www.actionaid.org.uk
Training teachers for a better education in Somaliland
Introduction
Stuart Freedman/Network/ActionAid UK
Education is one of the best solutions to poverty there is, and yet 113 million children worldwide have no access to primary education at all. Primary school is a luxury for poor families and secondary school becomes an impossibility. ActionAid’s diverse education programme covers all aspects of sustainable improvements. We develop educational practices relevant to poor communities. We pressure local and national
governments to make education available. We pressure international bodies to play their part in easing that task.
Unit costs
• 30 pence could buy an exercise book for one child.
• £4.50 could buy one learning kit including books, pens and a small bag.
• £30 could buy a blackboard for a classroom.
• £320 could train one teacher in effective and appropriate teaching methods (including accommodation at the training sessions).
Project code: XUK0R05004
60% of the donations will go towards the projects and 40% will be distributed internationally in order of greatest need.
ActionAid, Hamlyn House, Macdonald Road, Archway, London N19 5PG Email: cfd@actionaid.org Telephone: 020 7561 7561. ActionAid is a registered charity, no. 274467.
ActionAid’s response
• Working with local communities, ActionAid will develop appropriate alternatives to the traditional schooling systems and set up a rural education system managed by the communities themselves.
• Four senior trainers/educators will be identified and recruited to help develop the system and ensure it is in line with government policies for education.
• Thirty rural teachers will be selected and trained to teach a wider and more appropriate curriculum. This will result in a further 1,400 children learning to read, write and do arithmetic as well as other skills relevant to the nomadic lifestyle.
real lives
Zaynab Diriyeh is a mother of seven children living near Nasiyeh village in the Togdheer region of Somaliland. Zaynab says; We understand that education is good for the future of our children but there are no modern education opportunities in our locality. Therefore, we are obliged to engage our children in household chores and livestock tending. We are happy to send children to educational opportunities; we also need education for the adults. I am personally ready to attend the night shift if the option is there.
Two years ago we lived near a village where there was a two room school in which we wanted to enrol our children, but the problem was that the school operated only in the morning and some of the children had to tend the livestock at that time.
The problems
• Existing schools are inaccessible in terms of time as they are often open when the children are required at home to tend livestock, fetch water or carry out other chores. Schools are also an average of four to twenty kilometres away from community settlements, which is a major
deterrent as many children are too young to travel such distances unaccompanied.
• Parents often do not see education as having any direct benefits to the family income. Even when parents do decide to send some of their children to schools in town, they are careful to send boys, not girls. It is believed that girls will only benefit their husband’s clan, whereas boys stay with their own.
• The continual movement of the nomadic pastoral lifestyle makes it very difficult for children to stay in one place for more than a few months at a time and so their education is abandoned each time their families move on.
The Republic of Somaliland was formed after its separation from Somalia in 1991. The civil war between 1988 and 1991 in Somalia had caused chaos, with nearly 60,000 people dead, massive population displacement and the destruction of communication and public services. The people
of Somaliland have since made considerable progress and now have a stable administration.
However, Somaliland is still desperately poor and the majority of Somali people are pastoral nomads – a lifestyle based on raising sheep, goats, camels and some cattle for subsistence and trade. However, public services have not been well-established in rural areas and so
many pastoral nomadic communities lack basic amenities such as healthcare and education.
Most efforts to re-establish education in the country have been concentrated in the urban areas leaving nomadic children with few, if any, opportunities.
http://www.actionaid.org.uk/_content/documents/SOMALILAND.pdf
ActionAid in Somaliland
ActionAid began working with refugees fleeing from the Ethiopia-Somali war in 1980. More than 500,000 people died in the war, over a million people were displaced, and the disaster was compounded by severe famine.
In 1991, war and political instability forced us to suspend our work.
In 1992 ActionAid resumed work in the Sanaag and Togdheer regions of Somaliland.
ActionAid Somaliland supports the basic needs and rights of poor people, particularly those affected by war and political instability.
We work closely with community-based organisations, using very few staff and the minimum of equipment. We work closely with the traditional clan chiefs and village committees, providing information and training to help them design and manage their own water, education, environmental care and animal health projects
17. Summary & Conclusions
17.1 Media development: an organisational perspective
The lack of a consolidated government since the fall of Siyad Barre’s regime in 1991 has led to a proliferation in the number and variety of media sources in Somalia. However, inter-factional violence and conflict has since torn the country apart, creating a difficult
environment for media practitioners to work in.
In the self-proclaimed autonomous state of Somaliland, relative political stability and cooperation from the community has created a potentially conducive environment to media development. However, a lack of international recognition has limited access to the financial assistance needed to strengthen the media sector outside of the
public domain.
17.2 Lessons learned
Changes in university curricula and international initiatives have increased training options for journalists. More and more journalists are being trained in the basic skills and ethics of journalism which, as interviewees agree, has had a positive impact on the quality and quantity of information disseminated.
Steady changes in production methods and content have increased the variety of programmes on TV and radio. Poverty and lack of infrastructure have limited the spread of TV and print in Somalia.
