Strengthening Organizational & Management Capacities of Civil Societies

The Somali Civil Society Programme recognises that civil society organisations have limited capacity to effectively undertake their roles and mandates. Thus in an effort to develop organizational and management capacities of CSOs in Somalia, Forum Syd with funding from Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), supported Ubaxa Caasimada (City Flowers), a CSO based in Mogadishu.

 Ubaxa Caasimada is a local youth network formed by local Somali youths who first started with the initiative of restoring the beauty of Mogadishu by painting major roads and pedestrian crossings, planting trees and flowers along major streets, street lighting and painting walls with message of hope. Run with support from business community, voluntary services from youths, diaspora contributions and philanthropic organizations, Ubaxa Caasimada activities drew the attention of the Somalia Federal Government Prime Minister and Banadir Mayor who recognized their effort, earning them the Somali Youth Award 2018.

Motivated by the need to strengthen the internal organizational capacity of Somali CSOs, Ubaxa Caasimada project staff have been trained on project cycle management, financial management and proposal writing. The purpose of this training was to build and increase knowledge and skills of Ubaxa Caasimada key staff for effective project and organizational management. During this project period, Ubaxa Caasimada has also been supported in the development of organizational policies and procedural manuals to strengthen their internal controls and code of conduct.

“Your funding has really changed our organisation operational approach and structure. We used to receive small funding but managing and documenting it was really a challenge. During audit time, we had to struggle to put together the documentation required. Now we are more organized and accountable to our donors. The training on the proposal development helped us a lot. When calls for proposal are out, we immediately put it together and submit. I want to thank Forum Syd and SIDA for building our organizational capacity as a local CSO in Somalia.” Said Ubaxa Caasimada Chairman, Said Mohamed.  

Ubaxa Caasimada carried out outreach activities that successfully brought together youths, women groups, minority groups and people living with disability through inclusive and participatory social and constitution discussion forums. Speak up forum was first of its kind launched in Mogadishu that brought together over 300 youths and 20 representatives from women groups.

These forums provided an opportunity for youths and women groups representatives to discuss issues affecting them such as gender issues, representation of youth and women in the provisional Somalia constitution and later made their recommendations to the Federal Parliament Constitution Review Committee. 

“This forum brought together Mogadishu’s youths and representatives from women groups. The forum provided a platform for youth and women groups to make their voice on issues affecting them. The forum recognized the role of these groups and gave them not just the opportunity to share what they think about the provisional constitution but also their right to opinion and to be heard.” Said Ubaxa Caasimada Chairman, Said Mohamed

Somalia is governed by a provisional constitution agreed in 2012 and the promulgation of a new and a permanent constitution is expected to address number of unresolved constitutional issues including the ‘one-person one-vote’, the future status of Mogadishu and the sharing of powers and resources between the federal government and the federal members states