Somalilandsun – This week we launch our new research paper Forging Jubaland: Community perspectives on federalism, governance and reconciliation, which seeks to understand how far contemporary political and statebuilding processes are meeting the needs of Somali citizens.
This is accompanied by a video in which Somalis who participated in the research discuss findings and recommendations for Jubaland.
In 2012 Somalia embarked on a process of federalisation as a mechanism for statebuilding and ultimately stabilisation. Previous political processes have elicited limited success and have frequently been critiqued as elite-driven and divorced from popular needs.
This research and its associated recommendations are an attempt to re-focus attention onto Somali citizens and elevate their governance and reconciliation needs within current political and statebuilding processes. Extensive quantitative and qualitative data collection has revealed a picture of Jubaland as an emerging federal member state that has taken steps to depart from clannism, deepen political representation of communities and improve security and services for the population.
At the same time, efforts at political reconciliation have come at a price and the question of social reconciliation still lacks a comprehensive approach for redress. The challenge going forward will be how to marry the issues of elite political accommodation and the associated stability this can confer, with the need for popular representation and good governance that meets community demands.
We hope you find the report interesting. Please comment and share widely, and if you have any questions then do not hesitate to get in touch.
All the best
Joanne Crouch
Somalia/Land Non-State Actors Project Manager
Saferworld