Likewise, with low levels of literacy in Somalia, radio has the greatest reach, but stations remain concentrated in Mogadishu.
An important change to the industry has been the formation of various journalistic trade unions, but journalists remain amongst some of the poorest paid in the world. Developments in the telecommunications sector have improved efficiency in newsgathering and dissemination by journalists.
With more political stability, qualified trainers prefer to base themselves in Somaliland.
17.3 Developing the environment for success
Long-term training programmes are preferred to shorter-run projects to make for a meaningful impact in media development.
Culturally sensitive, locally-run training programmes with institutional and technical support from outside organisations are recommended by interviewees.
More training in research and data-gathering methods is seen as pivotal to creating programmes and content that is of a high standard, relevant and interesting to audiences. Training should be spread across all media, and not just focus on print.
The availability of efficient and affordable telecommunications services is also necessary to fulfil this task.
It is felt that the establishment of a media school in Mogadishu would greatly benefit the media sector in Somalia. The creation of a media centre for women was also recommended by SMJA.
Interviewees widely agree on the valuable role of the donor community. However, to date donors have focused their activities on recovery and reconstruction. It is suggested that donors might consider moving some of that focus to allocate more time to and investment in media development. Virtually all interviewees suggested that donors should prioritise training and the provision of equipment in their strategies.
Donor-funded programmes are often short-lived; strategies need to be sustainable and frequently monitored. Likewise there needs to be more ‘follow up’ of projects.
Interviewees underlined the need for donor organisations to listen to the requirements of journalists and to take into account the Somali cultural background when planning and designing initiatives.
Advertising has had little impact so far in the media sector; revenues remain low because of the level of competition and a poor perception of advertising by local investors.
Advertising companies are also few in number and are locally-based.
17.4 Strategic priorities
Training should focus on capacity building and the development of content; training on specific issues is regarded as a priority due to most media outlets not giving prominence to social topics of interest like female genital mutilation, AIDS, human rights and landmines. Most local media are politically motivated, talk only of political concerns, and use limited programme formats.
One interviewee suggested the creation of a code of ethics to support an independent media and to raise standards in journalism.
Community radio and other media should be supported to reach Somalia’s rural and highly illiterate population.Journalist trade unions still lack the necessary skills to operate – improving links with international trade bodies may strengthen them.
79 African Media Development Initiative: Somalia Way Forward © BBC
World Service Trust
Pan-regional versus country-specific initiatives was a vague concept to three interviewees. However, for the majority, pan-regional initiatives were supported, with interviewees proposing the sharing of knowledge, experience and exposure through visits.
It is thought that media development can be enhanced by improving collaboration between donor projects. This can also lead to the sharing of knowledge, expertise and resources to make for more successful strategies.
All interviewees concurred that the media needs to take a crucial role in the democratisation process, citing that most parts of the country are behind the rest of the continent in this regard. Somalia is a hugely unstable country, suffering from lawlessness in many areas and a lack of a functional central government. Many agree that a key priority is to ensure a proper legislative environment to prevent the media from becoming an ‘abusive machine’ in Somalia, and to protect freedom of expression. Supporting the growth of an independent media is thus seen as crucial because most outlets, despite being privately owned, tend to be under the control of their owners.
A lack of international recognition and financial assistance are the main obstacles to media development in Somaliland. The government is unable to provide adequate funding to support the development of a media beyond the public sector. It is felt that donor support for sustainable private media initiatives would benefit journalists and
strengthen democracy in Somaliland.
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/trust/pdf/AMDI/somalia/amdi_somalia17_summary.pdf
Veterinary Microbiology
Volume 121, Issues 3-4, 15 April 2007, Pages 249-256
Screening for Rift Valley fever infection in northern Somalia: A GIS based survey method to overcome the lack of sampling frame
Baba Soumarea, Stefano Tempiab, Vittorio Cagnolatic, Abdullatif Mohamoudb, Guido Van Huylenbroeckd and Dirk Berkvensa,
Abstract
Following repeated import bans imposed by Saudi Arabia on livestock originated from Somalia due to suspicion of Rift Valley fever (RVF) presence and the severe socio-economic consequences of this, it was imperative for the Somaliland government to carry out surveillance activities in order to determine the status of transboundary diseases in its territory. A GIS computer software (Arcview®) was used to overcome the lack of lists of sampling sites due to the high mobility of pastoral nomadic herds in the study area. This method proved very convenient and flexible for the random selection of sampling sites and thus the compliance with the requirements by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) for statistically valid methods if the surveillance outcome is to meet international recognition and acceptance. Screening in Somaliland in 2001 and in Puntland in 2003 which targeted mainly sheep and goats aged 1–2 years (97% of surveyed animals) revealed no signs compatible with the disease but an overall sero-prevalence of 2 ± 0.02% (90/4570) and 5 ± 0.3% (206/4050), respectively. The spatial distribution showed clusters of high sero-prevalence located mostly in the Nugal Valley. This trend was confirmed by the follow-up survey implemented in Somaliland in 2004 with a herd prevalence of 80 ± 6% and a within-herd prevalence up to 50% located again in the Nugal Valley. This result suggests the maintenance and increase of RVF virus activity in the valley. In addition conditions favourable to the breeding and survival of the vector population and the high density of livestock make the Nugal Valley an area of high risk for a RVF outbreak where sentinel herds will be placed.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +32 3 247 6 393; fax: +32 3 247 6 268.
