Effectiveness of Community-Centred Approaches in The Establishment of Local Governance Structures in Somalia; A Case of Formation of District Councils in Jubaland, Hirshabelle, Southwest, and Galmudug States

After Somalia emerged from civil war, she adopted a federal system of government. This arrangement and the subsequent formation of federal member states created room for the formation of local district councils through an indirect electoral process, mediated by traditional elders. Following the 2013 parliamentary legislation for the administration of the districts, Federal Member States (FMS), in conjunction with the federal government adopted the National Framework for local governance, better known as the “Wadajir Framework†in 2015 that tied democratisation, decentralisation and reconciliation to the formation of local district governance structures. NDP-9, articulated district councils as an indispensable organ of government for both poverty reduction and service delivery, a bridge to connect the public with the process of state-building. The country’s NDP-9 supports this by stating that the local government is an essential organ for the stabilisation of the country. From the federal government’s point of view, strengthening local government across Somalia is a national priority because “communities rely on local government for the bulk of their services†. Currently, the provision of public services by the state remains minimal, and local governments are not yet fully re-established across the country. City mayors and district commissioners are still largely appointed by the presidents of FMS. The goal of the WNF is to establish local governments where the citizenry participates in elections. At the societal level, these elections at the local level create avenues for reconciliation. Politically, the local government is a vehicle for long-term stability and a means to decentralise both authority and services, connecting the Somali public to the process of state formation and grassroots reconciliation and peacebuilding. The Local Governance Support (LG) project was aligned to the reconciliation, peacebuilding, inclusive governance and stabilisation priorities of both the federal and state governments in Somalia. In particular, it supports the realisation of aspirations in the Wadajir Framework for Local Governance (2015) whose inherent logic is to link strategic objectives at the federal level to the operational objectives at the state level. While the project built on some existing governance and partner efforts, deeper collaborations remained largely superficial due to inherent coordination limitations between diverse stakeholders like government agencies (FGS and FMS), community platforms, clan structures and external partners. Structural integration of project initiatives into intersecting governmental, sociocultural and gender networks would further reinforce outcomes through synergistic planning, implementation, and impact sustainability. Across the beneficiary districts, the study found evidence of successful implementation of interventions aimed at strengthening the administrative and operational systems. The study applied a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data collection strategies. The quantitative method entailed a survey of the beneficiaries (Households) based on the approved questionnaire while the qualitative approach employed KIIs, FGDs, and human interest/change stories. Findings from desk review, diverse actor views, experiences and opinions have been triangulated in arriving at objective and evidence-based conclusions and recommendations. The study adopted outcome harvesting principles to analyse the project theory of change and judge actual project impact along the key study questions (as outlined in the OECD DAC criteria).