Workshop series for selected members of the Federal Member State Legislative Assemblies in Somalia continues
Under the German Federal Foreign Office funded project ‘Capacity Building and Legal Advice for the Federal Member State Legislative Assemblies in Somalia’, the Max Planck Foundation organised another round of workshops for members of the Federal Member State Legislative Assemblies of the South-West State, Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Jubaland and Puntland. The Somali Legal Advisors trained by the Foundation during the third training-of-trainers workshop held under the project in September 2023 conducted these workshops.
The presentation covered the conceptual framework of fiscal federalism, the division of expenditure responsibilities and revenue-raising powers, fiscal imbalances and intergovernmental revenue transfer, institutional mechanisms for revenue transfer in federations and the constitutional design and principles of fiscal federalism in Somalia. Through comparative analysis with the experiences of various countries, policy options were explored to aid Somalia’s constitutional review process. The workshop also included a practical working group exercise on two scenarios facing issues of fiscal federalism.
The workshop was first held for selected members of the South-West State Assembly on 13 February 2024, and continued with workshops held for selected members of the Galmudug State Assembly on 20 February 2024 and members of the Hirshabelle State Assembly on 24 February 2024. On 7 March 2024, the workshop took place for members of the Jubaland State Assembly and the Puntland House of Representatives.
The participants of all five locations showed great interest and recognised the importance of fiscal federalism for the constitutional review process of Somalia. Especially during the working group discussions, the participants could not only theoretically learn about fiscal federalism but also design practical solutions and policy options. Overall, these workshops were helpful for the participants to contribute to shaping Somalia’s federal system.