i

USAID Somalia

Bringing Unity, Integrity, and Legitimacy to

Democracy (BUILD) in Somalia

Quarterly Progress Report (FY 2016 Q3 Progress Report)

March 31 – June 30, 2016

As of July 30, 2016

ii

Bringing Unity, Integrity, and Legitimacy to Democracy (BUILD) in Somalia

FY 2016 Q3 PROGRESS REPORT

31 MARCH – 30 JUNE, 2016

Award No: AID-623-A-16-00001

Prepared for Johanna Wilkie

United States Agency for International Development/Somalia

C/O American Embassy

United Nations Avenue, Gigiri

P.O. Box 629, Village Market 00621

Nairobi, Kenya

Prepared by Creative Associates International

5301 Wisconsin Avenue NW

Washington, D.C. 20015

The authors’ views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States

Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

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Table of Contents

Contents

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................. 2

I. CONTEXT UPDATE ....................................................................................................................................... 3

II. BUILD EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... 4

III. KEY NARRATIVE ACHIEVEMENTS ........................................................................................................... 9

IV. PROGRESS AGAINST TARGETS ............................................................................................................ 13

V. PERFORMANCE MONITORING ............................................................................................................. 15

VI. LESSONS LEARNED .................................................................................................................................... 15

VII. PROGRESS ON LINKS TO OTHER ACTIVITIES ........................................................................... 15

VIII. PROGRESS ON LINKS TO HOST GOVERNMENT ...................................................................... 16

IX. INCLUSIVITY AND ACCESS ..................................................................................................................... 16

X. SUSTAINABILITY .......................................................................................................................................... 17

XI. UPCOMING REPORTING PERIOD’S WORK PLAN ......................................................................... 17

ANNEXES & ATTACHMENTS ........................................................................................................................... 18

I. REQUIRED ATTACHMENTS .................................................................................................................... 18

A. FINANCIAL INFORMATION – NOT APPLICABLE ........................................................................... 18

B. SUB-AWARD DETAILS ............................................................................................................................... 18

C. ACTIVITY ADMINISTRATION (REQUIRED FOR ALL AWARDS) ...................................................... 19

D. SCHEDULE OF FUTURE EVENTS (REQUIRED FOR ALL AWARDS) .................................................. 20

E. LIST OF DELIVERABLE PRODUCTS (REQUIRED FOR ALL AWARDS) ............................................. 20

II. OPTIONAL ANNEXES ................................................ ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

III. OPTIONAL ATTACHMENTS .................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

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Acronyms and Abbreviations

AMISOM African Union Mission in Somalia

APD Academy for Peace and Development

BUILD Bringing Unity, Integrity, and Legitimacy to Democracy

CDA Constitutional Drafting Assembly

CPD Center for Peace and Democracy

CSO civil society organizations

COP Chief of Party

DCOP Deputy Chief of Party

EDR electoral dispute resolution

EISA Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa

EMB election management body

FGS Federal Government of Somalia

FEIT Federal Electoral Implementation Team

GBV gender-based violence

GOSL Government of Somaliland

ICRIC Independent Constitution Review and Implementation Commission

IDLO International Development Law Organization

IESG Integrated Elections Support Group

IOM International Organization for Migration

IRI International Republican Institute

M&E monitoring and evaluation

MOIF Ministry of Interior and Federation

NCF National Consultative Forum

NEC National Electoral Commission

NLF National Leadership Forum

NIEC National Independent Election Commission

PUNSAA Puntland Non-State Actors Association

SIDA Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

SNP Somali National Party

SSG Strengthening Somali Governance

SSUP Somali Social Unity Party

SONYO Somaliland National Youth Organization

SONSAF Somaliland Non State Actors Forum

UCID Justice and Welfare Party

UN United Nations

UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNSOM United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia

USAID United States Agency for International Development

USG United States Government

WG working group

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I. CONTEXT UPDATE

Federal Government of Somalia/South Central

The Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) is now committed to holding “one-person one-vote”

elections in 2020, postponing the universal elections that were to have been held in 2016. Issues

related to security and delays in the overall process of state formation, resulted in this delay of

universal suffrage. Instead, the FGS in consultations and cooperation with the leadership of the

Federal Member States acting as the National Leadership Forum (NLF), have agreed on a unique

caucus-based process using the clan-centric 4.5 formula for the distribution of seats to select new

members of Parliament and a new President.

To facilitate a legislative and executive transition in August 2016, the NLF laid out a process to form

the Parliament, with traditional elders selecting 50-member electoral colleges to choose members of

the Lower House of Parliament, and the Upper House formed by state executives and state

assemblies (“the selection process”). Two NLF meetings took place during the quarter – one in

Mogadishu in May and another one in Baidoa in late June which resulted in an endorsement of the

official list of 135 elders, who will oversee the selection of clan voters, who will pick the 275

members of parliament. The 22-member Federal Electoral Implementation Team (FEIT) was

appointed to administer the 2016 selection process. Although delay seemed likely, the President

reaffirmed the Federal government’s commitment to holding the elections in August 2016.

The federal level National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC) with its nine-members was

nominated the previous summer and was finally accepted by Puntland during this period. During the

quarter, the NIEC focused on initial capacity building, hiring staff including the new Secretary

General, and fundraising for a new headquarters under construction in Mogadishu.

On June 6, 2016, the Somali Federal Parliament passed the Political Parties Law, 2015. The Law sets

regulations for what constitutes a political party and requirements that parties must fulfill in order to

register as a legal political party in Somalia. As of this report, the NIEC was reviewing the legislation

in order to determine modalities of implementation.

The Independent Constitutional Review and Implementation Commission (ICRIC) continued to be

largely ineffective in carrying out its mandate. A constitutional convention in Garowe planned for late

May 2016 did not take place due in large part to the ongoing discussions regarding the 2016

selection process.

On the security front, during this reporting period, al Shabaab militants launched two violent attacks.

The two attacks, against the Ambassador Hotel and Nasa Hablod Hotel, collectively killed over 30

people, including the Somali Minister of the Environment, Burcy Mohamed Hamza, and two

members of Parliament: Abdullahi Jama Kabaweyne and Mohamud Mohamed Gure. Finally, this

reporting period, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta announced he would close the largest refugee

camp in the world, Dadaab, which is home to over 340,000 Somali refugees.

