The 13-month education project funded by EU Humanitarian Aid targets 4,000 crisis-affected children in the Bakool region of Southwest State in Somalia.
A new education project addresses the challenges of thousands of children to access integrated and inclusive education in crisis-affected areas of Somalia.
FCA partners with local organisation GREDO to rehabilitate schools, provide school supplies and train teachers in Hudur district, a hard-to-reach area in the Bakool region of Southwest State where many internally displaced people (IDPs) live.
The project is funded with a grant of 750,000 euros by EU Humanitarian Aid (ECHO).
The Education in Emergencies intervention will primarily focus on quality primary education for IDP school-aged children and an Accelerated Basic Education (ABE) programme for children and youth who are out of school or never attended school.
Children from the local communities in Hudur district that hosts IDPs are also supported, as they also have minimal access to learning opportunities in the region.
Insecurity, conflict and natural disasters cause displacement
Hudur lies some 373 kilometres west of the capital Mogadishu and has faced significant access constraints due to high presence of militant groups in its outskirts.
Hudur has a population of around 100,437 inhabitants of which an estimated 42,504 are IDPs (24,322 males and 36,482 females) residing in 26 settlements across the district.
“Years of devastating insecurity and conflict as well as natural disasters such as drought and floods have led to massive displacement, interrupting the lives of ordinary Somalis and preventing children from going to school. And with the outbreak of COVID-19, EU Humanitarian Aid is committed to supporting education for children caught in crisis and giving displaced children the chances in life they deserve,” said Morten Petersen, Technical Assistant for EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid in Somalia.
Renovation of school facilities and training of teachers
An assessment conducted by FCA in 2019 revealed that a lack of classrooms and safe learning spaces in addition to limited awareness and information have contributed to this education deficit. The children are denied the chance to education due to lack of opportunities and insecurity. Classrooms have not been renovated for over 30 years and are missing furniture and supplies. IDP settlements lack learning facilities.
With EU Humanitarian Aid’s support, FCA and GREDO will rehabilitate 15 classrooms and establish 40 new Temporary Learning Spaces in five schools and 30 gender-sensitive water and sanitation facilities. The project also provides training for 80 teachers in inclusive pedagogy while strengthening the capacity of community education committees, school administration and district education personnel to ensure quality and inclusive education.
Education Minister of South West State of Somalia, Mr Mohamed Yusuf Hassan hailed EU Humanitarian Aid’s support to Somalia through FCA and GREDO.
“This is an ample opportunity for the education of Somalia’s children in Hudur, where many children are out of school owing to limited opportunities and insecurity in the region. We appreciate this incredible support to the education of our children especially during the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused disruption of schools and education in the world, hence exposing children to abuse and risk”, he said.
Read more about FCA’s work in Somalia here.
Galmudug State of Somalia launched a new district council formation process that promotes inclusive participation of women, youth and other marginalised groups. The event took place in Galkayo last week.
The process targets the state’s districts of Adado and South Galkayo, homes to a population of hundreds of thousands. The initiative is part of the EU’s stabilisation effort in peacebuilding and state-building in Somalia, implemented by FCA and two other consortium members, CRD and EISA. The aim is to decentralise power and improve stability at a grassroots level.
“The power is on your shoulders now. We look forward to efficient, inclusive and competent councils to run district business,” said Ms Fadumo Abdi Ali, Galmudug Second Deputy Speaker at the launch. She also highlighted the need for supporting women’s meaningful participation and representation in decision-making process.
The EU reiterated its continuous support for state-building in Somalia, not only in the district council formation process but also through local peace dividend programs after the councils are formed.
Galmudug State Minister of Interior and local government H.E Abdi Mohamed Wayel speaking at the launch event.
Galmudug State President Ahmed Abdi Kaariye also urged everyone to ensure the genuine role of women and youth in the process.
“Galmudug women are the backbone of our development, stability and rebuilding the state. I would like to campaign for a woman to become Mayor in one of our cities,” he said.
Long-term support for reconciliation and women’s political participation
Since 2013, FCA has supported local community reconciliation, civic engagement, local council formation women and youth engagement, capacity building, strategic communication and peace dividends in South Central Somalia.
FCA and the EU delegation to Somalia has supported the formation of district councils and women’s political participation across four Federal Member States of Somalia, namely South West State, Hirshabelle, Jubbaland and Galmudug since 2016. As a result, two district councils of Berdale and Hudur in South West State were successfully formed in 2017 and 2018 respectively. With FCA’s active lobbying and advocacy, two women were elected amongst the 21 district councilors in Berdale.
Currently, the district formation process is undergoing in Jowhar and Buloberde of Hirshabelle, Adado and South Galkacyo of Galmudug.
You have all seen the pictures: At the conclusion of a peace process, when representatives of conflict parties shake their hands. Peace building is about bringing people (back) together. It is about reuniting people. Sitting at the same table. Reducing distance.
Covid-19 is tough on us in so many ways, it changes everything (at least temporary) and it also changed how we make peace. Our usual responses to overcome disagreement or conflict – like important symbolic acts of shaking hands, or even hugging – are indeed out of the question. Shuttle diplomacy – flying people to a neutral location to discuss and negotiate – feels like a relic from old times.
Peace building practitioners, like so many others, need to find other ways of working during this crisis. But first: why talk about peace building now – isn’t Covid-19 a health question and everything else comes only after?
It is true and justified for health to be the centre of attention, yet as Covid-19 changes the world we know on a global scale, the virus affects all societies deeply. The virus does not care about sectors. The virus’ impact on societies is highly likely to differ a lot from country to country, in terms of timing and depth, and this relates eventually also to questions of violent conflict and security.
In fragile context, where Finn Church Aid mostly operates, institutions and sectors are not prepared for a crisis such as this, and there are many countries in which even small shocks can make the difference between fragile peace and violent conflict. Even though the virus makes all countries appear to sit at the same table, in practice we are not: some countries will be much more affected than others, with a risk of the crisis translating into renewed violent conflict.
Even when times are challenging, even near-future predictions remain very blurry, and solutions difficult to find, let’s get to work and see what we can do. Let’s turn the spotlight to things that are hopeful and that may help us get to see beyond the layers of crisis looming at the horizon:
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s appeal for a worldwide cessation of hostilities amid the Covid-19 pandemic. At least one conflict party in twelve countries has responded to the call for a global ceasefire. In other parts of the world, external actors may also reduce their hostilities, and even though this may be temporary, it may lead to a new window of negotiations. It is central to support and strengthen peace building where possible, as the underlying conditions for peace are indeed not in support of a more peaceful world. Rather alarmingly, an increase in typical conflict drivers such as inequality, poverty, weak governance, or missing opportunities for political participation may indeed increase the risk of violent conflict in many societies.
- Physically distant, yet digitally close and social. Many societies are forced to see each other more online, even though many people prefer meeting face to face. This may lead to a different level of how we can be comfortable with each other online, as the next best thing after seeing someone in person. In a way, people around the world become digitally closer, and this may translate into opportunities for dialogue and conflict transformation. It is – though – also a challenge, because only half of the world is online , which may lead to even more negative consequences for disconnected people in quarantine.
- The initial response to Covid-19 has been a national and inward-looking one in many countries. But let’s forget about the absurd examples – the global bidding war on medical masks or totally ill–timed reduction of funding for WHO – for a moment. Covid-19 can still become the case proving that global collaboration (for example in overcoming this crisis and its consequences) benefits all.
We – as global, currently digital peace builders – need to find ways to react on those points above. Finding ways to sustain fragile peace even in contexts that will be hit hard by this crisis, in societies with very limited own coping mechanisms.
We need to build on all networks that we have, the formal and informal. Here, for example, religious actors may be able to reach out to those that are digitally disconnected. Faith leaders may indeed reach the difficult to reach. Or young peacebuilders with their ability (as youth do) to rethink how else we can communicate, even when it is difficult. Or women responding digitally to support victims of gender-based violence, an issue amplified by families not being able to leave homes during the quarantine.
Yes, fighting against Covid-19 has started with health. Some of the key actors during the initial crisis, such as the Robert Koch Institute, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and so on, have shown that fighting a pandemic you need to share information and learn from each other very quickly. When dealing with an invisible enemy that spreads exponentially at first, there is no time to waste.
As digital peace builders, utilizing our networks, we also need to learn from this crisis. Because when the storm after the virus hits, disrupting societies further through the threat of violent conflict, we need to be at our best-supporting people to sustain peace, rebuild trust in institutions and help societies recover. However admirably resilient those societies are – support will be needed.
