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Paper presented at the annual conference of the National Civic Forum, Nairobi, Kenya,
The key research question this paper is going to examine is whether civil societies in a stateless environment hinder or help in reestablishing the failed state. Somalia has been without a functioning government since the start of the civil war in 1991, earning the dubious distinction of the longest occurrence of state collapse in postcolonial history. In the absence of a functioning government, Western donors use civil society as a vehicle to deliver services to populations within failed states, like Somalia. This makes civil societies more powerful and reliable than the failed governments under which they function. Scholars should study civil societies as a vital part of the failed state, not as a tool to deliver services, as is currently the case in Somalia. As the state collapses and civil society becomes stronger, sometimes the only employer in town becomes a profit maker for the individual actors who manages such civil society. Fear of losing that profit led to the individual actors and civil society’s decision to adopt obstructionism as a modus operandi that ultimately hinders reestablishment of the state. One exception however, is the educationally based groups in civil societies. They would rather have a strong functioning government that can help them advance and reach out to more people to educate.
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Conference Report
Session One: Opening Ceremony
Moderator: Abdi Baffo
Speakers: Dr. Haider, Abdi Baffo, Dr. Axel Harneit-Sievers, Oscar Mwangi
Dr. Abdullahi Haider in his brief remarks welcomed everyone to the 4th NCF conference and called upon the Chair of the NCF Board of Directors, Mr. Abdi Baffo to say something on the conference programme.
Baffo welcomed participants to the conference and thanked them for accepting NCF’s invitation. He recognized how busy each participant is but yet came all the way to attend the conference.
He gave a brief history of NCF and Stated that NCF was born out of a conference held in 2004 in Nairobi where intellectuals discussed among other things peace and how to establish social and economic programs. At that the conference, they decided to continue to meeting and eventually form an organization.
In 2005, NCF members debated and formulated a constitution, creating the post of executive director and steering committees. Follow up conferences were held in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009. NCF is registered in Kenya and USA and has 32 members who reside inside Somalia, Europe and North America. To become a member, one has to pay a fee of $ 100 for members who are residing in Africa and $ 200 for members residing in Europe and North America. Only members are allowed to participate in the NCF’s annual conference and NCF working hard to recruit new members in Kenya and Somalia. Baffo stated that NCF is an open organization and encouraged those present to visit the organization website and for the non members to join the organization
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NCF 2010 Conference Communiqué
INTRODUCTION
The National Civic Forum (NCF) is an independent, non-partisan organization founded by Somali professionals and scholars in September, 2004. NCF's mission is to generate and disseminate innovative and constructive ideas to assist in the achievement of national reconciliation, economic recovery, the reconstruction of the Somali Republic and the establishment of the rule of law, respect for human rights, civil liberties, and social justice in the Somali Republic.
This communiqué is a condensation of the most important points discussed and analyzed in NCF's 4th annual conference in which members of NCF and several invited scholars from various disciplines presented and debated research papers covering eminent issues facing the Somali Republic.