Over the past three years, Puntland State has successfully conducted two local council elections in October 2021 and May 2023. However, obstacles, including election violence, compelled Puntland Election Commission (PEC) to postpone the elections of three districts, leaving the process unfinished. Since then, the biggest issue was the re-scheduling of the delayed elections of the remaining three districts of the Nugal Region. In June,2024, the Puntland Election Commission (PEC) announced that the election are scheduled to take place on 23rd. July 2024. To refresh the memories of the public and to increase their awareness and information about the upcoming elections, PDRC organized a citizen’s forum that brought together the public and the PEC on 15th July to discuss the election process and give updates to the public about the local elections of the remaining districts of Nugal region. The forum was part of the regular events organized by PDRC to raise public awareness and encourage involvement in governance and statebuilding.
The PDRC’s annual report highlights our work over the past year, as well as our commitment to peace-building and democracy promotion, which served as the foundation for our 2022 programs.
Download to read the full report.
PDRC is seeking proposals from suppliers for the supply of Greenhouse, Cold Storage Unit and Production Machines (Tomato, Cheese and Oil). Suppliers should submit their quotations in accordance with the requirements and criteria set out in the tender invitations available in the links below.
The tender documents must include a full technical description of the proposed solution, itemized pricing, estimated delivery times and any other relevant information that will assist us in making our decision.
For information on products and tender requirements, please get the tender invitations in the links below.
Tender for Oil Processing Machine
Read the Contentious Issues facing the Puntland Local Government Elections.
The Mudug region of Somalia, in the years 2015/2016 witnessed extensive conflictsthat divided the communities by clan lines between Darod and Hawiye. The killings, destructions of property, injustices and violence led to all peace stakeholders getting engaged in Galka’yo. The renewed interest in solving Galkac’yo conflict led to the December 2016 Peace agreement signed by the administrations of Puntland and Galmudug.
This report presents the outcome of a voter education needs assessment, which PDRC conducted in June 2022 in Puntland. It is a part of the “Advancing the Democratization Process in Puntland Project”, which the German Federal Foreign Office had financed through IFA and Interpeace.
Since the election of new councils in the early local government elections, which were held in the three Puntland districts of Eyl, Gardho and Ufeyn. The public was jubilant and expected these elected councils to perform better than their predecessor government-nominated councils. This study, therefore, focused on assessing the progress that the newly elected councils had made towards their tasked mission since their establishment and the gaps.
This analytical brief summarises Phase I of Puntland’s voter registration process and offers some scenarios and options on the way forward.
Puntland Development and Research Center (PDRC) carried out a baseline assessment of community needs for public awareness and civic education on state- building in Puntland State. The assessment aimed to identify gaps in public knowledge and understanding on the current state-building processes to inform the design and delivery of effective, locally responsive and sustainable public awareness and civic education interventions.
This report draws on data collected and analyzed from surveys, interviews and focus groups discussions in six districts of five regions in Puntland State. The findings and recommendations of this assessment forms the evidence base for a more holistic and participatory planning and implementation of Talo-wadaag II program interventions to achieve greater citizens engagement on governance issues, accountability and understanding rights and responsibilities relative to state and local governance.
In 1972, the rate of literacy in the Republic of Somalia was estimated to be 5.40 per cent of the total population.1 Soon afterwards in 1974 the Siyad Barre government launched ‘The Somalia Rural Literacy Campaign’ – an ambitious campaign to teach people to read in rural Somalia, mostly through the unprecedented deployment of thousands of school and university graduates as teachers. In subsequent years, it also made efforts to build more schools and train more teachers. As a consequence of this, during the 1970s and 80s Somalia’s literacy-rate rose to 55 per cent of the population and enrolment of school-age children reached record highs.2 However, over the last 30 years since the collapse of Somalia’s central government in 1991, school enrolment plummeted. Estimates made in in 2018 suggest that the overall literacy level in the country is 37.8 per cent of adults (49.9 per cent for men and 25.8 per cent for women).3 Widespread illiteracy can have a significant impact on political processes.
For example, during local government elections held in Puntland in October 2021 it was noted that the level of illiteracy amongst voters was extremely high. This had a significant impact on the process and outcome of the polls, including a higherthan-anticipated number of spoilt ballots. This policy brief considers the significance of voter illiteracy on political processes in Somalia with particular attention paid to upcoming elections. To this end, PDRC conducted Focus Groups Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) to explore lessons learned from Puntland’s Early Local Government Elections, particularly focused on the subject of voter illiteracy. The material gathered from the FGDs and KIIs was presented at a oneday forum in July 2022, ‘Managing Voters’ Illiteracy in Puntland Local Government Elections’. Attendees included Puntland Government, civil society groups (including women, youth groups and the media), the Transitional Puntland Electoral Commission (TPEC), political associations, academics, and concerned international agencies.
ON OCTOBER 25, 2021, Puntland became the first federal member state in Somalia to hold democratic elections to district councils. “One person one vote” (OPOV) elections were conducted in three “early districts” of Eyl, Ufeyn and Qardho. In addition to their historic significance, these elections offer an important opportunity to learn lessons, not least when it comes to the promotion of gender equality and the political participation of women.
This first experience in expanded suffrage was a new opportunity for many previously excluded citizens to participate in the political process as voters, candidates, civic educators and election workers. Chief among these is the participation of women, who had been deeply disadvantaged under the clan-based system. It was also a barometer to understand the dynamics of women’s participation, representation and influence in Somalia’s transition to universal suffrage. Understanding gender equality and participation of marginalized groups in Puntland’s municipal elections will help stakeholders reduce barriers to more equal participation as the rest of the country moves towards OPOV.
The purpose of this analysis was to document challenges and enabling factors for the promotion of gender equality as part of democratization during the elections in the early districts. The lessons learned from the present assessment are valuable for upcoming electoral processes, not only in Puntland but also in other member states, to which Puntland’s efforts towards democratization can provide key insights.
This analysis draws on an extensive literature review, 21 interviews, four focus group discussions with 28 participants, and sample poll observation on Election Day. Key findings are summarized as follows:
n the mid of last year, clan conflict broke out at the border between Nugaal and Sool regions, the conflict had its root causes in land claims and subsequent urbanization attempts from Hassan Ugaas on one side and Mohamed Ugar & Bahdubays on the other. The conflict turned to violence in July and September where several people were killed. Within few days, PDRC started a reconciliation between the clans to end the conflict. While using the experience gained from earlier peace processes, PDRC invited the Cagaaran peace committee that succeeded the cessation of hostilities between Omar Mohamud and Bahrarsame to mediate the two clans.
This has got the attention of many Somalis within and beyond Puntland regions who shared their messages of condolence and cessation of violence on the media and dispatched peace delegations to the conflict areas. On the following day, a peace delegation mission of Nugaal and Sool communities led by Islan Isse Islan Mohamed and Garad Jama Garad Ismail, peace missions have embarked on a parallel peace mission from Garowe and La’anod and accessed to fighting communities via Birta- dheer and Bocame corridors. On that someday, the October/November peace talks did not produce results as the mediation committee had members from both sides, this limited their ability to detach themselves from the conflict.
After weeks of mediation however, the committee reached the conclusion that the conflict area falls under Sool region, and since both parties have a long history of residing in the area, using Sharia law they judged that neither sides can deny urbanization to the other. Hassan Ugaas delegation rejected the proposed peace deal and claimed territorial ownership, denying the other party a possibility to settle in the area. another delegation of government officials and army commanders led by the vice-president arrived at the frontline and created a buffer- zone between the warrying clan militiamen to prevent an immediate flareup of the violence. After nearly a weeklong field visit of working parallelly and collaboratively, the three peace- delegation missions succeeded to ease the tension with feuded parts and convinced them to exercise maximum restraint and resort in a peaceful means of resolving conflict.
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