Somaliland

Strengthening the capacity of civil society organisations (CSOs) to promote democracy and good governance in Somaliland (NW Somalia). The beneficiaries of the project are women, youth and the local authorities(1) The overall objective of the project is to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) to promote democracy and good governance in Somaliland (NW Somalia). The beneficiaries of the project are women, youth and the local authorities. The activities include: • training of trainers for key CSOs on human rights, voter education, and conflict resolution and peace-building • lobbying and advocating for enactment of relevant legislation • development and implementation of relevant policies to address concerns of marginalised groups • awareness raising on human rights, gender, democracy, good governance, and civic education • monitoring and documentation of civic and human rights violations • dialogue with key stakeholders and community members on human rights violations • capacity building of youth in civic participation • capacity building support for local government authorities on resource mobilization, finance, administration and documentation • election observation and preparation of post-election assessment report. Promoting equitable representation of women in decision-making(2) The overall objective of the project is to advocate for the adoption of a women’s quota in political governance in Somaliland. The project beneficiaries are the political parties, cabinet ministers, Parliament, local and international non-governmental organizations working in Somaliland, the media, Somalia/Somaliland development partners (donors), and women caucuses in all districts. The project activities include: • training of women candidates with essential skills in campaign management, community mobilization, public speaking and conflict management • dialogue meetings with parliamentarians, political associations, political parties, National Election Commission, donors and the cabinet • village outreach awareness raising through the regional women’s caucus workshops, mass media and sensitization meetings • sensitization meetings with the religious and traditional leaders at their centres, including Mosques • workshops for regional level women’s pressure groups on effective advocacy. Integrated Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support (IPTCS) for HIV and AIDS in Somaliland(3) The general objective of the project is to contain and reduce the HIV epidemic in Somaliland. The target beneficiaries include people living with HIV and AIDS, people who are willing to donate their blood, people who visit the IPTCS centres for HIV counselling and testing, IPTCS staff, and the general population who participated in World AIDS Day and other activities. The activities included anti-retroviral therapy and treatment of opportunistic infections, treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, counselling and testing, blood safety, universal precautions, support for people living with HIV in terms of psychosocial aspects and awareness raising, laboratory services, prevention of mother to child transmission, improving the health infrastructure in all the sites, and staff training in areas of support, prevention, care and treatment. Access to justice(4) The objective of this project is to support the UNDP’s Access to Justice Project by assisting the Somaliland Women Lawyers Association (SWLA) to develop a legal empowerment and women’s justice training programme that is systematic, addresses the legal training needs of SWLA’s own members, and is relevant to the needs and interests of Somaliland civil society organisations. Activities include: • designing and conduct of a rapid training assessment of SWLA members’ selected core legal trainers • designing a training course that focuses on both content/substance and methods/approaches • developing a training guide • conduct of training for SWLA’s core legal training team • assisting SWLA in designing and analysing the quick survey on CSOs’ legal training and interests • designing a basic course on legal empowerment for communities and CSOs, including accompanying training materials • co-facilitate the first pilot training on legal empowerment and women’s justice for region-based CSOs • review the basic course on legal empowerment for communities and CSOs and revise accordingly together with SWLA’s legal trainers. International Election Observation in Somaliland 2012(5) To lead and coordinate a team of International Election Observers (IEOs) for local elections in Somaliland in 2012. The team will observe campaigning and electoral preparations, implement an observation programme on election day, and continue to engage with stakeholders in the period immediately following the election. Following on from the election observation, a report on the learning points from the election will be published, in order to further inform and support the democratisation process in Somaliland.;