Members of national and international civil society organizations operating in Somalia have voted Interpeace as the chair of a multi-agency peacebuilding working group. The Somalia NGO Consortium made the announcement on 27 January 2020.

Somalia NGO Consortium (SNC) is a voluntary coordination mechanism of national and international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working in Somalia and operates in Somaliland. The Consortium was established in 1999.

Interpeace will lead the Peacebuilding Working Group for a period of one year, together with Saferworld as co-chair. The peacebuilding group is one of 6 thematic working groups established by the Consortium to effectively coordinate and conduct development and humanitarian support in Somalia.

NGO Consortium members in session. Photo credit: NGO Consortium.

Our team in Somalia and Somaliland has welcomed the news with delight and expressed their commitment to work closely with many other organizations to improve social cohesion, community safety interventions and effectively build sustainable peace in Somalia.

“We are indeed excited and pleased to be coordinating and working in a cohesive way with our peer organisations,” said Ahmed Abdullahi, Interpeace’s Somalia Country Coordinator.

“This platform gives us the opportunity to shape and advance innovative approaches to address the root causes of violence and work on restoring trust between communities,” said Mr Abdullahi.

We can only build a more peaceful future through collaboration. Working together as a group within the consortium strengthens our work as a peacebuilding community to effectively contribute to Somalia’s vision for change.

The Somalia Peacebuilding Working Group is an opportunity to consolidate partnerships, build a stronger peacebuilding community in Somalia and demonstrate to the world that we are more efficient when we work together.

NGO Consortium members in session. Photo credit: NGO Consortium.