The Foundation commenced capacity building workshops to assist actors involved in the Somali federalization process
From 9–13 August 2015, the Foundation conducted the first of a series of four training-of-trainers workshops in Nairobi, Kenya. The workshop brought together experienced researchers of the Foundation and legal advisors embedded at the Somali Ministry of Interior and Federal Affairs (MoIFA) and the newly established Boundaries and Federation Commission (BFC), two organs spearheading the ongoing federalisation process in Somalia.
In addition to addressing broader issues of federalism and decentralization, the first workshop was designed to enhance the presentation skills of the advisors. The substantive part of the workshop focused on the vertical division of powers in federal states, intergovernmental coordination and resolution of disputes, and the determination and changing of internal boundaries, based on comparative examples. The technical advisors will translate each of the issues covered during the workshop into several one-day seminars to members of the MoIFA and the BFC, to be held in Mogadishu, Somalia. As Somalia is a country without a history of federalisation, the continuous seminars will provide crucial insights for the Somali state-building process.
The next training-of-trainers workshop is expected to be held in October 2015. The capacity building workshops are part of a wider project to assist the Somali federalisation process, financed by the German Federal Foreign Office and implemented by the MPFPR, along with continuous technical assistance on legal issues of significance to the MoIFA and the BFC.