Matthias Wevelsiep works as Senior Operations and Program Manager for the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers Secretariat.
Illustration: Carla Ladau
Finn Church Aid (FCA) has granted 100,000 euros to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in South Sudan, Somalia and Uganda, in addition to 50,000 euros previously allocated to Kenya.
Vulnerable communities across the world are bracing for the impact of a potential spread of the coronavirus.
An essential part of slowing down the pandemic is maintaining sufficient hand hygiene and avoiding human contact but the measures are not easy to apply in for instance refugee contexts. Camps and settlements are densely populated, and people even lack access to soap.
Uganda hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa. FCA partners with the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR in the education sector and the work includes the two largest refugee settlements: Bidibidi in the north and Kyaka in the southwest of Uganda. They are home to over 250,000 refugees.
Uganda has closed schools across the country to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. By early April, Uganda had recorded 44 cases of the COVID-19 disease. The actual number might be higher.
FCA raises awareness on necessary hygiene practices and measures among school children, their families, and teachers. The information is shared through the radio, text messages and posters. FCA also distributes soap and other hygiene products to families and increases handwashing facilities. Within communities, mobilisers also share information through megaphones.
The work is financed with 50,000 euros from FCA’s disaster fund.
If schools remain closed, children from vulnerable families risk severe consequences. Many have access to clean water, food and emotional support only at school. They face a greater risk of violence, child labour, harassment, pregnancy and child marriage when they are out of school.
FCA’s Country Director Wycliffe Nsheka says that FCA also implements precautionary measures to allow schools to open safely when the time comes.
“We are adding handwashing facilities, disinfectants and maintaining facilities, and we prepare to train teaches in psychosocial support”, he says.
A lack of water and a fragile administration increase Somalia’s vulnerability
In Somalia, FCA starts awareness-raising initiatives in its six schools in Baidoa. The town hosts the second largest population of internally displaced people in Somalia. FCA granted 15,000 euros to the intervention.
Somalia had recorded five cases of COVID-19 by early April. The actual number might be higher.
Somalia has also closed all schools. FCA can reach around 3,200 school children and their families through school committees and teachers. Country Director Mika Jokivuori says that FCA arranges campaigns with the help of community mobilisers, distributes posters, gives guidance on hand hygiene and provides families with soap.
“The Baidoa area is particularly vulnerable because of a fragile administration, and a lack of healthcare and water. Schools cannot provide clean water to pupils on a daily basis”, Jokivuori adds.
FCA’s community mobilisers demonstrate handwashing practices and other precautions in Baidoa, Somalia in March 2020. Photo: FCA
Children in the Baidoa area do not have smartphones and connections that allow distance learning. School closures thus further restrict the learning opportunities and well-being of children and youth that are already in a vulnerable position.
When schools reopen in Somalia, FCA will continue its awareness-raising by training teachers and pupils, establish school hygiene clubs and campaign for a safe return to school
Urgent need for precautionary measures in conflict-affected South Sudan
South Sudan’s government has also closed the country’s schools for at least a month, starting March 20th. The country has not recorded a single case of COVID-19 by early April, but the risks are high due to a fragile healthcare system and a challenging humanitarian situation.
Around 1,5 million people live internally displaced within South Sudan following years of conflict, and before the coronavirus pandemic, 7,5 million were already in need of humanitarian assistance. Malaria and diarrhoea are already common diseases, and a spread of the coronavirus would result in unprecedented consequences.
FCA has supported education for over 25,000 children and youth in Mingkaman, Fangak and Tonga, which are located in Lakes State, Jonglei State and Upper Nile State.
Although there are no recorded cases of COVID-19 in South Sudan at this point, there is a desperate need to have interventions in place, says FCA’s Country Director Berhanu Haile.
A group of volunteer teachers participated in FCA’s teacher training in New Fangak, South Sudan in March 2020. Now FCA begins to distribute information on the coronavirus and hygiene practices in schools through teachers. Photo: Maria de la Guardia / FCA.
South Sudan’s government is working with humanitarian aid agencies to support the fight against COVID-19 through awareness-raising and mass sensitization, including people living in internally displaced people camps.
“We must ensure that parents, children, teachers and the wider communities are sensitized and supported with essential lifesaving utilities like soap to prevent the spread of the looming pandemic if cases are recorded at a later stage. Prevention is better than cure”, Haile says.
FCA’s intervention reaches over 21,000 children, teachers and parents. Soap is distributed to 1,500 families. FCA’s disaster fund supports the actions with 35,000 euros.
Preparing for reconstruction after the corona crisis
The number of coronavirus cases and restrictions to contain the outbreak change quickly in different countries. FCA is prepared to modify and adapt its operations according to needs and circumstances, says Eija Alajarva, Head of Humanitarian Assistance.
FCA monitors developments in its countries of operation. Alajarva emphasises that despite the current chaos, we also have to look into the future.
“When the pandemic slows down and restrictions are removed, we have to support particularly children and youth returning to school”, she says.
Children and youth might need psychosocial support and remedial classes because their learning was disrupted
Entrepreneurs in developing countries also need support after the crisis. Movement restrictions threaten the income within the service sector, and the income of farmers usually depends on access to markets.
“Although our programme countries have yet the worst ahead of them, it is vital to prepare for reconstruction to ensure that there are no delays for it when the time comes”, Alajarva says.
The coronavirus pandemic does not mean that other crises are less urgent but it has rapidly restricted work with development cooperation, humanitarian aid, peacebuilding and climate change. We now have to fight many battles at the same time.
When the severity of the coronavirus dawned upon the world, I was in a remote location in South Sudan. In New Fangak’s swamp, movement is possible either by foot or boat. There are no roads or cars, and the isolation is sealed with only one flight a week.
New Fangak was severely hit by the conflict that broke out in South Sudan in 2013. The ruins of a hospital serve as a reminder of the crisis – and of its vulnerability to yet another one.
For the time being, New Fangak’s inaccessibility might keep it safe from the coronavirus. The people are currently concerned about the severe lack of food. Unprecedented floods had wiped out crops and drowned cattle. Many survive on porridge made from tree leaves.
Imagine being at the brink of famine, at the frontlines of climate change and on top of that facing the threat of a deadly global pandemic.
The pandemic poses a severe risk to work against climate change
The battle against the coronavirus has put the world in a difficult position with respect to its most vulnerable people.
People in countries with existing humanitarian crises are particularly exposed to the coronavirus, especially the world’s 65 million refugees and internally displaced people. Development and humanitarian aid operations have to adapt to tackle the virus.
At the same time, organisations are forced to scale back their operations and call home international staff. Education projects are halted when governments close schools, peace efforts are delayed with bans on gatherings, and humanitarian aid workers avoid travelling to reduce the risk of transmitting the coronavirus to remote locations with no healthcare.
Some of the restrictions designed for tackling the pandemic might look like they would serve the battle against climate change. The coronavirus has rapidly restricted global travel and consumption, far more abruptly and efficiently than the anti-climate change movement. But it is not an achievement. The pandemic actually poses severe risks for work against climate change as prosperity declines and suffering economies urgently need stimulation. Emissions can even increase when industries are back in business.
The political will for financial commitments to tackling climate change might decrease as a result of the cost of fighting the coronavirus. The same risk is evident for any other crisis as major donors fear a global recession might hit them at home.
But the economic decline will have more severe effects on low-income countries, like those in Sub-Saharan Africa. Millions of families live from hand to mouth. A woman working at any local market usually spends her daily income to feed her family in the evening. When she is forced to close her business her family suffers the consequences the very next day.
A prolonged crisis with societal lockdowns risks exacerbating poverty and cause discontent.
People in fragile countries like South Sudan are facing multiple crises but governments and organisations are forced to restrict development cooperation and humanitarian work to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
We have to respond to many crises at the same time
It is clear that we need to fight the coronavirus today. The need for health care support, dissemination of information, thorough hygiene practices and social distancing is acute.
But we cannot afford to forget everything else. At the other end of the urgency-scale are much-needed systemic changes to battle the climate crisis. We cannot give up on the need to rethink transport, infrastructure, food and energy production and much more. We also need to continue peacebuilding efforts and respond to food crises that are key for stability.
While the battle against the coronavirus is a hundred-meter sprint – and the race is well underway – the battle against climate change is a marathon, and all other crises fall in between. We just have to run all races at the same time.
Because all crises are bound together by the need for global cooperation and resilient societies.
Erik Nyström is Finn Church Aid’s Manager of International Communications.
In the days before YouTube, my high school history teacher showed us a documentary film during a lesson on the Nazi regime in Germany. Usually, the behavior of our class was a cross between ironic or cynical and bored or disinterested. It was certainly never quiet. However, this documentary showed the opening of Auschwitz right after the war and the remains of the concentration camp victims there. It was so grave to see that the whole class fell silent. Even my teacher could not speak afterwards. Maybe this could be an example of simplepeace technology: using the documentation of war atrocities to keep the war memories alive, thus sustaining peace.
PeaceTech may sound futuristic, but it is definitely not a recent invention. Fast forward to the YouTube-influenced media world of today, where the violent recruitment strategies of groups, such as Isis, drastically show how easily PeaceTech documentaries of violence can be used as WarTech. Technology is never unidirectional.
PeaceTech refers to technology being used to take tangible steps towards comprehensive and sustainable peace. So, could we say that lack of peace + technology = peace? Is it really that simple? Of course not.
It is often said that technology is neutral and its use can lead to either positive or negative outcomes, depending on the application of the technology. The neutrality argument has been used, for example, by Facebook, which has described itself as a neutral platform not responsible for the content or the publications. However, Facebook has come under pressure for failing to take action against hate speech in Myanmar, for allowing customer data to be collected without user permission, and for building psychological profiles on potential voters. So, technology is not neutral in practice, but can be utilized for many purposes. It can drive and enable sustainable peace and it allows a diversity of routes through which complex conflict scenarios can be expressed. Simultaneously (and maybe more dominantly) technology is a driver and enabler of conflict.
We have become highly digitalized societies. This suggests that peace-making efforts need to take advantage of technology as well.
Technology and digitalization are an increasingly integral part of society: not in the sense that the term “cyberspace” was used when it was coined in the early 1980s, but in the sense of surrounding and interacting with us as an omnipresence, which disappears for that very reason. We have become highly digitalized societies, where algorithms, artificial intelligence, and robotics play a central role in new developments. All of this suggests that peace-making efforts need to take advantage of technology as well. Thus, PeaceTech can offer much more than simply a means of admiring technology. It can offer new avenues to explore in the search for peace. Since violent conflict is a massive global problem, the digital avenue cannot be ignored in the search for peace.
The argument that we need PeaceTech because of WarTech may seem mundane, but it is a reality. WarTech is booming, although not always with this label or very visibly. Nevertheless, cyber weapons are used openly as well, and as though that were not bad enough, they are used to target civilians directly or indirectly. Targeting and disrupting the infrastructure seems to be common. According to the New York Times, “the United States is stepping up digital incursions into Russia’s electric power grid in a warning to President Vladimir V. Putin and a demonstration of how the Trump administration is using new authorities to deploy cyber tools more aggressively”. The incursions are part of the revenge on Russian incursions against American data networks. The United States and Russia are waging a digital cold war—and it is threatening to heat up.
Forgiving increases peace, and there’s no better time to focus on the theme than on the International Day of Peace. None of the current emojis says ”I forgive you”. FCA Network for Peacemakers is one of the partner organizations in the Forgivemoji campaign, launched in Finland this autumn, crowdsourcing ideas for an emoji to be used for forgiving. The winning emoji will be introduced to the official Unicode collection at the end of this year.
You can still join the campaign: #forgivemoji www.forgivemoji.com
The ultimate goal of the Forgivemoji campaign is to get forgivemoji added to the list of emojis. In November this year, the campaign team will decide on the best idea and send it to the Unicode Consortium. Unicode manages the emoji list and provides framework for services and device manufacturers to use them.
Unicode updates its emoji list once a year. For example, in 2019, Unicode announced they would be adding 59 new emojis to the selection, with variations totalling at 230. The process of introducing a new emoji can take two years, and the application must include explanation for the use and frequency of the emoji.
On the campaign’s website www.forgivemoji.com, visitors can vote from a selection of emoji designs or submit their own artwork and sketches. The original idea for the forgivemoji campaign came from a surprising source – The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Currently, the ELFC is celebrating their #rauha (Eng. peace) theme year, which highlights peace as a national focus in Finland.