Title: EMPRES Transboundary Animal Diseases Bulletin No. 16-2001...
RIFT VALLEY FEVER
Rift Valley fever threatens livelihoods in the Horn of Africa
Saudi Arabia banned livestock exports from the Horn of Africa between February 1998 and April 1999, as a result of an RVF outbreak in Kenya and Somalia, and the scale of the economic losses at that time is indicative of what is to come. Pastoralists in Somaliland, Somalia, Zone V of Ethiopia and Eritrea, where most of the Gulf imports originate, saw the volume and value of livestock exports tumble.
For the second time in less than three years livestock producers and traders in the Greater Horn of Africa are facing the devastating consequences of Rift Valley fever (RVF). An outbreak of RVF in southern Saudi Arabia and Yemen (the first reported outside Africa) in September and October 2000 has left dozens of people dead and hundreds infected. As a consequence six Gulf States - Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates - have now banned livestock imports from nine African countries, principally in the Horn. Although RVF is endemic in the affected countries (see map) none has reported a recent RVF epidemic. Although they are therefore not experiencing the direct impacts of the disease, the livestock trade embargo will undermine a precarious regional food security situation.
The economic impacts of this ban are likely to be massive. Saudi Arabia banned livestock exports from the Horn between February 1998 and April 1999 as a result of an RVF outbreak in Kenya and Somalia, and the scale of the economic losses at that time is indicative of what is to come. Pastoralists in Somaliland, Somalia, Zone V of Ethiopia and Eritrea, where most of the Gulf imports originate, saw the volume and value of livestock exports tumble. Exports from the major livestock-dealing port of Berbera in Somaliland dropped from nearly three million head in 1997 to just over one million in 1998, equivalent to around US$100 million of lost exports. It is estimated that half of these livestock originated in Somalia and half in Zone V of Ethiopia. Prices of livestock fell by around 30 percent in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia as a result of the ban. Other Horn countries included in the ban were only marginally affected as the Gulf is not a significant importer from these countries.
Trade of livestock between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian peninsula (Port of Berbera, Northern Somalia)PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARC BLEICH
The current ban may cause even greater economic losses. Previously Horn of Africa countries were able to redirect exports to alternate Gulf markets - an option unavailable this time as more Gulf states have joined the import embargo. The Sudan, which normally exports hundreds of thousands of livestock to the Gulf, has also been included on this occasion. Many of the areas affected also coincide with extremely vulnerable and food-insecure areas currently receiving emergency assistance.
A quick lifting of the ban is unlikely - the last ban lasted 18 months. The current ban could run the three years recommended by the OIE, in spite of the fact that the epidemic will naturally subside with the coming dry season in the Gulf. The potential to redirect livestock exports is limited for a number of reasons, including poor economic competitiveness, quality standards and the regional preference for meat of the local breeds. In these circumstances what can be done to minimize the disruptions to pastoral livelihoods?
Tarce the origins of the outbreak It is important to establish whether this is a new introduction of the virus or whether in fact the pathogen has been present for some time in Yemen and Saudi Arabia and has only now come to the attention of public health authorities.
Establish testing and quarantine procedures for exports Countries of the Horn of Africa will have to establish testing systems to prove the absence of RVF in animals for export. Although recommended after the last ban no action was taken. There is an excellent enzyme-linked serum assay (ELISA) test for RVF. ELISA tests can be routinely run by local laboratories (including private Somali laboratories), and are generally easy and reliable.
Testing small ruminants for brucellosis before export (Puntland, Somalia)PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARC BLEICH
Establish national surveillance systems Given the relationship of RVF epidemics to climatic conditions, it is possible to use remote sensing products to forecast future RVF epidemics - as has been done with malaria. This provides a lead time of over a month during which preventive measures may be taken.
Analyis of impacts at the household level Using the food economy baselines available (at least for Somalia), it is possible to model, for each area, whether or not decreased livestock sales and prices will translate into a household food deficit justifying external assistance, given the alternative income and food sources.
Link livestock off-take and emergency feeding programmes A collapse in the demand for livestock is likely to result in both a rapid growth of small stock numbers (possibly resulting in environmental degradation) and an increase in emergency relief needs. Practical and proven interventions are the purchase, slaughter and local distribution of the meat as a protein supplement. If a small fraction of the funds allocated to current feeding programmes could be utilized for this purpose, it would provide significant assistance to needy pastoralists.
Source: Famine Early Warning System (FEWS); more information on FEWS is available at
http://www.fews.net.
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/Y0482E/y0482e04.htm
http://www.vetaid.org/projects-somalia.asp
Somali Projects
Since the collapse of the central government in Somalia in 1991, the country has faced prolonged periods of political unrest and insecurity. This has led to the severe destruction of infrastructure and state-run services such as health and education. Literacy rates in the country are 37% and life expectancy is 48 years.
Drought is a further significant threat to Somalia’s large pastoral population. Frequent droughts, which have more recently been recurring in shorter cycles in the Horn of Africa, have weakened the resilience developed by pastoralists to shocks over many generations. As a result of drought, an increasing number are on the brink of losing their livelihood while many others who have already dropped out of the pastoral system are displaced in camps. Livestock assets have diminished and access to employment is almost non-existent. In addition, environmental deterioration is a further impact of drought as a result of widespread forest exploitation by pastoralists in search of an alternative income.
VETAID has worked in Somaliland since 1995 and we are now expanding our programme into the rest of Somalia. We work closely alongside local partners in the country on projects which aim to improve the livelihoods of poor and disadvantaged farmers and pastoralists and assist them to deal with political and climatic challenges.
In late 1991, northern clans declared an independent Republic of Somaliland. Although not recognized internationally, this administration has maintained a stable existence up to now. The neighbouring autonomous state of Puntland (Somalia) has made progress towards reconstructing a legitimate representative government. There are border disputes between Somaliland and Puntland.
Somalia Projects - Pastoral Livelihoods Development Project
This project aims to improve the welfare and livelihoods of poor and disadvantaged pastoralists and agro-pastoralists living in Somaliland. VETAID is working with two local non-governmental organizations on this project; SADO and ARDA.
Key project activities and achievements:
- Training Community Animal and Human Health Workers - In collaboration with our local partners, VETAID has trained over 200 community members to provide basic veterinary and medical care to remote rural herding communities. We are also working with veterinary associations to lobby for the parliamentary endorsement of Veterinary Code and Land Tenure documents.
- Improving Crop Production - Crop production is more than ever a priority for target communities as the productivity of their livestock is increasingly vulnerable to the combination of natural and manmade calamities. As part of a strategy to improve rural production systems, the project is providing training to contact farmers on a range of skills and techniques such as improved land preparation, planting and spacing, preparation and use of natural compost, simple techniques against erosion, the importance of environmental protection, and fodder production. Following training, the contact farmers pass on the skills learned to other community members. An important link has been established between VETAID and ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics) leading to the undertaking of an experiment intended to produce best-performing crop and fodder seeds on Somaliland soil.
- Erosion control - Land degradation is rampant in the project area, mainly due to natural processes such as the displacement of soil by wind and run-off water during dry-windy and rainy seasons. Low-cost soil and water conservation measures are being implemented in three sites in order to promote community-based environment conservation. In north Buroa, an area that is very susceptible to run-off water soil erosion, contour bunds have been constructed. Since both the Gu and Deyr rainy seasons, the two sites have reseeded and show tremendous regeneration. In Beer village, east of Buroa, the first phase of a multi-phased flood control scheme has begun which aims to mitigate the threat posed by the streambed to homes, wells and cultivatable land as well as other important village infrastructure.
- Fodder Production - As part of efforts to increase the availability of livestock fodder during low-pasture seasons, the project has been training members of target agro-pastoral communities to grow fodder such as Napier and Rhodesian grasses.
- Training local partners - ARDA and SADO have been given training which has enabled the staff of both organisations to gain an in-depth understanding of the administrative and financial management of development programmes.
- Sharing learning - The project has launched VETSAAR, a quarterly newsletter that will jointly be published by VETAID, SADO and ARDA to update local and international organisations, government bodies and UN agencies on project activities and learning. To view the latest issue of VETSAAR
http://www.vetaid.org/assets/pdf/vetsaar.pdf
http://www.vetaid.org/projects-somalia-pastoral-livelihoods.asp
Improving Livestock Trade and Human Livelihoods in Africa
Newswire
Description
Increasing international trade of livestock is a potentially useful poverty reduction strategy in developing nations. Africa-based researchers analyze, propose and implement strategies for improving livestock health, trade, and human livelihoods.
Newswise — In many parts of Africa, livestock are not only a source of food, but also an underutilized trading commodity. Working with international and regional agencies, Africa-based researchers from Feinstein International Center (FIC) at Tufts University address policies and practices to improve animal health and trade in local communities, including constraints around the export of livestock and livestock products.
Andrew Catley, PhD, a research director at FIC, contributed to a “Viewpoint” article in the July 8th issue of The Veterinary Record that highlights the need for a trustworthy and viable process to certify the status of livestock commodities as a means to encourage safe export trade. An earlier paper by Catley and colleagues addresses the underlying issue of improving health care services for livestock, a challenge in parts of Africa where a dearth of veterinary services hinders efforts.
“Increasing international trade of livestock is a potentially useful poverty reduction strategy for developing regions, particularly Africa, but there are many obstacles that hinder that trade,” says Catley. The authors of the Veterinary Record Viewpoint, including lead author G.R. Thomson, emphasize the need for an independent source of certification based on improved international standards to benefit livestock farmers in Africa.
“Under the current World Trade Organization standards that govern international trade of animals and animal products, trade from developing regions to countries like the United States and European nations is hindered because of concerns about government veterinary services in developing countries.