Thus, major challenges to BUILD project planning and implementation at the federal level include:

Volatile security situation;

Lack of clarity about the details and the timing of the “selection process” as well as the

necessary legislation to support the 2020 elections.

Somaliland

As of the end of June, the Government of Somaliland (GOSL) continued preparations for the

Somaliland Presidential and Parliamentary elections, planned for March 2017. The high rate of

multiple voting during the last major electoral cycle led Somaliland to undertake a nationwide

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biometric voter registration exercise for these elections in order to prevent multiple voting. While

the National Election Commission (NEC) completed the data collection phase of voter registration

process in four out of six regions during the quarter, many tasks still needed to be completed – the

deduplication of data records, the production and distribution of voter cards, the production and

display of the provisional voters lists -- in a short period of time for the NEC to successfully

complete voter registration and move towards elections.

Uncertainty remained as to the exact nature of the March 2017 elections: would they be joint

Presidential and Parliamentary polls or would a longstanding dispute between political leaders over

the allocation of seats once again postpone Parliamentary elections. At the end of June, Somaliland

president Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud “Silanyo” met with leaders of Somaliland’s three political

parties to discuss preparations for the coming elections, including a way forward on the seat

allocation issue. This meeting was an important step toward political parties and the ruling

government working together to ensure Somaliland’s elections occur freely, fairly and on time,

however the meeting’s outcome was inconclusive. There have been informal discussions between

BUILD and Parliament regarding possible technical assistance to resolve the question of seat

allocation, but as of this writing, there has been no formal request for assistance.

In order to support comprehensive planning of elections in Somaliland by the NEC, a complete

operational plan and accompanying budget were urgently needed. Related to the issue of

comprehensive planning is the need for clarity on overall funding for the upcoming elections. Serious

questions regarding funding by the GOSL and the international community for NEC operations

require urgent resolution.

While civil society appeared strong and engaged in supporting voter registration, it was still relatively

isolated from the day-to-day voter registration activities and requiring closer coordination with the

NEC. Media appeared weak and subject to control by the state with minimal coverage of the

registration process.

Thus, major challenges to BUILD project planning and implementation in Somaliland include:

Lack of clarity regarding which elections will be held in March 2017;

Uncertainty over how voter cards will be printed and the voter registration process

completed;

Ongoing questions regarding funding for the March 2017 elections.

II. BUILD EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The project was launched in this quarter (FY2016 Q3), which largely consisted of the project start-

up and assessment of the local context and requirements to achieve project objectives. Program

activities were framed around project start-up activities and the design and operationalization of

initial activities under the three project objectives. The start of project Objectives 1 and 3 was

staggered to facilitate project start-up and ensure maximum engagement with partners. Therefore,

programmatic activities took place only under Objective 2 during the reporting period with activities

under Objectives 1 and 3 scheduled to start in the next quarter.

The reporting period also included the religious holiday of Ramadan which started in early June. The

impact of this month-long religious observance was an increase in security incidents and a significant

slowing of start-up activities as a broad range of stakeholders traveled abroad. Program activities

were coordinated with BUILD implementing partners during this period who were asked by

Creative not to deploy their staff to the field until after Ramadan due to the security environment

during the period.

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A. Key Narrative Achievements

Electoral Needs Assessment

A seven-member team conducted an Electoral Needs Assessment (ENA) in Hargeisa from May 23 -

28 and in Mogadishu from May 28 - June 3, 2016 to identify key initial programming priorities for the

BUILD project. The BUILD team identified legal, institutional, operational, educational, adjudicative,

and security-related needs to support presidential and potentially parliamentary elections in

Somaliland in March 2017 and national elections in the Federal Government of Somalia in 2020. The

team did not conduct an assessment of the potential elections in Puntland in 2019 which may

constitute an update to the assessment.

Based on the assessment, the team recommended focusing most project resources to support the

Somaliland elections in 2017 during the first year of the project. This is due to the fact that

Somaliland is already well underway with the 2017 electoral cycle through the voter registration

process. BUILD would support Somaliland’s elections through operational and technical support to

the NEC, capacity-building support to the three political parties, and through grants to civil society

organizations.

With the Federal Government of Somalia scheduled to hold a national selection process in the

summer of 2016, BUILD would not play a substantial role in this process, but rather lay the

groundwork for supporting the planned 2020 “one-person, one-vote” elections by supporting the

NIEC. As the legal framework for these elections is mostly absent, BUILD’s activities during the first

project year would focus more on initial staffing and guidance to Somalia’s nascent electoral

commission and political parties.

Initial Implementation Plan

In parallel to and immediately following the assessment, the BUILD team started developing activities

for the initial Implementation Plan (IP) period of March 31 – September 30, 2016. Most activities

were designed to lay the foundation for subsequent activities in the FY2017 and throughout the five

years of the project. The key challenge for the initial IP was to demonstrate how the few short term

activities covered by the IP address the Marginalized Populations and Sustainability issues covered by

the project. The other major challenge was presented by activities which Interpeace was planning

with limited or no existing funding and which various donors indicated Creative and its partners may

need to implement. In addition, an extremely fluid political situation on the ground made it hard to

plan for activities with more certainty. For example, while Creative welcomed supporting the

production and distribution of the Voter Cards, it continued to lack clarity about this process

throughout the key planning phases including the assessment, initial IP, and even FY2016 IP

development.

B. Quantitative Highlights

As most of the program activities began only at the end of the reporting period and the Monitoring

and Evaluation (M&E Plan) which established clear targets had not yet been submitted, no

quantitative highlights are reported during the quarter.

C. Activity Administration

Project Start-Up

Immediately upon award of the BUILD project on March 31, preparations for project start-up began.

Collaboration among consortium partners was initiated from Washington, DC, as Creative

conducted individual face-to-face planning meetings with IRI and Forcier and several conference calls

with EISA and Tacforce. BUILD core staff including its Chief of Party (CoP) and Deputy Chief of

Party (DCoP) held a kickoff conference with USAID, and BUILD completed onboarding of the CoP

and DCoP all during the first two weeks after the award.

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The start-up team including key field personnel, Creative’s home office Project Director and

Electoral Education and Integrity Practice Area Director deployed to Nairobi, Kenya the following

week to participate in the post-award conference with USAID/East Africa. USAID held a post-award

meeting on April 20, 2016 to provide an overview of the BUILD program, compliance,

administration, and reporting for the cooperative agreement, and to introduce the BUILD team to

DfID which is also supporting the project. After concluding the meeting, the BUILD team began

holding consultations with beneficiaries, key stakeholders, other international organizations, and

prominent local groups. The field team accompanied by the security manager and project advisor

then deployed to Mogadishu and Hargeisa to launch the project and immediately began meeting with

other DRG implementing partners and programs to explain the BUILD program and its role within

the broader portfolio of DRG programming in Somalia, Somaliland, and Puntland.

Staffing and Key Personnel Deployment

The BUILD CoP, Ms. Denise Dauphinais, and DCoP, Mr. Muhammad Almusbeh, arrived in Somalia

on April 24, 2016 to establish the foundation for implementation of activities in each of the

program’s major components. Ms. Dauphinais and Mr. Almusbeh deployed to Somaliland on May 1,

2016 to set up the BUILD project office there with Mr. Almusbeh remaining in Hargeisa to head

BUILD project team in Somaliland until after the March 2017 elections in Somaliland. Ms. Dauphinais

and Mr. Almusbeh were accompanied by Creative’s Security Manager, Mr. Tony Ribeiro who

assessed the security situation and project arrangements in Hargeisa and Mogadishu where Creative

is contracting Tacforce International for all office, residential and security arrangements.

The Grants Manager, Mr. Gebeyehu Mekuria, arrived in Mogadishu on May 15, 2016, and

immediately began working with Creative’s HQ Grants Manager, Ms. Gail Long, on grants database

and management procedures. To complete the initial deployment of key personnel for the project,

and prior to completing its registration in Somalia and Somaliland, Creative contracted its

Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, Mr. Mohamud Cabdi Bakaal, on a consultancy starting from May

15, 2016 as well. Creative also worked with Mr. Mekuria as the interim finance manager until a

replacement for Mr. Elmi is identified. Mr. Elmi, originally identified as the project Finance Manager,

decided not to take the position due to the security situation in Mogadishu. Creative proposed to

USAID for the Grants Manager to take on additional responsibilities as the project finance manager.

Creative also recommended that the position of Objective 3 Team Lead be classified as key

personnel in order to maintain the level of five key personnel as required in the agreement.

Objective 1 and 3 Team Leads were identified in June by IRI and EISA respectively and were

expected to deploy to Somalia at the beginning of the quarter immediately after Ramadan ends. EISA

was scheduled to deploy Mr. Naphtaly Sekamogeng, Program Officer, to Hargeisa on July 12 and Mr.

David Byakutaga, Objective 1 Lead to Mogadishu on July 9, 2016. IRI was also scheduled to deploy

Mr. Bojan Ristic, Objective 3 Lead to Hargeisa at the end of July.

Following the assessment of the project needs and the gaps (see below for details), Creative and its

partners recommended to USAID to focus project activities in Y1 in Hargeisa due to the ongoing

voter registration and elections scheduled for March 2017 in Somaliland. The recommendation was

welcomed by USAID and as a result, the consortium partners shifted their planning and international

and local staff to Hargeisa, Somaliland.

The BUILD team initially moved into the Forcier compound for living and office space but after

consultation with the project staff, CoP, DCoP, Project Director and Security Manager, decided to

move to a building within the security perimeter of the Ambassador Hotel in order to accommodate

additional staff and enhance security and living quarter arrangements. All staff were expected to

move living quarters and office to the Ambassador Hotel compound in the next quarter following

the signing of the leases.

Short-term Technical Experts

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BUILD team members have identified and built a core cadre of technical experts through decades of

experience in similar transitional environments. Two international short term experts were

identified during the quarter but scheduled to deploy after Ramadan to Hargeisa in order to support

the National Election Commission (NEC) in Somaliland. Mr. Ched Flego was identified and

contracted during this quarter to provide support with operational planning and budgeting, and Mr.

Jeff Fischer, Creative’s headquarters based Senior Elections Advisor would assist with the

development of the Electoral Security Framework for Somaliland. Each expert has more than 20

years of experience supporting EMBs and elections around the world. Four national short term

experts (subsequently reduced to three as UNDP identified and deployed one) were expected to be

identified and deployed during the following quarter to provide support with knowledge

management, human resources and administration, electoral reporting and programming, as well as

budgeting and finance (the last one subsequently identified by UNDP) in Somalia.

Local Registration and National Staff

Creative obtained its registration certificate for Somalia in May 2016 with registration still pending

for Somaliland at the end of the quarter. Creative has been finalizing the employment manuals

necessary for hiring of long-term national staff during the quarter. These processes are expected to

be finalized in the next quarter after the end of Ramadan when employment agreements would be

reviewed and certified by legal counselors in Somalia and Somaliland respectively. During the

quarter, in order to provide essential support, national team members were engaged in the program

on consulting agreements.

Home Office Support

BUILD team home office staff have been liaising directly as well as with field staff to facilitate project

start up, assessment of the project needs, as well as the finalization of the sub-awards and sub-

contracts with project partners – EISA, Forcier, IRI, and Tacforce. Home office personnel provided

strategic senior management, contributed to the development of activities, ensured compliance, and

assisted program operations from the United States and South Africa and on short-term assignments

in Somalia and Somaliland. Home office support staff members included each consortium partner’s

project directors and backstops, as well as start-up specific staff providing technical, operational, and

administrative support. These included legal experts, finance experts, grants, field operations, IT and

security experts.

Office and Administrative Start-Up

Upon arrival in April 2016, BUILD field staff and the start-up team worked from Tacforce compound

in Mogadishu and Forcier compound in Hargeisa. After identifying the need to shift staff from

Mogadishu to Hargeisa in Y1 and following the security and operational assessment by the CoP,

DCoP, and the Security Manager, the Forcier compound was considered inappropriate in relation to

the new requirements. In FY2016 Q4, the DCoP, M&E Manager, and Objective 1 and 3 Team Leads

were all scheduled to establish offices and residential space within the Ambassador Hotel compound

on a permanent basis while in Somaliland. Forcier would remain the key Monitoring and Evaluation

consortium partner, as originally planned.

Security

Throughout the quarter, Creative has been developing standard operating procedures and security

protocols to ensure the safety of all BUILD team members, both expatriate and local national. The

initial protocols would include Mogadishu and Hargeisa only, with Garowe added as required. All

project security arrangements in Mogadishu were subcontracted to and managed by Tacforce in

close coordination with Creative’s HQ-based Security Manager, Mr. Tony Ribeiro. He conducted

interviews with Tacforce and an assessment trip to both Mogadishu and Hargeisa in April 2016 prior

to the staff deployment. In Somaliland, however, compound security would be provided by the

Ambassador Hotel security and all security arrangements would be managed by the DCoP in close

coordination with the CoP in Mogadishu, and the Security Manager and Project Director in

Creative’s Washington, DC HQ office. Mr. Tony Ribeiro provided multiple briefings to IRI HQ staff

prior to their staff deployment and continued finalizing the protocols in close coordination and based

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on Tacforce protocols. For EISA, briefings were provided by the Country Director, Mr. Justin Doua

who works on an independent project managed directly by EISA from the same Tacforce compound

in Mogadishu which meant that no separate security briefings were required by EISA from Mr.

Ribeiro.

Several security incidents took place during the quarter with the CoP and the Grants Manager in

Mogadishu experiencing regular security lock downs. The only major incident in Somaliland included

the floods in May which put the DCoP and the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager on a lock down

for a couple of days. However, BUILD team experienced multiple lock downs and a major attack on

the Ambassador Hotel in Mogadishu less than a mile away from the Tacforce compound. This attack

took place towards the end of the electoral needs assessment with the full assessment team in the

compound. The attack resulted in 16 dead, airport close down and programmatic delays in

announcing the results of the NLF meetings in Mogadishu. Several of the scheduled assessment

meetings with the political parties did not take place due to the attack.

D. Subsequent Reporting Period’s Work Plan

During this quarter, the BUILD team drafted and submitted two drafts (original and revised which

addressed the comments provided by USAID) of the initial Implementation Plan for the project

which covered the period of March 31 – September 30, 2016. The work on the first Annual

Implementation Plan for fiscal year 2017 (FY2017) and the five-year Monitoring and Evaluation Plan

also started during the reporting period (FY2016 Q3).

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III. KEY NARRATIVE ACHIEVEMENTS

A seven-member team conducted an Electoral Needs Assessment (ENA) in Hargeisa from May 23 -

28 and in Mogadishu from May 28 - June 3, 2016 to identify key initial programming priorities for the

BUILD project. The assessment team identified legal, institutional, operational, educational,

adjudicative, and security-related needs to support presidential and potentially parliamentary

elections in Somaliland in March 2017 and national elections in the Federal Government of Somalia

in 2020. The team did not conduct the assessment of the potential elections in Puntland in 2019

which may constitute an update to the assessment.

The team included Denise Dauphinais, BUILD Chief of Party; Muhammad Almusbeh, BUILD Deputy

Chief of Party; Tihana B. Blanc, BUILD Project Director; David Jandura, ENA Lead Writer; Justin

Doua, EISA’s Somalia Country Director; Bojan Ristic, BUILD Objective 3 Lead (IRI); and David

Womble, Somalia Governance Expert. The needs assessment identified principal civil society, EMB,

government and political party partners and took steps to identify baseline information/data on their

existing capacity so as to inform future targeted support. Additionally, the needs assessment

identified key areas where local stakeholders lacked capacity to inform BUILD’s approach and tailor

technical support to address the specific needs of stakeholders, in particular women and youth.

During the ENA, BUILD team met with a variety of representatives of Somali and Somaliland

government offices, foreign governments, civil society organizations, political parties, the United

Nations and various international organizations. Through these meetings, BUILD developed a

deeper understanding of current programs on the ground in South Central and Somaliland and made

important connections with influential actors within the Somali government, civil society, and

political party system.

Below are some highlights from the key meetings conducted during the BUILD ENA by Objective:

Objective 1: CITIZENS’ PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL AND ELECTORAL PROCESSES

INCREASED

Federal Government of Somalia/South Central

Meetings with Civil Society Organizations

Meetings with the CSOs pointed to the lack of and need for small grants to civil society for public

outreach and media training. As the public will not have the ability to actually participate in the

selection process, the outreach will need to be focused on information and the credibility of the

process, not on motivating voters to participate or providing guidance with their rights and

responsibilities. Small grants can help citizen understanding of this opaque process while also

providing an opportunity for BUILD to start developing a civil society support mechanism. The

meetings also highlighted that BUILD was well placed to help set a precedent for future “one person,

one vote” elections by supporting a limited observation of the process by the CSOs.

Somaliland

Meetings with Civil Society Organizations

Civic and voter education in Somaliland has been done almost exclusively by civil society

organizations, many of these supported by Interpeace and Saferworld through funding from different

donors including the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), DfID, and EU. These

organizations included the Academy for Peace and Development (APD), Somaliland Non-State

Actors Forum (SONSAF), Social Research and Development Institute (SORADI), Nagaad Network

(NAGAAD), Consortium of Somaliland Non-Governmental Organizations (COSONGO), Somaliland

National Youth Organization (SONYO), and Forum for Peace and Governance (FOPAG). The NEC

itself lacked the capacity to conduct any sort of messaging or even to develop messages. The BUILD

10

team also noted poor coordination between the NEC and civil society. The BUILD assessment team

learned that one civil society organization incorrectly informed citizens that they would not need the

receipt they received upon registering to vote to claim their voter registration card when it is

printed, when in fact, the registration receipt is required. The assessment team also discussed the

fact that Somaliland had a high illiteracy rate and not everyone had the mobile phone. It is because

Somaliland relies on its verbal tradition and strong family and clan links that information is shared

with illiterate people and those who do not have a mobile phone of their own. Finally, the NEC had

used SMS previously and despite the problems with voter registration overall, found SMS messaging

to be the most effective tool in reaching potential registrants.

A particularly challenging aspect of voter education identified during the assessment would be

reaching the large nomadic population of Somaliland. Nomadic migration patterns are mostly

predictable from year to year, though there is fluctuation if there is a significant variance in weather

patterns in any particular year. Other highlights included the discussion of domestic observation and

the need for multi-stakeholder coordinating mechanism for these activities typically carried out by

the civil society organizations.

