The Somali Civil War is an armed Conflict in Somalia that started in 1991, following the Overthrow of Siad Barre. This made the country descend into anarchy as clan-based warlords competed with each other with no one controlling the nation as a whole. The conflict created mistrust and rifts between and within communities, which already knew substantial educational and economic disparities as well as gender-discrimination. Youth (defined as 16 to 30 years old) were at the core of the conflict. The lack of employment and involvement in society created a situation where youth were prone to being recruited into the conflict. The conflict also contributed to a collapse of the local conflict. Consequently, male youth left villages in the thousands to either join one of the conflicting parties or to migrate to neighboring countries and beyond..
Taking the situation into the consideration, SDC designed the Youth Initiatives for Peace and Reconciliation (YIPR) in April 2016. The project was funded by various well-wishers and donors.
Goal, Objectives and Activities of the Project
The goal of the Youth Initiatives for Peace and Reconciliation project is for youth to actively participate in community reconciliation and decision-making processes in various regions of Puntland state-Somalia.
PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION TEAM AND STRATEGY
Project Implementation Plan/Strategy:
Youth Initiatives for Peace and Reconciliation (YIPR) started activities in April 2016 after securing funds.
After securing funding, we started to recruit staff for the project and established various focal points in the first week of April 2016 in order to provide timely technical assistance as well as establish project-level monitoring mechanisms.
The implementation of the project activities began in mid April 2016. BASE mobilized and involved youth in planning, managing, implementing and evaluating each activity of the project in all targeted areas throughout the project period. The project team provided necessary technical support and advice to the BASE staff and youth committees in planning, managing and coordinating the activities at village level, area level, district level and central level as needed. The mobilization of youth was based on the cascading structure of youth committees/clubs which were: (i) One Central Youth Committee (CYC), (ii) District Youth Committees (DYCs), (iii) Twenty-one Area Youth Committees (AYCs), and (iv) Village Youth Committees/Clubs (VYCs).
Activities implementation strategy and layers of Youth Mobilization
Besides the involvement of youth committees, we also involved other committees such as adult committees and Women Awareness Committees in planning, managing, implementing and evaluating the activities of the project.
We also liaised with local governments as well as other stakeholders. Our team in established relationships with local government authorities as well as presented at a wide range coordination meetings.
PROJECT OUTPUTS
The specific outputs under each objective accomplished from project are outlined below.
Objective 1: Mobilize 5,000 Youth to Participate and Lead Non-Violent Activities and Build Good Relationships among Youth from Different clans and regions
Through the formation of youth committees, the General Assembly, camps and sports competitions, youth were able to meet other youth from different clans, ethnicities and regions.
The training program, which focused on building the capacity of youth to mobilize others, to become leaders in their community and to design Community Service Projects (CSPs) that brought people together, solidified these relationships. In the end, 8,662 youth were mobilized to be a positive force in their communities.
Formation of youth committees
Village Youth Clubs/Committees (VYCs), Area Youth Committees (AYCs), local Youth Committees (DYCs) were formed, mobilizing 8,662 youth, far exceeding the initial target of 5,000.
Youth found the fact that the project was much more popular than expected was an indication that youth were eager to make a positive contribution to their communities.
Annual youth general assembly
Two general youth assemblies were held, reaching 1,331 youth. The target was to involve 1,500 youth in two assemblies. some youth could not join either assembly because of school and business obligations. In addition to youth, the assemblies brought together politicians, community leaders, social activists and development organizations.
One of the lessons from the first assembly was for the second assembly to have a greater focus on YIPR. To that end, the second assembly incorporated of a number of events related to project activities and objectives.
Sports competitions
Sixteen sports competitions were held, reaching 1,320 youth, exceeding the target of 1,000. During the first quarter, nine of these competitions were held at the area-level. Events included football (soccer), volleyball for both men and women..
In addition to football and volleyball teams, there were a number of guest teams that included a combination of local government officials, members of the police club and clubs from other ethnic groups. VYC members were placed on teams with youth from other VYCs, providing them an opportunity to build relationships with youth from other castes, ethnicities and villages.
The formation of the new teams also provided an opportunity for youth to use their consensus-building skills as they had to agree on a team strategy in a relatively short period of time. A team captain from Bardiya explained:
Three other teams also reported disagreements, but were able to resolve their differences through dialogue. The new teams allowed the youth to see that you can peacefully resolve differences with people different from yourself.
Objective #2: Promote Participation of Youth in Community Service Projects, Dialogues and Decision-Making Forums.
Through participation in the VYCs, youth implemented over 80 Community Service Projects (CSPs). In addition to bettering their communities, adults began to see youth in a new light, as people who could be leaders in their communities. Youth built relationships with various stakeholders and became active in decision-making bodies.
