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security and political reasons, strict regulations on official personnel travelling to Somalia,
which includes travel to Somaliland. The effect of limited ability to travel to Somaliland was
explained by one donor in the following way:
I think one of the frustrations as a donor that has very tight security restrictions
and travel restrictions on us is it’s very difficult to be able to get out and talk
with key stakeholders and really get a feel for programs on the ground because
you’re limited in your access to it, so we’re highly dependent on folks coming
through Nairobi and telling us what is going on, or relying on our partners that
are working on it to tell us what’s going on. But I think there’s something to be
said for donors to be able to have their own engagement with key stakeholders
and hear direct feedback from them.
As articulated above, several of the donors interviewed indicated that they have instituted
mechanisms to attempt to minimize the challenges that come with being based in Nairobi,
including heightened coordination and information sharing with each other and their
implementing and local partners. One donor explained: “that engagement can be improved
[through] a closer cooperation with the stakeholders on the ground.” In a positive development,
some donor agencies have already established a satellite office or other form of limited presence
in Hargiesa, or are planning to do so in the near future. Additionally, members of the
Democratization Steering Committee (described below under “Coordination”) have also
recently made efforts to make short trips as a group to Hargeisa to hold coordination meetings
with implementing and local partners.
Programming is Focused Primarily on Hargeisa and Other Major Cities
In contrast to the challenges faced by the international donor community in traveling to and
establishing a presence in Somaliland, many of their international implementing partners have
operations based in Somaliland in some capacity, with a combination of international and local
staff working in-country on a full or part-time basis. However, similar to the challenge listed
above, many of the international implementing partners lamented difficulties traveling and
working outside of Hargeisa, namely due to security concerns. Implementing partners
articulated the following in this regard:
What’s always a challenge in these environments is security and our ability,
especially on and around Election Day, to then get out and about. I know that was
a frustration for our team this time around;
Yes, security is a challenge;
Obviously, logistics is a challenge, travel is a challenge, security is a challenge.
Despite the concerns over security, implementing partners keenly expressed a desire to reach
populations outside of Hargeisa with their programs. While this does not prohibit programming
in other areas of Somaliland – almost all of the programs currently being implemented work in
some capacity with partners and in locations outside the capital – implementing partners placed
a high priority on increasing the level of work outside Hargeisa. Sentiments expressed in this
regard include the following:
