Is the role of Civil Society declining in Somaliland? Discussion paper

The idea of civil society movements in the Somali territories and in particularly Somaliland goes back to colonial time when clubs for public orientation, education and even independence movements were formed to resist the colonial administrations.However,it was formalized after the independence and particularly during the nine years of Somalia civilian administrations between 1960-69. Civil society at the time had existed in the form of professional associations1. Nevertheless, it was short-lived as the military junta took over Somalia in 1969 and imposed a total deprivation of civil liberty movements.

The situation remained unchanged during the two decades of the military rule until Siyad Barre was ousted in 1991. The first civil society groups started to re-emerge and gradually became the only reliable institutions after the collapse of the central government, and later flourished. At that time, the situation was chaotic and large numbers of returnees had been coming back from refugee camps with empty hands to empty destinations. The newly formed civil society organizations mainly NGOs were engaged in relief and recovery efforts to respond to the needs of returning civilians as well as public mobilizations through volunteerism.