Dialogue and meeting with traditional decision-making bodies
There were 11 dialogues and meetings with traditional-decision making bodies, involving 441 youth. This was below the target of 21 dialogues/meetings involving 630 youth. In the meetings, youth met with decision-making bodies such as traditional chiefs and sheikhs.
The youth members and project teams had an in-depth discussion regarding implementation of this activity. The main purpose of the discussion was find ways to support expansion of traditional decision-making, civic and governmental structures and how the team would measure and record the progress or achievements of the activity. The discussion group concluded that the project would support expansion of traditional decision-making structures through “Dialogue and meeting with traditional decision-making bodies” through 21 meetings with 630 traditional decision makers, with each traditional decision maker participating in at least one event.
Youth committees organize quarterly parent-youth discussion forums
There were 35 meetings with parents, involving 1,377 youth (target was 41 meetings involving 1,230). As discussed above, there were a number of meetings with VYCs that included parents—dialogues with traditional structures, monthly and quarterly meetings, and coordination meetings. Therefore it was decided to fold this activity into the other types of meetings.
Objective #3: Enable Youth to Promote Peace and Reconciliation
Various activities created opportunities for youth to discuss issues around peace and reconciliation, including publications, street dramas, radio programs and cross visits between youth clubs. Combined with activities mentioned above, such as trainings, general assemblies, cultural shows and sports competitions, youth organized various events to bring people together. Youth also learned mediation skills that allowed them to help people resolve conflicts non-violently. Youth clubs finished the program by developing peace strategies to implement in the future.
While youth said they would have preferred to focus on fewer activities that had greater impact, the broad range of activities provided them with a base on which they can continue to plan activities they found most useful for promoting peace and reconciliation in their communities.
Peace promotion competitions
Initially, 996 peace promotion competitions including 1,958 youth were planned, one in each VYC and one in each AYC. It was decided that these would be more effective if held at larger venues, and were therefore carried out at the AYC level and as part of the general assembly. At the end forty-three competitions were completed including 1,991 youth.
During first quarter, 21 AYCs hosted competitions where youth submitted essays on the “Roles of Youth in Peacebuilding” as part of International Peace Day. In the second quarter, the competitions were included as part of the General Assembly. Youth designed posters that incorporated peace slogans related to the topic, “New Prosperous Puntland and Youth.”
Peace Strategies (Extra Activity under Objective 3)
Eight-hundred sixteen VYCs, 21 AYCs, five DYCs and the CYC all submitted peace strategies. The purpose of the peace strategies was for VYCs to focus on how they would implement peace and reconciliation activities during and after YIPR. As part of the strategies, VYCs analyzed the conflict, determined the most significant contributors to the conflict and decided on a work plan for how they are going to address the conflict issues. See Annex 2 for an example strategy.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION (M&E)
Development of M&E Plan
The project has been able to follow the objectives laid out in the M&E plan and the selected indicators were the basis for the baseline and end line studies.
Annual Work Plan for the First Year
SDC and Youth Committee members developed the year one work plan. The finalization workshop was held in the SDC project office in Garowe. A total of twenty participants from youth committees actively participated in the discussion and finalization of the work plan.
Project Review Meeting
SDC, including key representatives of youth committees from all regions and the CYC, participated in the mid-year review meeting. The meeting reviewed progress, quality and implementation constraints and formulated resolutions for project improvement, such as restructuring of staff and changing meeting frequency.
LESSONS LEARNT
Plan Projects and Events that Bring People Together Repeatedly: Youth mentioned a number of times that what helped build relationships was the mingling with other clans and groups through sports competitions, etc. Moreover, in discussing successful CSPs, youth described how schools and cafeterias allowed people to interact on a regular basis when previously, they would not even have said hello to one another.
Integrate Youth with Adults: A critical reason to the success of YIPR is the focus on integrating youth with adults. The lack of involvement in their communities was a central factor for why youth were vulnerable to recruitment into armed groups. The youth and adults worked on CSPs together, attended meetings, and sat on the same decision-making bodies. Adults mentioned that seeing the youth implement a number of successful CSPs and events increased their confidence in the youth and encouraged them to include youth as part of the community leadership. With the youth more integrated within their communities, the risk of recruitment by armed groups has been reduced.
CONCLUSION
As evident by the youth and community engagement in activities, Somalis want to move beyond the conflict years. Numerous people commented how comforting it was to see their villages starting to develop after many years of neglect.
However, as documented, people suffered horribly during the conflict. With those who committed some of the atrocities elected to power, confidence in government will remain questionable for some time. These hurts can be quickly activated if not more is done to help the government provide to those affected by the conflict. Networks, such as the ones developed through YIPR can hopefully provide the government with an avenue to building and rebuilding those relationships, and ultimately trust.