These services are often weak and in some countries, are affected by high levels of corruption, yet they’re responsible for issuing international health certificates for livestock exports,” explains Catley. Importing countries “need verification that there is minimal risk of infectious disease agents that threaten human health or the welfare of livestock populations,” he continues.
The authors propose that independent certification bodies be used to foster verifiable documentation and assure importing countries that traded livestock commodities meet acceptable levels of risk with regards to disease transmission. Catley elaborates on the proposal, saying that “fair and reasonable standards need to be created. These standards should be ones that can actually be implemented, and the certification processes need to be trustworthy for both importing and exporting countries.”
In an IDS Bulletin paper, entitled “Communities, Commodities and Crazy Ideas: Changing Livestock Policies in Africa,” Catley, along with Yacob Aklilu, an agricultural economist at FIC, and colleagues reviewed experiences from the Community-based Animal Health and Participatory Epidemiology (CAPE) Project.
The African Union/InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU/IBAR) established the CAPE Project in 2000 supported by FIC, to create policies and legislation to enhance animal health care in pastoral areas in East Africa. One key issue addressed local concerns about formalizing community-based animal health workers (CAHWs), people who are trained to assist with animal health care in rural areas in Africa where few veterinarians are willing to work.
“The AU/IBAR team developed and applied a range of lobbying, advocacy, networking and learning methods within an overall strategy which recognized the overtly political nature of the policy process,” write the authors. As such, they developed specific changes in policy and used a change-oriented management style, which encouraged flexible activities and responses to opportunities.
They understood that using “community-based approaches often prompted strong emotional and protective reactions from the veterinary establishment,” a potentially critical safeguard.
One important strategy was to recognize local veterinarian fears about the use of CAHWs, and deliberately overcome those fears by providing information and experiential learning that “enabled informed debate between policy actors.” In each area of the article, Catley et al take an “historical, technical, and political perspective” to analyze the policy environment, to “assess the importance of different policy actors,” and to develop methods and tactics for each country.
Despite the controversies around CAHWs, by the end of 2004, the FIC team and AU/IBAR had worked with national governments in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda to establish central government units responsible for regulating CAHW activities. Their work also prompted the global body responsible for animal health – the Office International des Epizooties – to revise its guidelines to include CAHWs as one type of veterinary para-professional.
The paper calls for the “AU’s Directorate for Rural Economy and Agriculture and IBAR to broaden their experience with community-based animal health and commodity-based trade policies, and to work with member states and regional communities to address a wider range of policy issues.”
The Feinstein International Center, part of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts, combines humanitarian work with analysis and research to create new models for effective humanitarian action. FIC researchers in Africa are based in Ethiopia and current research projects are located in Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, and South Africa.
Thomson GR, Perry BD, Catley A, Leyland TJ, Penrith ML, Donaldson AI. The Veterinary Record (July 8, 2006) 159: 53-57. “Certification for regional and international trade in livestock commodities: the need to balance credibility and enterprise.”
Catley A, Leyland T, Admassu B, Thomson G, Otieno M, Aklilu Y. IDS Bulletin (June 2005) Vol 36 No 2. “Communities, Commodities, and Crazy Ideas: Changing livestock policies in Africa.”
The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University is the only independent school of nutrition in the United States. The school’s eight centers, which focus on questions relating to famine, hunger, poverty, and communications, are renowned for the application of scientific research to national and international policy.
For two decades, the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University has studied the relationship between good nutrition and good health in aging populations. Tufts research scientists work with federal agencies to establish the USDA Dietary Guidelines, the Dietary Reference Intakes, and other significant public policies.
http://harowo.com/2006/07/26/improving-livestock-trade-and-human-livelihoods-in-africanewswire/© 2006 Newswise.
Support to Livestock Exports from the Horn of Africa
Project Rationale and Justification
Country: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia
Headquarters:Dire Dawa (Ethiopia)
Counterpart Organization:Ministry of Agriculture of Djibouti Ministry of Agriculture of Ethiopia Local veterinary authorities for Somalia
Duration:3 years
Total Approved Budget: US$1 698 300
Assuring and enhancing livestock exports are recognized keys to supporting the local economies in north Somalia and neighboring regions in Ethiopia and Djibouti. In fact, the Horn of Africa countries have a long tradition in livestock rearing, and particularly in the northwest of Somalia this activity represents the main source of food and income for over 80 percent of the population. Moreover, the need to secure livelihood to a high number of returnees and displaced livestock owners in Somalia can be seen as an essential factor of development in the area, as well as a contribution to sustain the local administration. In addition, livestock export and trade represent not only the main source of food and income but also the only generating source of foreign currency, which is an essential element to promote the country development.
The project will establish an Export and Certification of Livestock for Export protocol, with the acronym (EXCELEX) for livestock destined for export from the Horn of Africa countries through an examination and certification process. The need to establish a credible certification system for animals destined to external markets is a core priority also in consideration of the new international rules and regulations in the sector. Moreover, many Arabian countries, such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), imposed a ban for livestock import from the Horn of Africa as a consequence of the Rift Valley Fever which broke out in Africa in 1997. New exporters such as Australia have entered the market and Somali exports collapsed with serious economic costs. At the moment the KSA is the only country that still maintains the ban, but the need for a more secure and controlled market has now become compulsive.
