The Somali Connection

In order to save Somalia, I believe we must have a Somali solution. The approach should be bottom up and “glocal” (local with a global dimension). The solution to the crisis cannot come from a boardroom in the Middle East, Europe or the States. The boardroom that can offer a solution is the one underneath the shade of trees within Somalia.

It’s not only compulsory for humanitarian organisations but also for you and me to support this solution. UN agencies, governments, donors should invest heavily in building the infrastructure of the social fabric of Somalia. In my opinion, humanitarian organisations should allocate as much as 20% of their humanitarian expenditure on building the future leadership of Somalia from within.

During our visit to Somalia in September (The Humanitarian Forum, Somali Relief and Development Forum and Muslim Charities Forum), we held two conferences.

The first one, chaired by Muslim Charities Forum, gathered local organisations to discuss the future of humanitarian work in Somalia. The meeting was in the Somali language and we managed to bring 44 organisations to one table to focus on Somalia and created the spirit and the momentum of unity among them. We helped them to look together at one Somalia, whether they came from the east, west, north or south. The group called themselves SHOC (Somali Humanitarian Operational Consortium). I hope you will support SHOC to become one of the new humanitarian and social actors inside and outside Somalia.

In Nairobi, in partnership with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, The Humanitarian Forum organised a two-day conference to discuss the challenges of the transition between relief and recovery. I was very pleased to see that over 100 international agencies attended the conference: UN agencies, DFID, a Somali donor group, USAID plus major actors from the MENA region, South Africa and Asia. Among the key messages from the meeting was the fact that a new humanitarian leadership is emerging from the OIC and LAS countries.

Let us think local and act global to save Somalia!