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 should be women and youth. However, Somalia is a patriarchal society…
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…
Source: From Europe With Love: A Young Poetess’ Mission To Re-Discover Hope In Somalia (Interview with Waryapost)
Originally posted on On returning home, finding peace, completeness and freedom:
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,…
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…
Originally posted on On returning home, finding peace, completeness and freedom:
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. Let me gain significance.…
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 5 years since my relocation. I had come with my husband and daughter who was 6 months old…
I have been working on gender in (higher) education the past 8 years in Puntland, 5 of those with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. In the past 2 years i have been working with a research institute in Somalia and our collaboration has led to the production of some important research study reports…
How do sanitary kits boost up the quality of girls education in Somalia? Sanitation is dignity. We come from a culture where we have never had sanitary kit packages. Menstruation was a personal and private matter and you were to seek your own solutions. Now we have factories developing kits for us. Now we have…
When talking about gender in Somalia, always; Send a Somali motherly figure; she must be all covered Never send a non-Somali to speak about gender in Somalia Be very Informal Start with an opening prayer You must say who you are You must say who your father is/was You must say who your grandfather was…
