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and messages, and build relationships and support in between elections that transcend clan
interests.
Opportunity 9: Support programs to advance women and youth cadres.
Women and youth are an often under-utilized resource in developing democracies. Somaliland
political parties, while noting the importance of women and youth, did not advance any concrete
agenda to capitalize on their women and youth members besides encouraging their placement in
leadership positions. In its April 2013 report on the local council elections, Saferworld
provided the following recommendation: “Gender sensitization and training should be held for
all political parties, parliamentarians, clan elders, and
Guurti
members. Political parties and
associations should be encouraged to recruit women candidates and build their own internal
democracy.”
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Advancing women and youth cadres requires targeted capacity building in terms of overall
member capacity – women and youth tend to receive less party investment in their knowledge
and skills – as well as specialized skill-sets to outreach to other women and youth.
Specialized “wings” are utilized by many parties around the world to contribute to targeted
member advancement, but can be detrimental if they are used to further marginalize women or
youth away from central decision making processes. Wings, properly conceived, are a
mechanism to enable women and youth to become active and increase their confidence in a
more conducive setting, teach and be taught political skills, and develop networks. Importantly,
wings should take on many party activities related to their constituencies, such as creating and
implementing targeted outreach strategies to women and youth constituents, organizing
grassroots activities, preparing women and youth candidates, and informing larger party
platforms and strategies. International funders are well positioned to provide examples and
experts from other countries on this topic.
Opportunity 10: Support programs that work to improve political party representation in
parliament (ties with members of parliament, party discipline, etc.) and local councils.
Improving party representation in parliament and local councils relies equally on the success of
two other efforts: improving the quality of candidates and improving the relationship between
members of parliament/councilors and their parties.
The challenge of qualified candidates was raised at a 2011 conference organized by the Social
Research and Development Institute. The conference report recommended “urg[ing] political
parties to bring quality candidates to compete.”
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However, the authority that political parties
have to select candidates, let along qualified candidates, is questionable, given the extent to
which political parties rely on the clan system to fund campaigns and therefore fund candidates.
Existing power structures will always exert pressure over political parties in the selection of
174
Makokha, Jacinta, and Yussuf Ali.
Somalilanders Speak: Lessons from the November 2012 Local Elections
.
Rep. Saferworld, Apr. 2013. Web. July 2013, p. 18.
175
Reflections and Lessons of Somaliland's Two Decades of Sustained Peace, Statebuilding and Democratization
.
Publication. Vol. 2. Hargeisa: SORADI, 2012. Print, pg. 3.
