ObjectivesFund scope
Longstanding security, justice and human rights challenges in Somaliland were addressed in the Government of Somaliland’s National Development Plan II 2017-2021. Regardless, access to responsive, rights-centered, and confidence inspiring policing, justice and correction services remains problematic across all jurisdictions, especially for women and residents of rural areas. As such, legal and policy makers recognized rule of law as a priority in the national development plan (NDP II). The provision of state policing and justice services is weak outside urban centres where people rely on informal, traditional arrangements that focus on family and clan relationships rather than individual rights and responsibilities. Often, procedures and outcomes fall short of basic standards, especially regarding the rights of disadvantaged and vulnerable people, like women and marginalized individuals or groups.
The NDP II analysis also pointed to low levels of public ownership; one that is linked to colonial occupation and associated cultural factors (e.g., clan-based authority systems and religion). Significant reform to the formal justice system is needed, particularly in the case of mobile courts, expansion of legal aid services, and initiatives that undermine gender inequality, offer better care and avenues of redress for survivors of sexual gender-based violence (SGBV), and curb ongoing stigmatization and other forms of abuse.
Theory of change
Programme stakeholders rely on lessons from previous interventions and build on achievements, successful local precedents, and emerging trends in a coordinated fashion. Sustainable change is defined through inclusive and consultative process, identifying local precedents and successes, analysing power relations in various regions, and developing strategies to achieve measurable results and impact. Rights-based gains in safety, security and justice are central to all efforts in the provision of basic justice services, as is harnessing all available resources to incentivize Somaliland’s judicial and policing departments to work more effectively together under a contextualized rights respecting reform agenda that is rooted in constitutional and Islamic values.
Aims also include shifting from a model of providing justice to only a few to one that delivers measurable improvements for everyone. The strategy is to strengthen mutual relationships between formal and informal institutions that supply justice and policing services in Somaliland, working in a ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ fashion with a range of stakeholders, including academia. Programme stakeholders will leverage standards of non-state adjudication and building on international declarations of human rights in Islam, as well as in the national constitution. Concurrently, the project will probe what policing means to local communities in Somaliland and how the state can use limited resources to make the best of what exists and can realistically be achieved.
Moreover, in taking action, stakeholders recognize that citizen experiences and perceptions of safety, security and justice are central to shaping approaches, for effective community participation, and codifying consent—all of which improve development gains and the coordination needed to bring achievements about.
> $55M 
$55M - $25M
$25M - $5M
< $5M
