Posted in July, 2012

In Bosaso, Somalia, JCCP is running a project to distribute Non-Food Items, awareness raising, and provide psychological care for the survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), domestic violence which stems from the hardships of life, and trauma of displacement experience among Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) emerging from the rigors of drought and the unspeakable horrors of civil war.
(For the detail of the project, please refer to “Psychosocial support for drought victims and IDPs in Bosasso kicks off – See more at:“Somalia Drought Victims: Psychological Care to Internally Displaced Persons Have Started (Posted on March, 2012)).”

JCCP is now providing 35 IDP women (called “Focal Points”) with capacity-building support to address GBV, which includes psychological care to handle day-to-day conflicts with neighbors , awareness raising, and conflict management skills The Focal Points are all women, and are IDPs themselves living in the camps. Focal Points can easily spot crimes and violence in the camps better than those who do not live inside the camps – however they face limitations because they never have had specialized trainings.

In May, JCCP provided trainings to 50 people – 35 women work as Focal Points, and approximately 15 persons from Puntland government – on awareness raising and conflict management. After the trainings, the participants have become able to settle disputes and problems in IDP camps.



 A Focal Point negotiated with the clan elders and borrowed audio equipment owned by the clan elders. Then, she sent out messages to 300 IDPs to prevent Gender Based Violence. Another woman visited her neighbors and talked about prevention of domestic violence, which resulted that the neighbors, who had taken an orphan under their care, started to send the orphan to school. Moreover, another Focal Point came across the scene of attempted rape; and by giving careful explanation to make the perpetrator calm, She succeeded in preventing it from happening. Training participants began to think carefully who could support Focal Points and solve problems together when disputes among IDPs arise – they apply the knowledge obtained through the trainings to settle daily disputes. Focal Points are consulted byGBV survivors , and refer to specialized institutions if the GBV survivor now suffers from psychological trauma.

In June, Focal Points sent SMS via mobile network company in Bosaso City: “Protect Dignity of Women” – an awareness raising message the training participants created during the training workshop. There are several mobile network companies in Somalia, and many of IDPs have mobile phones. Therefore, SMS is a very effective method to send an aareness raising message that can reach many residents, regardless of their ages. The training participants feel proud of what they do when they receive the message on the mobile. At the same time, they believe the understanding of their neigbors toward their role – Focal Point for GBV – encourages their daily activities.

JCCP is providing tools for the GBV survivors in the IDP camps, who once regarded themselves as “victims”, to transform themselves into “contributor to conflict management””. It makes all of our staff delighted that, through our program, we witnessed the moment of their transformation.

This project is supported by precious contributions from JCCP sponsors, and grant from Japan Platform (JPF).