”In our modern digital communication culture, emojis are an essential way of expressing human feelings beyond words. We were surprised to realise that the official emoji selection has dozens of different cats and even two designs of zombies, but there isn’t an emoji for forgiveness. Through crowdsourcing ideas for the design of an emoji for forgiveness, this campaign also strives to promote a message of peace and mutual understanding the world over,” says Mr Tuomo Pesonen, Communications Director of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, one of the founding organisations of the #forgivemoji campaign.
Partnering with a Nobel peace laureate
To kickstart the campaign, the ELCF partnered with various charitable and peace-building organisations, including Felm, Finn Church Aid, Helsinki Deaconess Foundation, and the National Movement for Reconciliation. Another important partner is Crisis Management Initiative CMI, the conflict-resolving organisation founded by former President of Finland and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mr Martti Ahtisaari.
”Our vision comes from President Ahtisaari – all conflicts can be solved. What people has started, people can end. Emojis are a modern way to use dialogue and forgiveness is an integral part of that dialogue,” says Elina Lehtinen, Director of Communications & Fundraising at CMI.
Sara Linnoinen from Finn Churd Aid’s peace network highlights the role forgiveness plays in creating peace.
”Peace is vital for people to be able to lead safe lives in their home countries. Forgiveness is a very important part of peace-creation,” Linnoinen says.
Additional information:
#forgivemoji
www.forgivemoji.fi
Pictures: https://kaikuhelsinki.kuvat.fi/kuvat/forgivemoji/
Finn Church Aid
Sara Linnoinen
Acting Head of Secretariat, Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers
sara.linnoinen(at)kua.fi
+358 406 216 085
With the support of FCA, psychotherapist Rowda Olad works in grassroots-level mental health care and participates in the reconciliation work in Somalia.
”In Somalia, people talk about invisible wounds, dhaawac yada qarsoon,” says psychotherapist Rowda Olad and describes how shocked she was to see the state of the entire nation’s mental health when she arrived in Somalia in 2016.
”A young boy was driving the moped taxi, tuktuk, at breakneck speed through central Mogadishu. I asked him to slow down. ’You’re going to get us killed!’ I yelled from the back seat. ’What does it matter if we die,’ the boy replied.”
”I was extremely shocked.”
Rowda says she immediately noticed that especially young men were not only fearless but also very angry. But in fact, almost everybody in Somalia seemed to be suffering from psychological traumas caused by the civil war and the violence, or from post-traumatic symptoms resulting from them.
”There is a lot of crime, as well as disregard for other people’s possessions or lives. Whenever there was an explosion in Mogadishu, people rushed to see what had happened, whereas the natural reaction would be to run away.”
”A person who is not afraid is not psychologically healthy,” says Rowda. “Seeing mutilated humans and bodies or victims of explosions is traumatising, especially to children.”
She witnessed and recorded all this during the first year after she and her family moved back to Somalia in 2016.
Psychological trauma changes a person’s world view and behaviour. In Somalia, aggressive behaviour can be seen often in everyday situations.
”Even during high-level political meetings, people may lose their temper at the drop of a hat.”
As a refugee in the United States
Rowda, who was born in Mogadishu, has her share of war trauma. The civil war began when she was seven years old.
Her siblings and other relatives scattered all over the world. With her uncle’s family, Rowda fled to the state of Ohio in the United States. She went to school and studied, but once she graduated from high school, she could not decide straight away what she wanted to do when she grew up. So, she volunteered to do social work with AmeriCorps. She helped Muslim immigrants, the Somali diaspora, young and old alike – and saw and experienced lots of things that could only be explained by the people’s backgrounds.
She started a volunteer group for young Somali women and became interested in studying to be a psychologist and psychotherapist. She also became fascinated with facets of Somali culture; what causes things? Why do we do this or think like this?
Rowda dreams of establishing a national mental health care system in Somalia. Photo: Kristiina Markkanen
Rowda studied, graduated, and worked as a psychotherapist. When the situation in Somalia began to settle down and the first post-war parliamentary election was held in 2016, even Rowda decided to move back to Somalia.
Rowda got involved in politics and initially worked in regional administration, but mental health care became more and more attractive. She dreams of founding a national mental health system in Somalia, entailing the entire structure, creating the foundations and the missing words for the work.
”For us, a person is either insane, waali, or not insane. There is no in-between, there are no other words. People who become seriously mentally ill are put in the hospital and forgotten there.”
”It is shocking,” she says.
Mental health care step by step
Rowda started her work in Somalia with small steps. She has been engaged in volunteer work and has spoken about mental health to representatives of the Ministry of Health.