Objective 2: CAPACITY OF EMBs AND OTHER RELEVANT GOVERNMENT BODIES TO

ADMINISTER CREDIBLE ELECTIONS AND POLITICAL PROCESSES INCREASED

Federal Government of Somalia/South Central

Meetings with the National Independent Election Commission

During the assessment, BUILD learned that the NIEC was conducting three main activities: 1)

constructing a new headquarters in Mogadishu, 2) hiring professional staff and a Secretariat, and 3)

developing an electoral lexicon in the Somali language. The NIEC shared specific areas of support

that they believed could be conducted in 2016 which included knowledge management (appropriate

for Somalia’s oral society); support with a long term strategic plan; support to understand and

preempt challenges faced by other federal election commissions; and support hiring and building the

capacity of the new Secretariat. Both the NIEC and the Office of the President raised the need to

build the new voter registry for Somalia. NIEC required support in understanding and developing

options for registration, guidance on the legal framework for the voter registration to the

parliament, development of voter registration procedures, and operational support. The NIEC was

having difficulty moving outside of the capital and they said that they did not receive the support they

needed from the international community. Because of their location in Villa Somalia, it was rare for

internationals to visit them. Creative’s CoP, Ms. Denise Dauphinais, has worked with the NIEC both

prior to the start of the assessment and following the assessment in order to design BUILD activities

to support both the initial and long terms needs of the NIEC in the extremely fluid political and

volatile security situation.

Meetings with the UN IESG

The UN IESG’s primary focus has been on providing support for the 2016 selection process. The

mission recently had their funding extended through the end of the year but they were unsure of

their funding level for next year. The IESG was preparing to conduct their own needs assessment in

November 2016, which would in any case happen after the planned 2016 selection process. IESG

also planned to conduct a joint electoral systems workshop starting during FY2016 Q3.

Somaliland

Meetings with the National Election Commission

During the assessment in Somaliland, BUILD CoP, DCoP and other members of the assessment

conducted a series of meetings with the NEC, spent an entire day visiting registration centers, and

culminated in a working dinner. In short, the meetings served as a good introduction into this key

working relationship. BUILD DCoP who had previously been advising the NEC with Interpeace

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introduced the BUILD team to the NEC. Most NEC commissioners appeared to have little

experience organizing elections, and the NEC lacked institutional knowledge and capacity to

complete many of its tasks. Only two permanent staff members were still in place from previous

elections. The NEC also lacked a fully staffed Secretariat of technical experts to implement key

electoral functions.

The NEC resided in a temporary office and had no Terms of Reference (TORs) for many positions.

The government paid only a third of the 30 staff members, most of them Commissioners, with the

rest previously funded by Interpeace. The NEC drafted a budget for its staff but had no

organizational chart. In order to pay its staff, the NEC expected the donor community to contribute

funds toward the budget and confirmed that it only had funds to complete the initial stage of voter

registration. Interpeace confirmed that they were expecting to obtain funds from the Department

for International Development (DFID) in order to assist the NEC with the production of voter

cards.

The NEC also developed an operational plan with key milestones, through Election Day. However,

the BUILD team noticed several key gaps in the plan, which needed to be detailed and strengthened.

The BUILD team also noted that several milestones in the operational plan seemed extremely

ambitious. For example, all voter cards would have to be distributed in the period of five days.

Strengthening the operational plan was identified as an area where support was needed urgently and

the BUILD identified a technical expert to start advising the NEC on this at the beginning of the

FY2016 Q4.

The operational plan lacked a matching budget to go with it. The assessment team noted a lack of

clarity about funding of electoral operations, from distribution of voter ID cards through Election

Day itself. As the NEC need a matching budget to go with its operational plan, this was identified as

another area where support was needed urgently. The BUILD technical expert providing support on

the NEC operational plan will therefore also advise the NEC on the matching budget.

Objective 3: POLITICAL PARTIES PROMOTE INCLUSION AND CONTRIBUTE TO PEACEFUL

POLITICAL PROCESSES

Federal Government of Somalia/South Central

In Mogadishu, BUILD met with representatives of the Daljir party and SNP to discuss party capacity

gaps and the current political environment in Somalia, specifically Mogadishu, leading up to the 2018

direct elections.

Meeting with Daljir Party

On June 1, 2016, BUILD met with Daljir party secretary general Ahmed Fiqi in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Mr. Fiqi described his party as nationalistic and conservative, and although the party has regional

branches in several regions of Somalia, Daljir struggles to gain support in Puntland and Jubaland due

to strong regionalism and local governments’ preference to work with local parties. Mr. Fiqi is

confident Daljir can easily meet the new Political Parties Act requirements for party registration.

Mr. Fiqi also reported his party has active women and youth wings, and expressed that Daljir is

ready to include up to fifty percent women on the Daljir candidate list for the coming election. Mr.

Fiqi requested assistance for Daljir to bolster its membership and maintain an accurate membership

database, improve internal and external communication and to develop party policies in coordination

with civil society and academia.

Meeting with SNP

On June 1, 2016, BUILD met with the acting chairman for SNP, Farah Salad Dharar in Mogadishu,

Somalia. SNP previously received assistance from the Oslo Center and the National Democratic

Institute (NDI), and through workshops conducted by the Oslo Center, developed a constitution

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and bylaws according to the requirements of the Political Parties Act. The assistance SNP received

from NDI was part of a joint USAID-funded program that IRI conducted with NDI, entitled, Somalia:

Legislative Strengthening and Elections and Political Processes. Though small and poorly funded,

SNP has established methods for selecting leadership though executive committees and a bi-annual

party general assembly meeting. Mr. Dharar requested that BUILD work with SNP to improve the

party’s capacity in the areas of fundraising, membership database maintenance, leadership,

development of sub-national networks, policy drafting and external communication. Finally, Mr.

Dharar discussed the importance of Somalis being exposed to the successes of democracy in other

African countries and political parties, and suggested that an exchange of African political party

members could significantly benefit SNP members’ skills, knowledge and network.

