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forward with the draft policy, assess what progress has been made and what has best facilitated
this progress and obtain the input of civil society organizations and other technical experts in
the drafting of a policy. Donors can further assist the government of Somaliland at this stage by
indicating their likely level of support for the decentralization process in the long-term.
Opportunity 3: Support efforts to establish legal mandates of ministries.
Related to the need for a single policy on decentralization, the government of Somaliland
should be supported to ensure that each ministry has a legal mandate which adequately
describes its current roles and responsibilities while also taking into account changes in future
remit. This process would help educate the public and ensure that decentralized local offices
are seen as legitimate, as well as clarify inter-governmental roles and responsibilities at both
horizontal and vertical levels. The UN Joint Program on Local Governance and Decentralized
Service Delivery II should, in theory, address this in terms of line ministry and decentralized
office responsibilities, but it requires effective prioritizing in practice. The mandate should also
set out the structure of ministries, including number of staff and respective job descriptions to
act as a basis for recruitment. Again, supporting this requires donors to be in a position to
indicate their likely future level of support to the internal organization and function of
ministries.
Opportunity 4: Support existing good governance and anti-corruption efforts.
While the issue of anti-corruption did not feature as a priority in workshop discussions,
participants showed both commitment to the need for and awareness of accountable and
transparent governance, and in the words of one local government participant, “Governments in
Africa can be corrupt and not work to the good of their people. It is our job to show a better
face than this.” The government of Somaliland itself has prioritized “good governance,” with
the creation of the Good Governance and Anti-Corruption Commission in 2012. Donors are
encouraged to support the commission as it undertakes its primary tasks of public awareness-
raising and carrying out investigations into the misuse of public funds, particularly in terms of
resourcing local-level efforts through offices, staff and transportation. It is recommended that
the work of the commission be monitored carefully in order to assess how effective its work is
without the powers of prosecution and to support the Ministry of Justice in working with the
Good Governance and Anti-Corruption Commission accordingly. It is important that current
momentum in this area be sustained if the commission is to establish itself as a powerful force
in government.
Opportunity 5: Support capacity for planning, national statistics, research and
information gathering.
Somaliland’s capacity for planning is currently weak, largely due to a dearth of data and lack of
staff equipped with the necessary analytical tools to use what data exists. Effective planning is
currently critical for a number of reasons, the most important being the need for the relevant
ministries (Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Interior, sector ministries) to plan how to
implement the
National Development Plan,
including planned activities, areas of focus and
allocation levels.
