A significant number of people are seeking assistance to move beyond emergency relief and build more productive lives in the form of Durable Solutions. This will reduce the current humanitarian caseload by connecting IDPs with developmental solutions and priorities in place of humanitarian actions.
The local government is exploring such innovative options through multi-sectorial engagement to address these challenges. The Benadir Region’s Durable Solutions Action Plan is designed to integrate priorities in the National Development Plan and other relevant frameworks such Intra-Agency Standing Committee on Durable Solutions (IASC), Drought Impact Needs Assessment (DINA) and Recovery and Resilience Framework (RRF) to secure durable solutions for over half million displaced in the region. We believe our approach will increase the overall impact of these initiatives, beyond the sum of their individual contributions in assisting IDPs.
Benadir Regional Authority (BRA) needs assistance. We understand that we cannot have a modern and forward-looking capital city with hundreds of thousands of displaced people in camps within the city. BRA’s plans lead the implementation of durable solutions and enacting enabling policies and frameworks. Our policy includes allocating land for families in protracted displacement, creating low cost housing models and incentivising the private sector to invest in this problem as part of their commercial development. This innovative approach is the only way to resolve the key challenges of providing basic services to the most vulnerable in Somali society with both the government and private sector contributing to the way forward.
There is arguably some notable assistance by international partners to IDPs in Mogadishu but we need this support to be better coordinated and aligned with the priorities of the Local Government so that wasteful duplication is avoided. Our individual implementation strategies will be more effective where all partners join hands to assist the IDPs in the capital.
We are one family
If our plans are achieved, we believe it will create a huge impact such that no one will have to label the other as disadvantaged but rather as people who contribute resourcefully to the day-to-day development of the city.
BRA believes integrating IDPs into the fabric of society, seeing IDPs as contributing members of the Benadir Region that bring income and resources both formally and informally. This social inclusion of IDPs will yield positive economic, social and political cohesion and improve the overall security of the city. It is important to remember that IDPs are real stakeholders of their capital too.
Yes, the Benadir Region is still experiencing the challenge of IDP settlements concentrated in the urban areas, creating high density and a lack of social services but, with assistance, Mogadishu can respond positively and effectively becoming a model for the country by promoting our inclusive and progressive agenda to address displacement.
