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Opportunity 4: Fund national survey research to increase access to independent national
statistics and information on public priorities.
Somalilanders in general have limited access to information; this limitation is compounded
when it comes to information that parties can use to determine priority issues and for advocacy
work and campaign strategy development, including issue identification. Interestingly, political
party participants of strategy workshops and interviews did not note any reference to or priority
interest in the subcategories of “issue identification” and “issue-based message content
development.” This is due partly to the fact that political parties do not yet base their platforms
on issues (further developed under opportunity seven), and partly due to a common
characteristic of political elites worldwide: a perception that they already know what is best and
what is necessary for their constituents and country. This belief is a combination of elite
sensibility and lack of information with which to make such judgments. One international
organization interviewee noted it in this way:
One of the challenges, though, is good data. You know as well as I know that
you put 10 elites around the table and they're going to all agree and say “we’re
the clan elders, we’re the opinion leaders, and so we know what our people
want,” so their decision-making is done very much anecdotally because there's
no good data…So I think the decisions are being made the best they can, but
they're also being made in the absence of good data to inform what it is the
donors should be doing.
Another noted the following:
Our experience shows that oftentimes the elites are quite deprived; that their
view of the world is different than an average person’s view of the world.
Again, to correct that, there needs to be some investment in good data collection.
Survey research, such as public opinion polling, underpins much of political party work;
political parties are, after all, issue aggregators and representatives of the people. Access to
survey research is critical for their ability to understand their constituents and constituent needs,
formulate policy responses, develop and target appropriate message, and design campaign
strategies.
While the fact that political parties in Somaliland operate without reference to data is
symptomatic of larger challenges related to the lack of information in the country (media
professionalism, internet penetration, educational access, etc.), public opinion polling is a
discreet project that lends itself well to international, non-partisan donor support. Somalilanders
may have more confidence in polling results if managed by international organizations and
funders.
Opportunity 5: Support the organization of political party congresses in advance of
forthcoming elections.
The
Pillars of Peace
report noted the following with regard to Somaliland’s political party
congresses:
