s Day by Somali women - UNDP’s Governance Programme.
Sida provided support for an inclusive celebration of the International Women’s Day in Somalia by prominent Somali women, with a view to make Somali women’s commitment to peace and reconciliation visible. The initiative drew on the Somali Women’s Symposium held in Kampala in February 2007 to discuss the outcome of the Joint Needs Assessment (JNA) process, which gathered women from South Central Somalia (TFG), Somaliland and Puntland.

Coordination of international support - Somalia Support Secretariat
Sida supported the Somalia Support Secretariat (SSS) with 2 MSEK. The SSS was established to optimise the use of international support to the Somali people through neutral coordination services to the government, the NGOs and the donors. The objective is to enhance capacity in-country and achieve greater impact from the limited resources available for poverty reduction and democratic development in Somalia. To find out more about the Somalia Support Secretariat, click here.

Development of sustainable Transitional Federal Institutions
One of the focus of Swedish assistance to Somalia is the development of sustainable Transitional federal Institutions (TFIs). This is done in several ways, which include:

Somali Institutional Support Project (SISP) - UNDP
UNDP’s Somali Institutional Support Project (SISP) is the continuation of its previous Somalia Emergency Budgetary Support Project (SEBSP). Sida’s support to the TFIs through UNDP’s SEBSP and SISP amounts some 8,5 MSEK since 2005. The SISP aims to consolidate peace through implementing the Transitional Federal Charter. This involves financial support to the new institutions, which, with a low level of revenues collected in-country have been dependent on donor support to carry out their basic functions of policy and law making, strategy setting, oversight, reconciliation as well as security and law enforcement. To find out more about the SISP, click here.

Improving security
Demining - Danish Demining Group (DDG)
Sida supports DDG in its demining work in Somaliland. This involves a Village by Village Clearance Project whereby communities are visited in order to remove and destroy all immediately available landmines, ammunition and unexploded ordnance and to provide mine risk education, with particular emphasis on children and elders. During 2006 Sida disbursed 5,5 MSEK to this project. DDG also carries out its Village Stockpile Disposal Initiative (VSDI) together with the Danish Refugee Council and the local NGO Haqsoor. Close links with clan and village leaders are developed in order to try and convince villagers to give up their stock of ERW. To find out more about DDG’s activities, click here.

Security of humanitarian personnel - Somalia NGO Consortium
Through the Danish Refugee Council, Sida supports the Somalia NGO Consortium’s NGO Security Preparedness and Support (NGO-SPAS) aiming to reduce the risks posed to the programme personnel and assets of NGOs operating in Somalia. The project provides them with specialised, coordinated and focused security management support: all member NGOs receive regular information updates on the security situation as well as training, technical advice and security support if needed. To find out more about the NGO consortium, click here.

Security of humanitarian personnel - UNDSS
Sida has contributed 2 MSEK to the UN Department for Safety and Security (UNDSS) in 2006 to ensure continued humanitarian access and better security for humanitarian actors. UNDSS is responsible for the security of humanitarian staff.