BUILD’s meetings with Daljir and SNP offered important insight to the current abilities of Somali

parties to successfully perform in coming elections as well as the parties’ capacity gaps and areas in

which they would like to improve party skills. These meetings, as with the meetings conducted in

Somaliland, will inform BUILD’s future activities and also served to cultivate important relationships

and buy-in among party leaders in Mogadishu.

Somaliland

As part of the electoral needs assessment, BUILD met with the three current Somaliland political

parties, Kulmiye, Waddani and UCID, to discuss each party’s experience and capacity needs leading

up to Somaliland’s 2017 elections.

Meeting with Waddani Party

On May 26, 2016, BUILD’s Objective 3 Lead, Mr. Bojan Ristic, Mr. David Jandura, and Mr. David

Womble (ENA members) met with the chairman of the Waddani party, Mr. Abdirahman Mohamed

Abdilahi Irro, in Hargeisa, Somaliland. Mr. Irro explained that Waddani has an extensive network of

sub-national branches, including district branches in all six administrative regions of Somaliland;

however, the party needs assistance improving internal communication. Mr. Irro directly requested

IRI work with Waddani to improve the party’s internal communication as well as their membership

database, candidate selection process and voter outreach and campaign strategies.

Meeting with Kulmiye Party

On May 26, 2016, Mr. Ristic and the assessment team met with Kulmiye party chairman Muse Bihi

Abdi and party spokesperson Hassan Mohamed Ali Gaafaadhi in Hargeisa, Somaliland. IRI’s meeting

with Kulmiye representatives focused on the BUILD project’s implementation in Somaliland,

Puntland and South Central. The Kulmiye chairman and spokesperson initially informed IRI that

Kulmiye would not participate in any program not implemented solely in Somaliland. However, after

discussing IRI’s previous work in Somaliland under the USAID-funded Strategy for International

Democratization Support to Somaliland project in 2013, both Mr. Abdi and Mr. Gaafaadhi agreed to

participate in IRI activities in Somaliland as long as IRI officially registers with the Somaliland

government. Thus, BUILD successfully leveraged IRI’s previous work and relationships built in

Somaliland to generate buy-in from Kulmiye.

Meeting with UCID

On May 24, 2016, BUILD met with UCID party chairman Faisal Ali Warabe in Hargeisa, Somaliland.

After discussing the political situation in Somaliland and the likelihood of the 2017 presidential and

parliamentary elections occurring in a timely and peaceful manner, IRI and Mr. Warabe discussed

UCID’s party structure and capacity gaps. UCID’s most pressing capacity gaps are in the areas of

sub-national party network development, internal party communication, candidate training,

membership database development, and, most importantly according to Mr. Warabe, fundraising.

Mr. Warabe concluded the meeting by emphasizing that the Somaliland executive is often difficult to

work with, and that religious leaders in Somaliland are, in his opinion, using their influence to retain

power and undermine democratic advances in Somaliland through their strict interpretation of

Sharia law.

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In Somaliland, BUILD made important steps toward building strong relationships with each of the

three Somaliland political parties and successfully navigated a potential roadblock for working with

Kulmiye over the geography of BUILD’s programming in Somalia. BUILD used IRI’s past experience

in Somaliland to cultivate trust with parties and exemplify BUILD’s expertise in political party

development work. These meetings generated buy-in for future BUILD programming and informed

BUILD of Somaliland parties’ capacity gaps, allowing BUILD to develop a work plan specific to the

needs of Somaliland parties.

IV. PROGRESS AGAINST TARGETS

The Monitoring and Evaluation Plan is still under development and there are no targets to report

against for this quarter.

The BUILD team is expecting a spreadsheet by the Somalia Program Support Services (SPSS)

contractor for reporting the targets on a quarterly basis, so that it can be rolled up with other

partner data for USAID to analyze overall results. However, the team started discussing to connect with the SPSS project and staff on M&E Plan and overall data reporting through USAID.

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Table 1: Performance Data Table

This table is an example of the format to be used for reporting against the M&E Plan. The format should be copied and completed separately for each

indictor.

INDICATOR TITLE: NUMBER OF ELECTION OFFICIALS TRAINED WITH USG ASSISTANCE

INDICATOR NUMBER: 2.3.2-3

UNIT:

Number of

election

officials

DISAGGREGATE BY: Location, event, date and gender Geographic Location Activity Title Date W M Sub-total

Hargeisa “How to Operate a Polling Station” 10/23-29/14 87 102 189

Mogadishu “Securing the Voting Boxes, Securing the Vote” 11/2-22/14 99 68 167

Insert here…. “Selecting, Hiring, Supervising Polling Staff” 11/2-12/15/14 450 362 812

Totals

Results:

Additional Criteria

If other criteria are

important, add lines for

setting targets and tracking

Baseline

Results

Achieved Prior Periods

This Reporting Period 31/Dec/14

Reporting

Period 31/Mar/15

Reporting

Period 30/Jun/15

Reporting

Period 30/Sep/15 FY 2014 Target

FY 2015 Target

End of Activity Target

Achieved Target Achieved Target Target Target Target Target Target

W M W M W M W M W M W M W M W M W M W M

Total

Gender*:

Women (W), Men (M)

Somaliland

Puntland

Mogadishu

Southern & Central

* For indicators that cannot be disaggregated by gender, simply combine “M” and “W” columns.

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V. PERFORMANCE MONITORING

During the quarter, the project staff obtained and reviewed SPSS’s Somalia Perceptions Survey tool

to use for reporting project indicators. BUILD team identified multiple questions which could be

used as baseline data for the project once collected. The data would be based on the survey

questions about knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of voters in Somaliland and Somalia about

elections.

VI. LESSONS LEARNED

The BUILD project team became acutely aware of its limited access to some of the key segments of

Somali society necessitating further study of the marginalized populations in order to design

appropriate activities and interventions. Such study was planned for the FY2016 Q4.

In a meeting with the Kulmiye party in Somaliland, Kulmiye representatives at first declined to work

with the BUILD project because BUILD’s scope covers all of Somalia (South Central, Puntland and

Somaliland), and isn’t exclusively targeted to Somaliland, which they interpreted to mean that BUILD

does not view Somaliland as independent and autonomous from Somalia. After discussing IRI’s past

programs in Somaliland, the Kulmiye party representatives agreed to work with BUILD if IRI

becomes a legally registered organization in Somaliland. This experience emphasizes the importance

of recognizing the differences in regional approaches to BUILD programming, especially in

Somaliland where locals may be sensitive about associations with Somalia and its lack of recognition

as an independent country by the international community. BUILD will work with Somaliland

parties and stakeholders moving forward to address Somalilanders' sensitivities about BUILD’s work

in South Central and Puntland and bolster BUILD/IRI’s positive reputation among political parties in

Somaliland.

