NCF Somali

Thursday, July 21th 2011 at the Nomad Palace Hotel, Nairobi - Kenya

The panel meeting commenced at 10.30am. Nearly all the invited participants had arrived by then, and the facilitatorrequested one of them to open the meeting with a ward of prayer. The national civic forum [NCF] executivedirector thanked the participants for their attendance and welcomed them to this important forum.

The facilitator expressed his concern on the gravity of problems facing Somalia as result of the two decades civil war. He agreed that so much is happening in Somalia and there is need for the civics, intellectuals; civil society and the business community to engage the transitional federal government [TFG] to ensure it fulfills its promise. He also highlighted the aim of the meeting as to discuss the recently released road map, propose membesr from the above groups who can add value to the process and how to monitor the implementation of the road map. The meeting also discussed the way forward for Somalia.

The meeting considered four priority items  that were discussed in a consultative meeting on ending the transition in Somalia which was held in Mogadishu from 4^th to 6^th September 2011 and allowed the participants to add their views and make further recommendations.  The items include constitution, security, reconciliation and good governance.

Nomad Palace Hotel, Nairobi - Kenya

July 1, 2011

This particular public forum was a special one; to commemorate the 51^st anniversary of Somali independence. It was a deviation from the past independence ceremonies where the festive was decorated with pomp and colour. To mark this important day, National Civic Forum (NCF) organized a public discussion, “Somalia can revive” was the optimistic discourse topic that shaped the objectives of the forum. Many participants expressed their satisfaction to this soberly and different way of celebrating the Independence Day.

From the guest speakers presentations and the participants’ comments, the report attempts to capture the lessons that can be learnt from the independence heroes and their struggles, suggestions and views of the general audience on the best model to end the two-decade Somali civil war. As part of its efforts in enhancing the role of the civics in peace building efforts in Somalia, NCF’s mandate was to seek and collect the views of the participants and latter post the report in its official website; (www.ncfsomalia.net).

 Thursday, July 21th 2011 at the Nomad Palace Hotel, Nairobi - Kenya

This was a youth public forum and almost all the invited participants were in attendance by 10.00Am. Members of a youth caucus group known as Youth for Social Development and Relief Program made up the majority of the participants. The facilitator thanked the entire audience for their attendance and also welcomed them to the forum.

The coordinator of National Civic Forum (NCF) gave a brief history of NCF as a non-profit, non-governmental organization formed by a cohort of professionals in the year 2004. The main objective of NCF is to enhance the role of the civics and professionals in peace building and reconciliation in Somalia.

Before discussing the main forum agenda which was, The Somali Youth Diaspora: Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions, the facilitator requested the participants to reflect on the reasons that precipitated the fleeing of the Somalis to foreign countries. He added that the civil war in Somalia continues to eject the Somalis from their mother country forcing them to seek refuge in other countries.

The forum was organized in a way that first two guest speakers would present their contributions and later the other participants would be allowed to comment on these presentations. The guest speakers were persons who had lived or live in the diaspora and it was expected that their experience in the foreign countries would reveal the damning reality of the state of situation and hence inform the youths who aspire to live and work in the diaspora at whatever cost.

Saturday, April 16^th 2011 at the Pride Inn Hotel, Nairobi

INTRODUCTION

At around ten o’clock in the morning, all the expected guests had arrived. They comprised of Somali intellectuals, members of the Somali Diaspora, and members of civil societies and women representatives.

The facilitator introduced himself first and asked the eldest panel guest to open the forum with a word of prayer. He then asked each guest to introduce himself/herself before the audience and gave the participants time to familiarize with each other.

After the brief orientation session, the facilitator reminded the participants the topic of discussion: - The Burden of the two Decades Somali Conflicts on Women and Children.

But before deliberating on the main topic, the facilitator ignited the discussion with a brain storming session on:-

1) History of the roles of Women in Somalia

The first participant to deliberate on the agenda thanked the facilitator for bringing this agenda on the table for discussion. She argued that since time of immemorial, Somali women have played crucial roles in the socio-economic spheres of life. She cited the roles the women played in the family economy among the Somali communities. For instance, it is the woman who looks after the shoats while taking care of the camels was the preserve for men. Homestead utensils and beddings were primarily manufactured by women from indigenous materials.

Another participant added that women were expected to make the traditional milk storage utensils in line with the norms and curving identity of the clan as each clan had its own different identity in terms of branding. However, the advent of modern industries relieved women of this role as modern utensils substituted the traditional ones.