In Somalia, daily violence and changes in the political landscape have created a volatile environment across the country. At the national level, in Somalia and Somaliland, respective governments have become increasingly open to the role of civil society. As a result of our sustained advocacy with partners, Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi signed the Sexual Offense Bill to tackle sexual and gender-based violence. In Puntland, we supported civil society organisations to secure the passing of a 30 per cent quota of women in parliament.

In Kismayo, Baidoa and Mogadishu, we supported 12 community groups to develop 20 action plans for addressing safety concerns. Building good relationships between police commissioners and communities has been a priority for our work in Somalia this year. We supported 58 police advisory committee visits to police stations and conducted advocacy with senior officials. Fifty female police officers were trained and deployed to ease women’s access to police services.

At the international level, as part of our global policy work, we produced research on how current counter-terror tactics in Somalia are undermining the potential for sustainable peace, and we advocated for a rights-based approach to ending the conflict. There was strong engagement with the research report from the UK government, the US Department of State and the African Union.