With this being the BUILD project first quarterly, no flags, Action and Learning Points have been

identified as requiring Creative’s action, in the prior reporting period’s monitoring and verification

site visits by SPSS.

VII. PROGRESS ON LINKS TO OTHER ACTIVITIES

Immediately after the kick-off conference, USAID BUILD Agreement Officer Representative (AOR)

and AOR alternate facilitated coordination between Creative’s BUILD and Chemonics’

Strengthening Somali Governance projects in order for BUILD to take over any election specific

activities. These included technical advice on electoral systems provided by Mr. Vladimir Pran for the

selection process (FGS). The two teams and USAID agreed that SSG would continue work with civil

society through the small grants mechanism until the grants close out. The other coordination at

the FGS level included that with the United Nations Integrated Elections Support Group (UN IESG)

on a range of technical assistance issues to the NIEC as well as on outreach activities for the

selection process. One of the activities that was closely coordinated during FY2016 Q3 included

coordination on Operations and Budgeting Advisor which UN IESG would provide, and Knowledge

Management Advisor which BUILD would provide. The coordination between EISA’s SIDA-funded

project and EISA’s BUILD component on observation and outreach started during FY2016 Q3. The

cooperation among IRI and the Oslo Center on support to political parties and political party law

was delayed due to the Oslo Center’s departure from Mogadishu and continued remote operations.

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In Somaliland, BUILD coordinated technical assistance to the NEC with Interpeace and civil society

work (civic and voter education as well as observation) with Saferworld’s Participatory Governance

Program.

In order to link BUILD specific activities with other donor-supported programs and USAID activities

during the FY2016 Q3, BUILD staff initiated discussions with multiple organizations to either join

ongoing coordination mechanisms or to start facilitating future coordination forums.

During this reporting period, BUILD met with various donor-supported programs in South Central

and Somaliland, including representatives of Chemonics, SONSAF, Saferworld, Nagaad, Interpeace,

APD, SONYO, IOM, IDLO, the Centre for Research and Dialogue and the Heritage Institute for

Policy Studies (HIPS). These meetings gave BUILD a greater understanding of specific programs

currently being implemented in South Central and Somaliland, and allowed the BUILD team to

coordinate with other organizations on the ground to avoid unnecessary competition or duplication

of efforts among organizations working in South Central and Somaliland. These meetings also

allowed BUILD to identify organizations that have the capacity to participate in BUILD’s training of

trainers activities through this grant.

VIII. PROGRESS ON LINKS TO HOST GOVERNMENT

Although independent from the executive, both NEC in Somaliland and NIEC at the federal level are

host government agencies. All Objective 2 activities in this report have been coordinated with the

two as the host government agencies during the FY2016 Q3. Similarly, most key operational and

administrative activities, ranging from country registration to employee manuals for the project,

were coordinated with both NEC and NIEC.

BUILD also held meetings with representatives of the Office of the President of Somalia, the Somali

Ministry of the Interior, and the Parliament of Somaliland. Each of these meetings allowed BUILD to

introduce its program to FGS and GOSL officials and begin the process of gaining buy-in and support

of key government offices. BUILD will maintain contact with these individuals and their offices

throughout this program to ensure programming is informed by the most recent developments in

the Somali and Somaliland governments and to encourage positive cooperation between BUILD and

relevant government officials.

IX. INCLUSIVITY AND ACCESS

As BUILD did not conduct any activities other than the needs assessment, BUILD has no inclusivity

or access information to report. BUILD did discuss the existence of political party youth and

women wings during meetings with Somali and Somaliland political parties. Findings indicated that

decision-making processes are largely dominated by men and typically exclude women and youth. In

Somaliland, political parties recognize the potential in securing women and youth votes and all three

parties have women and youth wings, although men still dominate senior leadership. In South

Central, the political parties with whom BUILD met reported having women and youth wings, and

recognized the importance of appeal to women and youth voters; however, institutional

development assistance should be provided to parties’ women and youth wings to strengthen their

voice. BUILD will continue to investigate barriers and solutions to women and youth participation

in the political process.

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X. SUSTAINABILITY

To achieve program results during the reporting period, BUILD has identified and hired local

experts to support program implementation in the short and long term. BUILD hired a local

Monitoring and Evaluation expert on a consultancy basis until the registration in Somaliland is

completed. While security arrangements in Mogadishu required the support of an international

security firm, BUILD has identified a local expert to coordinate security and other logistical and

operational support for the project in Somaliland.

BUILD has also launched a series of meetings and consultations with universities in Somaliland and

South Central to identify students and professors for the fellowship program designed by BUILD to

avoid using international expertise where local capacity can be built and utilized. Specifically, BUILD

started adjusting an elections course taught at Georgetown University by Mr. Jeff Fischer, to Somali

and Somaliland contexts. The course and the fellowship are designed to build the capacity of

professors in Somalia and Somaliland to teach the course, and to build the capacity of students to

engage in elections in both short term (as fellows embedded with the NEC and NIEC) and long

term (as poll workers and in other roles supporting elections directly).

BUILD worked with local legal advisors at the FGS level and in Somaliland to secure the registration

for the project and develop employee handbooks necessary for the hiring of local staff. Creative’s

legal and HR experts liaised with the local legal advisors to develop the handbooks that meet local

standards as well as being in line with international ones. The discussion included local

compensations plans, work hours, sick leave, national holidays, gratuity for employees, etc.

BUILD’s needs assessment meetings in FY2016 Q3 were the first step toward cultivating important

relationships with Somali and Somaliland government, civil society, and political party leaders. These

relationships will be important for sustaining the progress of BUILD activities in the coming

reporting periods.

XI. UPCOMING REPORTING PERIOD’S WORK PLAN

Creative submitted an initial Implementation Plan for the period of March 31 – September 30, 2016

which includes FY2016 Q4, and will submit a FY2017 IP on July 31, 2016.

