36
Somaliland is its relative lack of support of freedom of the press and expression and viewed the
only prior substantive engagement on media as having been in the context of elections.
Donors interviewed offered ideas for entry points for media programming, including reform of
Somaliland law as it relates to the press, support to private radio and the institutionalization of
an independent regulatory body. Donor representatives stated:
I would definitely want the media to open up in Somaliland - definitely. The
thing is some basic relations have to be in place first. The legislation has to be in
place. There has to be a self-regulating council of some sort for the media.
And:
Probably the biggest disappointment for me is the - and probably the biggest dent
on its democratic development is the lack of a broadcasting law which would then
allow for independent media. While independent media is strong in Puntland and
South Central, there is only the government-run radio station, and then Voice of
America and BBC. And while Silanyo campaigned, one of his campaign pieces
was that he would bring independent radio to Somaliland, I think one of the
reasons you’re seeing them backsliding in terms of their democratic development
or progress is because they don’t have a multiplicity of ideas out there from
Somalis. And not having independent media is a very strong cornerstone of a
democracy, and they don’t have it.
An implementing partner also encouraged support to independent media by saying:
There’s no such thing as free press [in Somaliland]…If you’re going to get
featured, they’re going to want you to pay. Earned media, that doesn’t really exist
in Somaliland. So, there needs to be some work done on media. Because then
what it really means is that the only information that’s getting out into countryside
is through the official radio station, and that is it. Unlike South Central where
there is a plethora of community radio stations, there is nothing [in Somaliland].
And they really do need to work on reforming the media law to allow for
community radio.
Governance
Among the donors that prioritized support to democratic governance in Somaliland, two general
but interrelated themes emerged. First, donors encouraged governance support to be focused at
the local level as opposed to national level governance programming with executive ministries.
One donor stated, “national governance is fed by local governance…everything is local.”
Another donor agency representative explained:
I would put the ministries lower on the list in the hopes that more of that service
delivery attention and the capacity could be focused at the local levels. I think
that we, too often, put our eggs in the ministries baskets expecting service
delivery and end up being disappointed, both with the capacity building and with
the service delivery, and don’t get anything at the local level either.
Second, donors emphasized a need to support improved service delivery, with interviewees
explaining “you have to understand that citizens equate service delivery with a functioning