While the project is managed by FAO, the objective will be to develop management structures and human resources within the government livestock services in each of the zones in which it operates in order to strengthen these institutions and their capacity to continue to manage the system with efficient control and assurance when the project is complete. The project will modify the existing system of veterinary inspection and livestock export certification, bringing it up to a standard acceptable to specific importing countries. Furthermore, the project will harmonize the livestock export certification system between the various countries and regions of the Horn of Africa. The EXCELEX system to be created, through a participatory approach between the governments involved and relevant stakeholders, will aim at being verifiable in its outcome and open to inspection and audit by importing country authorities. The project will also assist the participating governments and stakeholders in establishing communication links between veterinary authorities in the Horn of Africa and veterinary authorities in the importing countries. Finally, the project will assist the governments and stakeholders to modernize and improve the livestock marketing system and infrastructure.
Description
The main objective project GCP/INT/811/ITA is to develop management structures and human resources within the livestock services in the following countries: Djibouti, Ethiopia, (Somali and Afar region) and Somalia (Puntland and Somaliland). It will operate as to strengthen local institutions and their capacity to continue to manage the system with efficient quality control.
The specific objectives which the project will achieve are: (i) to resume trade in livestock to the whole arabian peninsular; (ii) to assure importing countries that the risk of human or animal disease from inspected livestock is low and acceptable; (iii) to improve the livelihoods of pastoralists and others involved in livestock trade; and (iv) to generate foreign exchange and tax revenue for governments.
The project will adopt a three fold strategy consisting in: (i) examination of export livestock near their point of first sale, near a secondary market where they are gathered and bought by larger traders and at port of embarkation; (ii) identification and certification (although FAO will not certify as only Governments can); and (iii) information storage and dissemination. In this connection an EXCELEX database of livestock trade will be developed.
Activities and Main Results
The project was declared operational in September 2002. Lack of security and other unforeseen setbacks, delayed the actual start up of the activities. By March 2004 the project managed to put together an excellent and stable team of national consultants and to establish properly equipped project offices in Ethiopia, and both in Puntland and Somaliland. In Ethiopia, the project has organized short-term training courses, in order to enhance capabilities of veterinarians and animal health assistants to monitor livestock for export. Training sessions for veterinary inspectors are also being organized in Puntland and Somaliland. The training will allow veterinary inspectors certify the animal health status and attribute upgraded animal health certificates, certificates which have been developed by the project and have been approved by the Ethiopian Authorities. Ear tags have also been procured for individual identification of export animals. ‘Stock control points’, locations at which veterinary inspectors can monitor livestock for export, have been identified through stakeholder workshops, held in Afar and Somali Regions in Ethiopia and Somaliland. In Puntland, locations were so far reported by project consultants and a stakeholder workshop is scheduled later in 2005.
Thanks to the above mentioned actions taken, project-trained veterinary inspectors are now working for the local authorities and are assisting with the identification, inspection and certification of export animals from Ethiopia destined for Egypt. Export to Somaliland still needs more harmonization as Somaliland Authorities do not accept Ethiopian livestock certification.
In order to enable the local and regional veterinary authorities to carry out disease investigation and diagnosis related to disease of trade, three serum banks are being established. The main equipment, consisting of freezers and generators has been procured by the project for Somaliland and the veterinary laboratory in Dire Dawa (Somali Region, Ethiopia). The establishment of the third serum bank, in Puntland, is also progressing and is expected to be completed by the end of 2005.
Significant progress has also been made concerning the establishment of the project website for a regional information network on animal health and livestock markets. To ensure activity coordination, at national and regional level, a database has been designed, as a web based system that is accessible and updatable from the member countries throughout the sub-region covered by the project.
http://www.fao.org/tc/tcdm/italy/op_int811_en.asp?lang=en
Improvement and diversification of Somali livestock trade and marketing
» Overview
Project summary
The rationale for this project is based on what is considered to be a high but currently under-exploited potential for reaping greater benefits for stakeholders in the Somali livestock sector. This project therefore aims to contribute to improved Somali pastoral livelihoods by enhancing access of producers and traders to livestock export marketing support services, and fostering participation of Somali pastoralists in more effective, accountable and competent rural institutions.
The main activities include:
developing an inventory of marketing chains, institutions and agents from primary markets to export
defining grading standards for Somali livestock and livestock products to promote export and
assisting rural institutions to disseminate information related to livestock marketing at local and national levels.
Project objectives
In this project, ILRI is contributing towards understanding and pilot testing quality control systems for livestock and livestock products. This will be done through:
- Identifying critical intervention points along livestock market chains for strengthening capacity of actors and quality assurance services.
- Identifying options for building the capacity of rural institutions for planning livestock marketing services. These include:
- Strategies to monitor flow of export quality livestock through district and regional markets
- Approaches to developing a common understanding among stakeholders of different grades and quality standards of Somali breeds for export
Options for viable livestock marketing information systems.
Project location
Four zones in Somalia (Somaliland, Puntland, central and southern Somalia)
Project period: Three years (October 2005 to September 2008)
http://www.ilri.org/research/Content.asp?CCID=41&SID=180
"My only clan is womanhood": Building Women's Peace Identities
By: Shelley Anderson – WPP Program Officer
The belief that war is inevitable is closely connected with the belief in certain fixed gender roles. War, as researchers such as David Adams, Cynthia Cockburn, Betty Reardon and Joshua S. Goldstein show, requires a certain set of gender roles. War demands a pool of men conditioned to use violence upon command. It also demands a pool of women who support this use of violence. Changing such gender roles undermines the very essence of a war system.
But can human beings change? Is war inevitable? Are men inherently violence and women inherently passive? Fortunately the answer is no. Change is possible. We are not condemned to violence, David Adams writes, and he points to certain commonalities in the inner processes US activists like Jane Addams, Martin Luther King, Jr., and A.J. Muste have gone through on their way to becoming leaders for peace. Are these
psychological processes universal? Can peaceful identities be taught? Are the stages women go through in order to become effective and dedicated peacemakers the same as the stages men go through? Given that the life experiences of women and girls are different from those of men and boys, the latter is a key question. More research needs to be done to answer all these questions.
Sociologist Cynthia Cockburn has examined how women peace activists in the Balkans, Cyprus, Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine have been able to cross divided communities, devise common solutions to conflict, and work together for peace.
"Women," she writes, "learn from women's lives. Women's lives are different in many ways from those of men. Women's characteristic life experience gives them a potential for two things: a very special kind of intelligence, social intelligence; and a very special kind of courage, social courage. The courage to cross the lines drawn between us--which are also lines drawn inside our own heads. And the intelligence to do it safely and productively."
Adams writes that a sense of affiliation, or feeling part of a community, versus individualism, is an important part of the development of a peace identity. This sense of affiliation is certainly key in many peace women's development. Women are often in the middle of extensive family and kinship networks. They are often socialized from birth to be responsible for the maintenance of these relationships. In many societies, women also move away from their families of birth and into a new family network upon marriage.
They have, in the normal course of their lives, already crossed certain divides. This may give women an advantage as peacemakers. Women may have a personal commitment and link to several different communities that are in conflict. Women may also have experience in the skills of trust building and relationship building that can be utilized in making peace between communities in conflict. Yet this advantage may also come at a cost, as the story of Asha Haji Elmi illustrates. Women's lives contain many contradictions and complexities.
Several successful examples of this come from opposite sides of the world. The women's group Pro Femmes/Twese Hamwe in Rwanda has built "peace villages" which bring together both Hutu and Tutsi widows and orphans, in a graphic illustration that the two communities can live together again after the brutal 1994 genocide. Peace women in Cyprus have organized a bi-communal choir, children's peace camps, and internet networks in their work to bridge the divide between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.
Save Somali Women and Children (SSWC) was the first Somali cross-clan organization, said one of SSWC's founders, Asha Haji Elmi. "We began in 1992, after two years of civil war. This first initiative came from women in cross-clan marriages," she said, citing bitter personal experience. "I was divided in two. My birth clan rejected me because my husband was from a clan they were fighting. My husband's clan considered me a spy and a stranger. Where do I belong? I realized the only identity no one could take away from me was being a woman. My only clan is womanhood."
Meeting across clan lines was revolutionary-and dangerous. "For the first six months we couldn't say that our objective was peace. People were suspicious of us for several years, because we wanted to use women as a bridge for peace. We wanted to unite Somali women as one and to have one voice towards peace. Some war lords tried to destroy and divide us. They are the same ones who realize only God can stop us, so now they shake our hand."
During the first Somali Peace and Reconciliation conference in 2002, only men were recognized as official delegates. This was because only representatives of Somalia's five clans were allowed as official representatives-and traditionally only men represent the clan. The small cross-clan group of women Asha Haji Elmi led to the talks was denied a platform as they were not official clan representatives. The women responded by demanding a place in the negotiations as representatives of Somalia's sixth clan-the clan of women. The sixth clan was officially recognized, and the women were able to get a quota in the final resolution for women in government. Today, for the first time in Somali history, there are women in Parliament.
Save Somali Women and Children (SSWC) continues to work for peace. The women have managed to reopen some of the no-go streets in parts of Mogadishu. In the past walking or driving down such streets meant risking death at the hands of snipers or a war lord's patrols. Now there is safe access to Bender Hospital, the main paediatrics hospital.
Closed for eight years, the hospital is again open. SSWC is now conducting the Somali Give Peace a Chance campaign, which uses "the extensive women's networks to encourage communities to support the top-down peace initiatives" of the transitional government.
Green Africa
Trees are essential to village life in Kenya. Some trees are considered sacred and used in rituals to make peace; others are used to build homes. Collecting firewood for cooking and heating is a daily chore for village women. Deforestation results in erosion and is a stumbling block to development. Lack of development increases the burden on women of providing for the family.