In FY2016 Q4, Creative will deploy multiple key advisors to provide technical assistance to the NEC

and the NIEC. EISA will advise on the grants topics and organizations. IRI will begin consultations in

South Central to support the official registration of political parties. In Somaliland, IRI will host

dialogues on party legislation, regulations and electoral code of conduct; provide technical assistance

to political parties on voter outreach; design political party poll agents program; and plan for

potential polling and/or focus group discussions.

As the initial plan submission, revisions, and approval coincided with this report submission, there

are no deviations to report.

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ANNEXES & ATTACHMENTS

I. REQUIRED ATTACHMENTS

A. FINANCIAL INFORMATION – not applicable

B. SUB-AWARD DETAILS

Total amount in the approved budget for sub-awards: $11,330,868

Total amount sub-awarded to date: $4,354,731

Sub-awards made in the past reporting period (FY2016 Q3):

Project Title: BUILD Objective 1 Implementation: Citizen’s participation in political and

electoral processes increased

Name of Sub-Awardee: Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy (EISA)

Agreement Performance Period: April 18, 2016 to December 30, 2020

Agreement Amount (Total Estimated Cost): $2,099,775

Geographic Locations for Implementation: FGS, Somaliland, Puntland

Project Description: Implement activities to support BUILD Objective 1to work with civil society

groups through training, mentoring, and grants. Also, support independent watchdog organizations

engaged in election observation.

Project Title: BUILD Objective 3 Implementation: Political parties promote inclusion and

contribute to peaceful political processes

Name of Sub-Awardee: International Republican Institute (IRI)

Agreement Performance Period: May 1, 2016 to April 30, 2020

Agreement Amount (Total Estimated Cost): $2,100,000

Geographic Locations for Implementation: FGS, Somaliland, Puntland

Project Description: Work with political parties to develop platforms responsive to identified issues

rather than personalities or ethnic and social identities. Help parties identify citizen views and

priorities through public opinion polling, determine the party’s position on identified issues, and

draft issue-based platforms.

Project Title: Life Support and Security Services in Mogadishu for BUILD Staff

Name of Sub-Awardee: Tacforce International

Agreement Performance Period: April 23, 2016 to June 23, 2016

Agreement Amount (Total Estimated Cost): $143,732

Geographic Locations for Implementation: Mogadishu

Project Description: Provision of security for BUILD staff.

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Project Title: M&E Services and Residential and Office Compound in Hargeisa

Name of Sub-Awardee: Forcier Consulting

Agreement Performance Period: April 29, 2016 to May 30, 2016

Agreement Amount (Total Estimated Cost): $11,224

Geographic Locations for Implementation: FGS, Somaliland

Project Description: Provide support with M&E, surveys and residential and office space

C. ACTIVITY ADMINISTRATION

1. Constraints and Critical Issues

During FY2016 Q3, the BUILD team faced security challenges while conducting the assessment. On

June 1, a car bomb detonated at the gate of the Ambassador Hotel in Mogadishu. The blast caused

extensive damage to the hotel’s outer façade and surrounding area. Two or three gunman (reports

vary) entered the hotel and were engaged by Somali security forces for several hours. There was a

high level meeting involving Somali military personnel and local government officials in the hotel at

the time of the attack. It is believed they were the target. Al Shabaab has claimed credit for the

attack.

The BUILD ENA team was inside the Tacforce compound at the time of the incident. The

compound is less than 2 miles from the Ambassador Hotel. All assessment team members were

safe, however a number of assessment meetings planned in Mogadishu were cancelled as a result of

the incident and the team therefore was able to meet with only two political parties while in

Mogadishu.

2. Personnel

Creative worked with Mr. Gebeyehu Mekuria, Grants Manager, as the interim finance manager until

a replacement for Mr. Muhamed Elmi is identified. Mr. Elmi, originally identified as the project

Finance Manager decided not to take the position due to the security situation in Mogadishu.

Creative proposed to USAID for Mr. Mekuria to take on additional responsibilities as the project

finance manager. Creative also recommended that the position of Objective 3 Team Lead be

classified as key personnel in order to maintain the level of five key personnel as required in the

agreement.

3. Changes in the Project

Following the assessment of the electoral needs, Creative and its partners recommended to USAID

to focus project activities in Y1 in Hargeisa due to the ongoing voter registration and elections

scheduled for March 2017 in Somaliland. The recommendation was welcomed by USAID and as a

result, the consortium partners shifted their planning and international and local staff to Hargeisa,

Somaliland.

4. Contract, Award or Cooperative Agreement Modifications and

Amendments

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Modification I to the Agreement was issued during FY2016 Q3 by USAID in order to:

Change the Agreement Officer Representative (AoR) to Ms. Johanna Wilkie and alternate

AoR to Ms. Nina Bowen;

Clarify the reporting language for Monitoring and Evaluation and change the dates for the

Annual Implementation Plan, ME Plan, and quarterly reports;

Update the substantial involvement language for approval of subawards;

Update the language under the approved subawards section;

Replace the entire section under other M&E requirements;

Correct the reference to the marking plan;

Include the Creative Associates International in the fill in section under mandatory standard

provision titled “Marking and Public Communication under…Trafficking in Persons (July

2015),”

D. Schedule of Future Events

This is a chronological list of ALL significant events planned in the coming reporting period that will

contribute to accomplishment of the activity’s indicators, such as trainings, opening ceremonies,

tendering, conferences, etc. This is not a place to list administration activities; i.e., hiring of staff.

Date Location* Activity

July - August Sool, Sanaag (SL) Voter Registration

August* Locations tbd (FGS) Selection Process

September NEC HQ (SL) Deduplication, Voter Card printing

TBD Various locations (SL) Provisional Voters’ List Displayed

TBD Hargeisa Somaliland Party consultations on electoral code of

conduct

TBD Hargeisa Design of Somaliland political party poll agents program

TBD Hargeisa Polling/Focus Group Discussion Planning

* May be postponed.

E. List of Deliverable Products

Electoral Needs Assessment Report

F. Public Outreach Documents

Creative’s BUILD Press Release http://www.creativeassociatesinternational.com/news/project-to-

increase-citizen-participation-trust-in-somali-elections-and-political-processes/