”First, my aim has been to open people’s eyes to the role of mental health in people’s behaviour and actions, and from there, I have slowly expanded the idea to the national level.”
Rowda believes it is impossible for reconstruction and national reconciliation work to succeed without dealing with the trauma experienced by families, individuals and entire communities as well.
When people are traumatised, their capacity to function is impaired, which affects things such as their ability to work.
”The productivity of the entire nation, including entrepreneurs and civil servants as well as farmers, remains low.”
Rowda has started her own practice in Somalia, and with the support of FCA among others, has began a form of preliminary mental health care that she calls psychoeducation.
The purpose of the work is to talk about mental health and to provide different population groups with information. Topics include stress, depression, and how to overcome psychological trauma. What is considered ordinary grief and what kind of suffering is bad enough to require treatment.
The work also includes mental health care for prisoners and prison wardens. Inmates in the prisons of Somalia include both petty criminals and former terrorists, and it is important to get them too to commit to the development of Somalia.
A prison in Somalia. Photo: Jari Kivelä
”Even in prison, I provide mental health education for groups, during which we talk about how the human mind works. I also do clinical work, give diagnoses, and offer individual therapy to those who need it. Sometimes I have to refer an inmate exhibiting severe psychological symptoms to hospital treatment.”
Working with inmates, Rowda goes through their identity and the paths that led them to prison. Those who grew up surrounded by war and violence may not have the kind of identity that allows them to see themselves as citizens of an organised society.
”For example, when I ask them who their role models are, they don’t say that as a child they wanted to be a doctor or a teacher, but might reply that they admire their father who was a war hero.”
Rowda says that she will soon start working with the families of inmates as well. This is difficult because many families have moved. However, the Somali culture is very family-oriented, and Rowda believes it is possible for criminals to become rehabilitated into society if they receive strong support from their family and community.
Even therapy is a completely new concept in Somalia. There are only doctors and psychiatrists who work in hospitals and prescribe medication. If a doctor gives a person medicine, the person gets better.
”When I tell a patient I am offering them treatment, they expect medication, not discussion.”
She also hopes that mental health issues become part of reconciliation work. Rowda believes there will be no real peace in Somalia before recognising trauma and overcoming it is taken seriously on the national level.
Text: Kristiina Markkanen
Translation: Leena Vuolteenaho
Rowda Olad visited Finland in June for the National Dialogues Conference for peace work organised by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Felm, CMI, and Finn Church Aid.
Promising progress has been made to improve public service delivery in Jowhar, Somalia. A new initiative will contribute to strengthening of stability in the country through decentralized service delivery and improved accountability in decision-making.
The process to establish councils to strengthen local governance structures providing services was kicked off in an official ceremony that took place in Jowhar in May, 2019. The purpose of the new councils will be to provide access to basic public services such as education, healthcare, water, sanitation, public transport and administrative services, and engage citizens in local development.
The initiative is part of a project implemented and supported by Finn Church Aid (FCA) and funded by the European Union.
The Vice President of Hirshabelle, H.E Ali Abdullahi Hussein, launched the initiative in Jowhar, the capital city of Hirshabelle, on May 28, as part of a ceremony that welcomed a wide range of representatives from governmental and regional levels, as well as traditional elders and youth groups.
“Local councils in the Jowhar district will support State’s development initiatives to decentralize local governance. It will improve the opportunity for citizens to participate and contribute to local decision-making and increase access to public services in the local level. In the longer run, Jowhar will have a representative local council that is freely and fairly elected”, H.E Ali Abdullahi Hussein said.
In his speech, the second Deputy Speaker of Hirshabelle Regional Assembly, Hon. Anab Abdullahi Isse, urged clan elders and the Ministry of Interior and local government of Hirshabelle to ensure the enacted 30 % quota for women’s representation in the local councils.
FCA´s project aims to strengthen local governance structures in Somalia for more accountable and inclusive Federal Member States, which also supports the implementation of the Wadajir National Framework. Furthermore, it aims to strengthen gender and youth inclusive governance in the local administration and is thus aligned with the National Development Plan (NDP) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly with SDG 11; “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.
The project is implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Interior, Federal Affairs and Reconciliation (MOIFAR) and ministries of Interior and Local Government in the Federal Member States.