Women in Somaliland campaigning during the 2010 Presidential elections (photo © Claudia Simoes/Progressio)

Country Introduction

Progressio has been working in Somaliland since 1995. Our early work focused on supporting the local organisations that were beginning to emerge following the country’s declaration of independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991. We even developed a capacity building manual based on this work.

Our work continues today and our local partners represent a wide range of local interests including women and women’s rights, disabled people, youth, other minority groups and human rights groups.

We focus on building the capacity of local organisations so that they can implement projects to help local people and communities, now and into the future. These organisations are already playing a key role in Somaliland’s social, economic and political life.

Adan Abokor, who was our country representative in Somaliland for 13 years, explains how:

“These organisations are active in service provision; they are contributing to peace and reconciliation, the promotion of human rights and civic education and awareness. They are promoting good governance by demanding accountability and transparency. And they promote the rule of law and the cause of justice.”

Progressio also works internationally to support free and fair elections in Somaliland.

Have a look at Somaliland-elections-2010-report (1.66MB PDF) and find out more!

Our new country representative, Suad Abdi, aims to build on our achievements and to enable Somaliland’s people to have even more say on their own future, because they still face major challenges:

• Many local civil society organisations (CSOa) remain nascent organisations with unclear operational structures, ill-defined roles and responsibilities and poor strategies. Additionally, many staff lack skills, knowledge and experience. This means that they are less successful at implementing projects to help local communities and in raising funds for long-term sustainability. Progressio continues to focus on building the capacity of local partners in Somaliland, drawing on a wealth of experience and achievements in this field over the years since 1995.

 

• The level of awareness of HIV and AIDS at the community level remains low, particularly in rural areas. Meanwhile infection rates are likely to rise with increased trade and movement of people within Somaliland and the region. Progressio has now built up in-depth knowledge and experience of working on HIV and AIDS in Somaliland and will continue to draw on this in opening up public debate on the issue, fighting stigma and discrimination, and driving appropriate responses to the disease.

 

• We are developing new partnerships in Somaliland around the theme of sustainable environment – aiming in particular to help address issues surrounding deforestation, promoting sustainable farming methods and the conservation of water resources.

Map of Somaliland

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