Social media has given Somali women the space to be free, the opportunity to connect with their fellow sisters, as well as a platform to showcase their talents and growth from both personal and professional settings. Unfortunately, though, alongside this freedom and newfound liberation, there comes a heavy price where women are subjected to higher…
Cross-posted from https://sahrakoshin.wordpress.com/ * This blogpost is part of ongoing research work on COVID-19 in Somalia. It is Part 1 of a series of blogposts the blogger intends to post here, and elsewhere, on a regular basis with the hashtags #COVID19Somalia #DHUM @Diaspora_Hum. ——————- PART 1: APRIL 20th On March 16th 2020, Federal Government authorities…
Learning from the nearly 30 years of war, civil unrest and bloodshed, I’d help build communities based on honesty, respect and compassion for one another. I would appoint a Minister for Peace. I would teach my people that conflict is necessary in life. It doesn’t always have to be negative and disastrous. We have to…
I am the sister of the martyr. I am the aunt of the potato seller at the local market. I am the daughter of the local sheikh. I am the injured of the revolution. The protester. The jailed. The detained. I am the tortured. The exiled. The kidnapped. The raped. I am the veiled. The…
This gender analysis study of Somalia was conducted by Sahra Ahmed Koshin between October and November 2016 with the aim of providing a foundation for the implementation in Somalia and Somaliland of the EU “Gender Action Plan Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Transforming the Lives of Girls and Women through EU External Relations 2016-2020 (GAP…
Before sunrise – a poem about FGM. In honor of the late 10-year old #Deeka who bled to death as a result of undergoing FGM and to all the other girls who also lost heir lives to FGM as well as to all FGM survivors. #IHaveSpoken #EndFGM #StopCuttingGirls #DayOfTheGirlChild #LeaveMeWhole ———————————————————————————————————– I heard the screams.…
By Farhia Ali Abdi, Co-Founder of the Somali Women’s Circle Network. At the end of 2016, Somalia will select a new government. The current governing body will be replaced by a new administration chosen by 275 parliamentarians, which will be selected by 135 clan elderly. Among those to be vetted and included in the result…
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This research study was conducted by the Somali Institute for Development and Research Analysis (SIDRA) in partnership with UNDP Somalia. SIDRA Institute is a knowledge-policy interface established to fill the strategic gaps of shaping and dialoguing a wide range of policy agendas and in generating and communicating relevant research findings to policy actors…
Originally posted on On returning home. Finding peace & bliss.:
Part A: Letting the heart speak In January of 2011 I moved to live and work in Puntland as an EU consultant to contribute to efforts in the education sector. Prior to that deployment I’d worked in The Hague, the cultural capital of the Netherlands, a…
Earlier this year The Gender Unit of the Puntland Ministry of Education distributed 1000s of both re-usable and disposable sanitary kits to 1000s of female students in dozens of target schools in all the regions of Puntland. The Gender Unit conducts this rigorous activity several times a year, every year and has been doing so since…
Let me stand strong, tall and wise. Let me not be a broken arrow. Let me not wallow in despair. Let me not be harmed in any way. Let me not lose my innocence. Let me be a child, please.
So much has been written about girls education in Puntland. But few have actually conducted sound research in understanding the issues. And so since January we have been conducting empirical research, through different means, on what the challenges are facing Somali girls are in education in Puntland. One of the methods being used to explore the…
That attack on our psyche. On our hearts. Our souls. How can we pretend as though nothing has happened? And carry on. Go about doing same old things? And function normally. We are traumatized. We are in need of healing. We want to shout. Scream. Beat up. Hurt someone. We are mad. Furious. We cry…
I moved from Leiden, Europe’s ‘student-town’ located in the Netherlands, where i’d lived, studied and worked for over 15 years, to live and work in Garowe, the administrative capital of Puntland State of Somalia. It has been 6 years since my relocation. I had come with my husband and daughter who was 6 months old…
I have been working on gender in education the past 11 years in Puntland, 8 of those with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. In 2017 we set up the Somali Gender Hub, a research and training institute that is totally dedicated to promoting women’s roles in schools and and in education. Below are…
