The Guardian – “For a long time, international aid money destined for Somalia has had limited impact because it has not been invested in Somalia by Somalis,” says a project coordinator from south central Somalia, (who cannot be named for security reasons).

This is a common perception among Somalis on aid intended for one of the world’s most fragile countries.

Currently the vast majority of international aid is channelled through international organisations. More than half of the UK Department for International Development’s (DfID) funding for Somalia is spent through the United Nations.

It is widely agreed that solutions to instability must be locally owned and that Somalis should design, implement and manage solutions which meet the needs of their population. Yet, the decision makers are often diaspora and international organisations. “This is evident in programme design. Almost all interventions in Somalia are humanitarian and unsustainable. They are designed without understanding the local context,” continues the programme coordinator who has been working in southern Somalia for over 10 years.

Some of the reasons why Somali organisations do not tend to receive much international assistance directly are obvious. For starters, the majority of donors are based in neighbouring Kenya. Very few have meaningful presence in Somalia, especially outside Mogadishu. This makes it difficult for donors to connect with local organisations. Poor donor access has created a monopoly of elite Somali organisations who can afford to travel into Nairobi and woo international organisations. This alienates many grassroots organisations with great concepts, but weak capacity.

There is also a perceived risk of corruption and fraud when it comes to funding local organisations. Somalia came bottom of Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index in 2013. Donors fear that money may be misappropriated and will not reach intended beneficiaries. Local organisations often cannot operate at scale and do not have the financial and management systems that donors demand.

However donors also lack capacity. They do not have enough staff to fund lots of small local organisations or the access required to monitor finances and implementation. Somalia also lacks a robust legal framework and formal banking system; contracts are often difficult to manage and enforce. At the same time, the security situation does not permit direct donor monitoring and evaluation.

This creates a gap between donors and local organisations, often filled by international organisations. Global organisations tend to sub-contract local Somali organisations to deliver donor funded programmes and act as a fixer between both entities. They have a fairly wide presence in Somalia with the capability to monitor implementation and draw on money transfer organisations to manage fund disbursement.

So what can be done to change the status quo and put local organisations in the lead? A big step forward would be to give local organisations more exposure to donors. Instead of sub-contracting a Somali organisation, local and international organisations could bid for funding together, jointly manage projects, and jointly communicate with donors. This would give local organisations the opportunity to hear the language and the demands of international donors directly, rather than have it interpreted for them.

Providing direct support and training on particular skills, such as accounting or proposal writing, would enable local organisations to be better placed to competitively bid for funding. Allocations of funds should also be made available for the development of independent regulatory bodies that create a standard for local non-governmental organisations in Somalia such as the Somali Development Actors Consortium (Sodac). Or, private companies that offer monitoring, evaluation and financial services to organisations.

The Somalia stability fund is a multi-donor fund that aims to bridge this divide. A fundamental tenet of the Stability Fund is to promote Somali ownership; wherever possible the stability fund will implement directly through Somali organisations, using graduated funding to allow direct institutional/organisational support. Where capacity is weak but ideas are strong, the stability fund will provide assistance; enabling Somali-owned organisations greater access to donor funding in the future. The Stability Fund is also branching out beyond the traditional trend of working principally with non-governmental organisations and has announced a funding round for private sector organisations.

“As a local organisation, we have only ever been seen as implementers with no input sought on project conceptualisation or design. Having a direct partnership with the stability fund has enabled us to not only develop our own capacity and come up with innovative and sustainable solutions, but to also be a part of a new generation of local organisations that are participating in our country’s socio-political and economic reconstruction process,” concludes the project coordinator.

This content is produced and controlled by Adam Smith International

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