Dr. Wangari Maathai sees these connections. In 1977, through the National Council of Women of Kenya, she launched a movement to protect the environment and to promote women's leadership. Using seedlings grown in her own backyard, she educated women on the need to plant trees. The highly successful nonviolent Green Belt Movement was born.
Today an estimated 80,000 people, including women and school leavers, have salaried work through some 3,000 nurseries in Kenya. Seedlings are raised and then sold to the Movement. Green Belt Rangers, mostly disabled people, educate communities on the planting and care of the seedlings, and regularly check that all is going well, thus ensuring an 80 percent survival rate for the trees. Over 20 million trees have been planted on farms and in compounds of schools and churches across the country.
The Green Belt
Movement has spread to 30 other African countries.
The struggle has not been easy. Wangari Maathai was clubbed and jailed for leading a civil disobedience campaign to save Uhuru Park in Nairobi's center. Police closed down her office to protect politically well-connected developers who wanted the Park for a construction project. In January 1999, she and two supporters were hospitalized after being attacked at a peaceful demonstration in Karura Forest, in northern Nairobi. She had led an attempt to plant seedlings there to replace trees that had been felled by real estate developers. The next month, after three Members of Parliament were arrested for inciting the protests, she barricaded herself in her own home to avoid arrest.
The struggle to save Karura Forest was also a struggle against government corruption, as then-President Arap Moi had transferred the land to private developers in order to raise money for his re-election campaign. The previous year, in October 1997, Wangari had organized an invasion of the Forest, to stop development of a luxury housing project. The fifty armed guards threw down their guns and ran away when they saw 500 activists marching on the site. The activists burnt the site offices, disabled concrete mixers and trucks, and planted over 2,000 trees.
"We have a special responsibility to the ecosystem of this planet," Wangari says. "In making sure that other species survive we will be ensuring the survival of our own." After the December 2002 elections that brought in a new government, Wangari was appointed Assistant Minister for the Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife. In December 2004, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Religion: A Double Edged Sword for Women
Adams has also written about the importance of personal integration and support from family and friends for peacemakers. This support is critical for women peacemakers. It sustains them, especially when many societies do not support women's acting and speaking out in public. Women especially find courage to speak out from their faith.
Many women peacemakers are concerned with the psychosocial, relational and spiritual aspects of peacebuilding. Buddhism, and the practice of Buddhist meditation, is crucial in Aung San Suu Kyi's continuing fight for democracy in Burma. Her Buddhist practice sustained her during almost seven years of house arrest. Adams has also written about the role anger plays in US peace leaders' development. Anger is a very problematic issue for women, as it is one emotion women are forbidden to express in many societies. Women peacemakers like Aung San Suu Kyi have written about how their spiritual practice helps them transform anger.
Other women peacemakers find their spiritual practice also sustains them, and helps them grapple with often painful issues of forgiveness and reconciliation. Yet religion, too, is a complex issue for women. While acknowledging the spiritual sustenance it provides in dangerous situations, many male religious leaders and masculine interpretations of religious texts deny women's leadership abilities and space in public life and discourse. In the USA, women trainers from the Muslim Peace Fellowship and the Baptist Peace Fellowship are pioneering training mixed groups of Muslims and Christians together in active nonviolence, in an attempt to heal the increasing mistrust and fear between these communities. They are also developing a more woman-oriented interpretation of their religious texts.
Conclusions
Women lead complex lives. They juggle many identities and responsibilities. Women are often custodians of traditions which provide a strong identity and at the same time marginalize them and deny them a space in public life. Women's peacemaking reveals this complexity. Women's peacemaking also reveals more insights on what may be needed to bridge the divides created by armed conflict, and to heal the wounds such conflict creates.
Activists in women's peace movements have broken new ground in developing strategies, organizations and tools for peace. Their work is often grounded in the pragmatic realities of daily life, realities which have the potential to lead to new definitions of peace. "There is a masculine conception of security, which involves an individual assertion of your own power and influence, pushing your own interests until there is a counter resistance," stated former International Alert Secretary General Kevin Clements at the 1999 international seminar 'The New Paradigm of Peace, Security and Development: A Gender Perspective' organized in Finland's parliament. Other definitions of security can differ from concepts of peace based on weapons or superior military strength. "Women know they are most secure when in solid relationships, reciprocal relationships based on cooperation. We need to assert this holistic understanding of how we relate to one another more," he said.
All of this points to the simple fact that peace needs a gender perspective. Peace is also not possible without the active involvement of women and girls. Any movement for peace cannot ignore women's roles in supporting conflict. In order to develop any model of how peace identities emerge, gender must be taken into account, and in particular the complexities and contradictions in women's lives. Likewise, any movement for peace cannot afford to ignore the energy, ideas and leadership women and girls bring to building peace
Shelley Anderson is the Program Officer of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation's (IFOR) Women Peacemakers Program (WPP), in the Netherlands. The WPP organizes and supports nonviolence training for women, including training of women trainers, and works to engender the peace movement. It is currently developing regional desks for gender-sensitive nonviolence training programs in Africa and Asia. For more information see www.ifor.org/WPP
http://www.ifor.org/WPP/article_May_05.pdf