COVID-19: Sustainable Development and Policymakers in Somalia/Somaliland
This report examines how participatory research on COVID-19 and sustainable development informed and influenced policymakers in Somalia and Somaliland. It highlights the role of locally grounded evidence in shaping inclusive and context-specific public health responses.
Introduction
This report sets out the work undertaken by Transparency Solutions and the University of Bristol to engage public health policymakers and professionals to promote the methods and findings of our recent collaborative research on COVID-19 and sustainable development in Somalia/Somaliland. Transparency Solutions is a formal Strategic Partner of the University of Bristol.
During the Spring and Summer of 2020, a research and practice collaboration between the University of Bristol and Transparency Solutions was carried out on the protection and promotion of sustainable development in Somalia/Somaliland during, through, and as a method of COVID-19 response. The work was in two phases as part of the joint University of Bristol and Transparency Solutions Somali First initiative to promote Somali-led development in all sectors. From that work we published two reports in English and Somal)2 and one peer reviewed journal article.3
Somalia/Somaliland is among the places of the world least able to cope with COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) due to many forms of poverty-related deprivation, low levels of access to health care and limited state capacity. In phase 1 of this project, we examined how sustainable development might be promoted during, through and as a method of COVID-19 response in Somalia/Somaliland. We did so through discussions with people in Mogadishu (capital of Somalia) and Hargeisa (capital of Somaliland: its declaration of independence from Somalia has not been recognised internationally). The people we spoke with were mainly those who in some way are excluded from full participation in society due to illiteracy, gender, youth, being a member of a minority clan or minority ethnic group, or being a low caste worker, rural pastoralist, informal small trader, internally displaced or a refugee from another country.
We also discussed these issues with some people in more privileged positions. We carried out a series of interviews and focus group discussions with the forty participants during May and June 2020. In Phase 2 we held interviews and focus group discussions with the same forty participants, with the focus on district level responses to COVID-19, access to health care, and confidence in health care.
Keywords
- COVID-19 response; sustainable development policy; Somalia; Somaliland; public health governance; participatory research methods; policymaking processes; health system capacity