Somaliland Leaders Stand Up for Inclusive Development

Somali authorities have identified the achievement of gender equality and empowerment of women as a priority for peace and development. In light of this, last month senior Somaliland Government officials (including Members of Parliament [MPs], Deputy Ministers, Director Generals, and heads of independent national commissions) took part in a UNDP-supported transformational leadership workshop focused on ‘Leadership for Results’. The participants: 22 MPs (including 1 woman), and 9 other government officials (including 3 women) committed themselves to supporting inclusive development practices. They examined the situation regarding gender in the country and explored their potential as leaders to make changes through legislation.

Supported by UNDP’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Project with assistance from the Parliament and Constitutional Support Project and HIV Programme, the workshop was led by Moustapha Gueye, an expert on transformational leadership. Mr. Gueye, a scholar and former UNDP staff, is a mayor in his native Senegal. With his extensive experience, he was able to pull examples from his own career and leadership history to examine how political representatives can advance the rights of women.

The workshop encouraged participants to enhance their leadership skills and implement ‘breakthrough initiatives’ which lead to more gender sensitive legal and policy reforms. In particular, a House of Representative Law (2005) to accommodate a quota for women is under review. Many of the participants support the law, and the increased inclusion of women in politics that it would bring.

Baar Saed, the only woman in the Somaliland Parliament, wants to see more women taking up political positions and participating in development. She said, “It’s time for Somaliland Parliament to legislate a 30 percent quota for women.” Saed’s colleagues commended her work and valuable role in Parliament, and her efforts to promote women’s participation (will be her ‘breakthrough initiative’).

The participants examined their role in mainstreaming gender into development policy and programming. A special focus was given to the intricate relationship between gender inequality and HIV, and how the leaders envision a future free of gender inequalities and HIV.

A presentation was also made by representatives from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on women’s political participation in the Somaliland 2012 elections and possible affirmative options. The presentation showed the strong correlation between the space given to women in the 2012 local elections (by political parties and national associations) and the percentage of successful women.

The presentation also looked at women’s political participation from cultural and Islamic perspectives as well. Hon. Mohamoud Ahmed Obsiye, a member of Parliament’s Religion and Social Affairs Committee said, “There is no justifiable reason for excluding women from participating in every level of politics.”

Participants committed to address key development challenges including promoting gender sensitive policies and programmes through breakthrough initiatives, and to generate and sustain long-term interactive dialogue around gender equality and women’s empowerment. In his closing remarks, the Speaker of the Somaliland Parliament and chairperson of the National Party (WADANI) said, “The training was extremely beneficial.”
The Chairperson of the Somaliland National Human Rights commission, Fathia Hussein Jahur noted that “this was unparalleled” and gave her more insight and empowered her to participate in building a better future for women.
At a press conference in Hargeisa, the Speaker and the Deputy Minister of Information thanked UNDP for supporting the training which helped them know about sparking transformative change in their government. The speaker said, “Inclusive governance is a cornerstone for sustainable development.”
Throughout all of its projects, UNDP supports the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment in all development results. This also means providing guidance to Somali institutions to mainstream gender into their policies and programmes. UNDP’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Project is focused on transforming social norms to be more gender responsive, fostering positive legal and policy frameworks for promotion of gender equality and protection of women’s rights; and building the capacities of women and women’s representative organizations/institutions to contribute to recovery, development and stability.

source: UNDP