Strategic Plan

  • Home   /  
  • Strategic Plan

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT ANALYSIS

For over 30 years, Somalia suffered from prolonged armed conflict, weak governance institutions, and climate induced disasters, including recurring droughts and desert locust infestation. The Somali state collapse in 1991 paved the way for complete destruction of the country’s state-owned assets and social and economic infrastructure. This became a huge setback for the country’s development potential, the country was engulfed by a period of civil war, political instability, terrorism, and maritime piracy crimes.

The country became divided into regions and sub-regions. In the north, two state administrations emerged pursuing two vastly different political paths: in the northwest, ‘Somaliland’ unilaterally declared independence from Somalia in May 1991; in August 1998, Puntland state administration emerged in the country’s north-eastern regions, seeking to reunify Somalia under a federal system. Both Somaliland and Puntland became relatively stable during the tumultuous period experienced in parts of central and southern Somalia.

Somalia’s fragile political and security conditions were further exacerbated by climate-induced disasters over the years, leading to impending disasters such as droughts, floods, cyclones, and locust infestations. These disasters have exacted devastating toll on local communities in different regions of the country. Most recently, severe recurrent droughts were widely experienced in Somalia in 2010/2011, 2016 and 2020.

Given these conditions, over 7 million people in Somalia needed emergency humanitarian aid in 2023, as the Somali Federal Government considered declaring a famine in the country. This Strategic Plan considers that, without tangible and effective interventions in key sectors, the country will continue to face climate-induced disasters, in addition to security challenges, institutional weakness, and political instability.

Somalia’s governance and democratization indicators is dismal. The country has not held free and fair democratic elections since 1967. The government – at Federal and State-level – lacks sufficient budget to sustain itself and provide salaries for its civil servants and members of the security forces. As such, the country relies heavily on international funding support for its security forces, through budgetary support programs funded via World Bank and other global financial institutions.

This war-ravaged society deeply requires the implementation of effective programs that mitigate the impact of conflict, and strengthen and boost peacebuilding and reconciliation initiatives. The civil war and post-war environment has instilled a deeply divided society. Developing and implementing peacebuilding and reconciliation programs, at the local level and up to the national level, underpins the restoration of local peace and social harmony. There is limited research on conflict studies in Somalia, and as such, conflicts have been recurrent in some areas. Secondly, peacebuilding and reconciliation initiatives – often implemented by donor-funded programs – often lack strong governmental will, support and guidance, as peacebuilding and reconciliation among people and communities serves the government’s interests.

One of the major implications of prolonged conflict is the need to restore fair and effective judicial systems and the need to protect human rights, especially for women, children, and vulnerable communities. The country has a poor record of human rights, as the civil war and post-war periods showcased repeated acts of injustice (by one armed clan against another) and violations of people’s human rights (by clan militias, extremist groups and government forces).

DEVELOPING THE STRATEGIC PLAN

The GWC Strategic Plan 2022 – 2024 considers the myriad challenges that Somalia is facing, including insecurity, volatile political atmosphere, and vulnerability to drought and environmental challenges. The Strategic Plan further considers the role of local, national and external actors, funding considerations, and its implications for this Strategic Plan.

The Strategic Plan is aligned with the Somali National Development Plan (NDP), Federal Member State (FMS)-level Development Plans, and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The plan guides the organization’s overall direction, defining sectoral priorities, and the formulation of the strategic goals, objectives, and outcomes to achieve the organization’s vision and mission. This further ensures that GWC is a reliable and effective partner and local actor in Somalia’s development sector.

The Strategic Plan adopted a holistic approach that supports institutional capacity, better prepares the organisation to develop innovative programmatic interventions, and to develop lasting and beneficial relationships with donors, partners and stakeholders, including local communities in Somalia.

This Strategic Plan was the outcome of an extensive process of consultative dialogue and review process with GWC Board of Directors, Executive Committee, Advisory Council, field staff and consultants. The process analyzed trends, challenges and identified gaps, and further developed and formulated goals and strategic objectives, which forms the foundation for planning and resource allocation to achieve the organization’s vision and mission.

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

Governance

  • Promoting inclusive constitutional review and federalization process
  • Supporting capacity building and training for Local NGOs and CSOs
  • Advancing civic education in governance and democratization
  • Democratization, elections and civic engagement

Peacebuilding

  • Promoting inclusive human security development
  • Evaluating previous local reconciliation initiatives and effectiveness
  • Promoting peacebuilding and reconciliation objectives grounded in local political contexts
  • Advancing reconciliation between different local communities
  • Implementing National Reconciliation Framework
  • Supporting holistic peacebuilding strategies and approaches
  • Supporting capacity building and training for Local NGOs and CSOs to advance peacebuilding, conflict resolution and reconciliation objectives

Advocacy

  • Focusing on education and health advocacy
  • Training and mentoring services to health practitioners on health advocacy, with specific focus on advocating for women and children’s health and wellbeing
  • Identifying inter-linkages between education, youth and culture to offer important insights to understanding complex local dynamics found in fragile and post-conflict societies
  • Supporting capacity building and training for Local NGOs and CSOs on advocacy
  • Developing engagement strategies on advocacy for youth, justice and human rights
  • Supporting the development of a fair justice system which builds a better security environment and ensures human rights protections
  • Promoting the role of arts and culture in promoting peace, social cohesion and good governance

Environment

  • Promoting laws and regulations focused on environmental conservation
  • Working with partners to develop policies and strategies that reduce the impact of climate change
  • Seeking local and international support to focus on preservation of ecological balance
  • Advocating for environmental policies
  • Training and mentoring local organizations on environmental awareness, policy and action
  • Promoting effective natural resource management strategies, including responsible and responsive management of water, marine, agriculture and other resources
  • Supporting sustainable development critical to human civilization.