The Somali Dialogue Platform is a programme, implemented by the Rift Valley Institute and FDG-Synergy, that works to facilitate agreement amongst Somalis on contentious political issues. It is supported by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development.
The third update from RVI's Somali Dialogue Platform project examines political dynamics around elections in Somalia and considerations for advancing dialogue to reach consensus.
Despite progress in some significant areas, Somalia’s politics continue to be shaped by stark differences between key political players. At the same time, the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic have accentuated political uncertainty and threaten to exacerbate tensions. This briefing describes these unfolding dynamics, and offers some suggestions for Somali stakeholders, and international…
Drawing on research carried out in Mogadishu in 2018, this briefing considers some of the economic and cultural constraints to increasing domestic revenue mobilization in Somalia.
The impact on the khat trade in particular is a good illustration of the economy’s regional and international connections, and the effects of anti-COVID-19 measures on cross-border movement and daily life inside Somalia. Measures to contain COVID-19 have imposed restrictions on khat imports (and consumption) that have affected livelihoods including women’s incomes, who make up most of the khat…
This blog explores a number of social, economic and health issues in Puntland in light of the pandemic in order to better understand not only Puntland’s response and localised economic impact, but also the context within which this political spat took place.
This brief focuses on the emerging economic impact of COVID-19 in Somaliland, reflecting on its local specificities as well as the still unpredictable repercussions of disruptions and alternatives to existing global supply chains.
What does a response to COVID-19 look like in the absence of functioning public health and welfare systems? Some early insights can be gleaned from Somalia, a country that since the early 1990s has suffered persistent state collapse, identity and religious conflict, and a series of humanitarian crises. Has the virus changed life in Somalia ‘as we know it’, or is it one crisis amongst many?
As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads into the Horn of Africa, and as diaspora communities become affected by lockdowns, layoffs and illness, the remittance lifeline that sustains more than 40% of Somalis is being attenuated. This blog outlines a number of issues related to remittances and Somalia in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The world is struggling to respond to the coronavirus as COVID-19 transmission proceeds to escalate. Only few cases have been recorded in the Somali region so far but, due to absent and inadequate health services, there is fear that the pandemic may hit extremely hard.
