Providing livelihood support, awareness-raising, and psychosocial support project for drought victims and Internally Displaced Persons in Puntland, Gender Based Violence, the Federal Republic of Somalia.

 

Living conditions of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Garowe, the capital city of Puntland, the Federal Republic of Somalia, are severe. Improving their environment is necessary. There are many factors that may have caused these people to become displaced such as Gender Based Violence (GBV), clan conflicts, and droughts. Besides improving their living conditions, there is a need to strengthen a referral mechanism within the IDP community where IDPs can bring their problems for solution and seek for consultation. Hopefully, they can later build an self-sustainable framework in which they can resolve and prevent problems in and around the community on their own.

This project targeted approximately 2,850 IDP households (about 10,000 people) living in 14 IDP camps in Garowe. To support 500 IDPs traumatized by the severe Gender Based Violence and clan conflicts encountered during evacuation; Non-Food Items were distributed to improve their sanitary and living conditions. At the same time, capacity-building support was provided toFocal Points on GBV in the IDP campss along with officers from local government and NGOs. These training courses include Conflict Management skills, awareness raisingskills, and psychosocial souncelling skills. Additionally, psychosocial support and awareness raising for GBV prevention are implemented on a daily basis. Monitoring and Evaluation training isalso conducted in order for these individuals and organizations to be able to assess their progress.

Material Distribution

The target of this activity was the 500 households including women, men and children who had been affected by drought, suffered from serious trauma of GBV, and traumatized by clanconflicts encountered during evacuation or camp life. The items distributed consist of livelihood support products such as clean clothing and hygiene products. JCCP also provides local government and NGOs with Monitoring and Evaluation training to establish a framework to monitor the progress of distribution activities on a regular basis. JCCP aims to establish a sustainable framework for monitoring progress and evaluating impact.

Training on Conflict Management, Awareness Raising, and Psychosocial Support

Training courses are provided to approximately 50 personnel working as Focal Points on GBV in each IDP camp and to officers in local government and NGOs. Focal Points on GBV are IDPs themselves, and as a rule, they work voluntarily. They offer consultation to GBV survivors and their families, and when needed, refer them to local counselors and specialized institutions. They also assume the role of designing and implementing awareness-raising activities on GBV prevention and response. Training theme includes Conflict Management, Awareness Raising, and Psychosocial Counselling. After each course is finished, JCCP follows up on the students by holding focus group discussions and surveys to assess how much they are applying the skills newly acquired, how effective the awareness raising activities are being implemented, and if GBV survivors are more appropriately handled and counseled.

Awareness-raising Activities

JCCP’s awareness-raising activities consisted of both grass-roots activities through daily actions by Focal Points on GBV and large scale campaigns using mass media. In order to reflect the local needs and wisdom, JCCP worked with Focal Points on GBV and local NGOs to develop awareness-raising strategies. The Focal Points raise awareness of GBV prevention through daily counseling and tangible support activities in the IDP camps where they reside. About 800 stationaries with GBV awareness messages were distributed to primary schools and others.
Among large scale awareness campaigns using local mass media, one of the most effective methods has been simultaneously transmitting awareness-raising messages via Short Message Service (SMS) on mobile phones. Approximately 10,000 Garowe residents received the messages. JCCP also arranged for the broadcast of special radio programs so as to add impact of the awareness-raising activities. Finally, JCCP put up billboards in strategic locations throughout the IDP camps to reinforce the massages that had been sent out over the mobile phones’ SMS.

This project focuses on building a framework in which medium- to long-term Conflict Management and Monitoring and Evaluation by the local community is made possible by targeting IDPs in the camps, local governments and NGOs as main local partners in executing the project.
 
This project is sponsored by the Japan Platform (JPF)