About us

The collapse of former President Said Barre’s regime in 1991 precipitated the intra and inter-community conflicts that were majorly founded on ethnic factors, which eclipsed the country into a period of civil war.  The civil war resulted in massive displacement of persons. In late 1998-1999, as the civil war began to dissipate, persons who had been displaced began to return to their ancestral homes to start a new life. Those who returned to their ancestral home in Puntland marked the beginning of the early administration in Puntland, which, at that time, was known as the East Regional Administration. Implementing the war-torn societies project, including research and development initiatives, strengthened, and helped consolidate the Puntland administration’s functions and operationalization.

 During this period, when the Puntland Administration was still taking shape, PDRC played a significant role in championing peace dialogues in Puntland. This was necessary following the conflict between the Puntland Administrative government led by Abdullahi Yusuf, armed tribe militias, and opposition leader Cade Muse. During this period, PDRC implemented three four year-project namely the Dialogue for Peace, Mobile Audio-Visual Unit (MAVU) and Research for Peace. The dialogue for peace engaged local communities in peace dialogues; the MAVU documented dialogues from one of the warring communities and exchanged this dialogue with the other community and vice versa, while the research for peace mainly focused on the participation of local communities in devising solutions that could inform policy formulation and humanitarian action. Key achievements during this period included the cessation of hostilities among some of the ethnic-based warring communities, the establishment of PUNSAA, and the Puntland Diaspora Forum. In the second phase of Dialogue for Peace, the Pillars of Peace (Democratisation, security and Decentralisation) were established and implemented to strengthen the local state-building.

During the period of 2013-2014, PDRC played a significant role in Somalia’s transitional politics, after the former Puntland President, became the president of the Federal Republic of Somalia through a peaceful transfer of power. Over this period, Al Shabab militia groups and Pirates had taken over the Eyl town and surrounding hilly terrain as their operational base. PDRC MAVU stepped in to counteract Al Shabab militia groups and Pirates’ infiltration into Eyl by producing films, community dialogues, and sensitization that was used to help communities in Eyl expose Al Shabab militia groups and Pirates’ hideouts, which played a significant role in flushing them out by security agents. These efforts solidified PDRC as a major player in peacebuilding in Somalia, providing PDRC a competitive advantage over other players.

Since its formation, PDRC has partnered with international NGOs (being their local partner in implementing the projects). The Dialogue for peace, Pillars of Peace I and Pillars of Peace II were major projects with complete funding from Interpeace. PDRC had not yet developed internal systems or structures since they mainly relied on Interpeace systems and structures for operations. Over-reliance of PDRC on one big donor had left the organization exposed and vulnerable, with no other funding source or plans for future survival.  Due to the shrinking of international donor funding channelled through Interpeace, and the lack of complementary funds, PDRC was exposed, and without funding to cover the gap left by the exit of Interpeace. As such, the unprecedented financial distress meant that PDRC lacked funds to carry on with normal program functions within its core mandate. This led to massive layoffs, with only the Executive Director, Programmes Coordinator, Finance Manager, and MAVU Coordinator staying on as volunteers. The organization did not have salaries or operational costs. The Board and the remaining volunteer staff had to use their funds occasionally to keep the office running. With that resilience, PDRC remodeled its resource mobilization strategy by building strategic partnerships and networks to enhance recovery and financial sustainability.  

From late 2018 to early 2019, the PDRC team explored recovery opportunities. This period also saw changes within the board, with some members leaving and new members coming in to support the institution. The board members used their network of friends to get PDRC into donor circles and to enable PDRC to make presentations for potential future funding. It is during this time that PDRCTalks, a platform to discuss issues pertaining to Somalia, was initiated. The Citizens Forum, an accountability platform, was also put in place with ministries and local councils engaging directly with citizens. Furthermore, the first direct grant from a donor community was provided to PDRC from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Talo Wadaag I (Social Contract)-  PDRC contributed to the communal peacebuilding process of Galkacyo by providing citizenry engagement and inclusivity through improved social contracts. This was followed by Talo Wadaag II (2021 – 2024) which is building on the achievements of Talo Wadaag I, which as further contributed to reconciliations in Galkacyo and Mudug as well as the democratization process of Puntland. While Talo Wadaag was in a gap period by mid-June 2020, the Road to Peace program supported by SDC contributed to the internal and cross-border peacebuilding processes.

 The projects were instrumental as it supported PDRC in putting systems and structures, manuals for accountability and transparency in place, which, in turn, helped to secure grants from UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNHCR, SIDA, SDC, EU, NED, World Bank, The Canadian Embassy, and the Embassy of Netherlands, which has helped bring PDRC back to full operational strength, with staff being recruited again in all departments. It is worth noting that PDRC’s collaboration and partnership with Interpeace remained strong to date.

 It is against this backdrop that PDRC wants to enhance its operations, capacity, and development through the guidance of this strategic Plan (2023-2027). PDRC will have five main departments which are: Finance, Admin and HR Department; Media and Communications Department; Programs and Research; Grants and International Relations, and Gender and Inclusion. The Finance, Admin and HR department and Grants and International relations will be led by a manager, while Programs and Research, and Gender and Inclusion will be led by a Programmes Coordinator, supported by the Head of Departmental Units. Programs and research will handle peacebuilding, governance and democracy, development and environmental initiatives, and culture and heritage. Media and communications will handle AVU/MAVU outreaches, ICT, and communications and advocacy initiatives. Grants and International relations will handle resource mobilization (proposals and grants management), partner and donor relations, and institutional development. Gender and inclusion will handle Women in Peace and Security initiatives, gender mainstreaming, and gender equality and inclusion initiatives and finally Finance, Admin and HR will handle financial management, accounting, audits, procurement, HR recruitments, and staff policy and benefits.