Initiative description

Background and context

The huge scale and rising number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) is the centre of much political debate in Somalia. Conflict, insecurity, drought, famines and floods have driven the displacement of 2.9 million people, most of whom have self-settled in urban or peri-urban IDP sites across the country, living in precarious conditions lacking tenure security and adequate basic services or infrastructure. In Mogadishu in 2018, there were around 550,000 IDPs (42% under 18 years old), in a city with an overall population of between 1.7 and 2.9 million (Kamau et al., 2023). Some have held displaced status for up to 30 years; others arrive in the city daily (Yarnell, 2019).

IDP communities face an array of obstacles to integrating into social structures, building secure livelihoods and claiming full residential rights in the city. These include frequent evictions, poverty and lack of economic opportunity and fair access to justice, as well as challenges linked to the city’s clan-dominated politics and the political priority given to promoting clan interests. Land represents a particularly pronounced issue, given the scarcity of urban land and the contentious nature of conflicting claims among local and displaced populations, and this has driven the growth of unplanned and unserviced expansions on the city periphery (Earle, 2021), where most of the city’s over 840 IDP sites are located, on private land far from services such as schools, healthcare centres, electricity and jobs (Kamau et al., 2023).

Mogadishu is formally governed by the Benadir (Banaadir/Banadir) Regional Administration (BRA), whose leader is the city’s mayor. The mayor, who changes regularly, is appointed by Somalia’s president and in turn appoints commissioners to the BRA’s 17 districts, through a negotiated settlement with the city’s major clans (Kamau et al., 2023). In the national context, Mogadishu’s capabilities and boundaries have not been agreed, the BRA’s constitutional status remains contested and its government is fragile (Bukenya et al., 2022).

Somalia’s broader political settlement underlies the complexities of IDPs’ situation in the city. Federal and state power is distributed among clan networks, in an “elite division of spoils in which rival political cartels control and divert financial flows to and through the rentier state, in what is widely believed to be the most corrupt country in the world” (Menkhaus, 2020, quoted in Earle, 2021). Fragile peace is maintained through a combination of (1) significant foreign aid flows linked to IDPs and conditional on the avoidance of large-scale violence, (2) the presence of an African Union peacekeeping force, and (3) forced cooperation between erstwhile warring elites in the face of threats from al-Shabaab militia (Earle, 2021).

Mogadishu’s IDP sites are governed by informal actors, known as “gatekeepers” or informal settlement managers (ISMs), who tax humanitarian assistance in return for providing some security, land for new arrivals and help in securing basic services. This system has flourished in a context of high insecurity, where most aid agencies chose until recently to manage their operations remotely from Nairobi (Kamau et al., 2023). ISMs can be appointed by the district commissioner, landowners or others “as part of a broader formal–informal alliance between the municipality and the clan leadership of the city, forming a ‘hybrid’ system of governance” (Kamau et al., 2023: 24).

The relationship of Mogadishu’s ISMs to IDPs can be highly exploitative and in general they lack accountability (UNHCR) operating instead within an informal system based on broadly shared values and norms (Earle, 2021). ISMs are positioned within a clan-based network of elite powerholders, many of whom have a financial interest in perpetuating the status quo of the IDP crisis for the extraction of rents, rather than in state-building (Earle, 2021). These groups include local government officials, landowners, clan leaders and businessmen, who among other roles are involved in the location of settlements and determining who accesses them to deliver aid (Kamau et al., 2023).

The reliance of this “elite bargain” on foreign aid and remittances, as well as the informal agreements within which ISMs operate, create and maintain strong structural incentives to keep certain groups as IDPs, rather with permanent resident status, in the city. Nevertheless, between 2016 and 2018, several events played a role in encouraging elite recognition of the need to address, through policy, the vulnerabilities of IDPs and the question of their political rights to the city.

In 2016-17, a drought in which rains failed for three seasons in a row was followed in 2018 by widespread flash floods in the centre of the country, leading to a huge influx of IDPs arriving in Mogadishu in need of humanitarian assistance and placing pressure on shelter and services. Then, in early 2018, municipal politics shifted with the arrival of a new mayor, Abdirahman Omar Osman, whose vision included a more proactive approach to the IDP crisis. Subsequently, the BRA committed within its 2018-23 strategic plan to developing an IDP policy for the wider municipal area.

Summary of initiative

This case study focuses on the policy development process culminating in the launch of the Benadir Regional Administration’s (BRA) 2019 internally displaced persons (IDP) policy. The policy, among other goals, seeks to work towards (1) finding durable (ie, permanent and sustainable) solutions that protect displaced populations from further displacement, (2) a more coherent land and property sector that eases the situation for IDPs and low-income urban residents, and (3) recognising and providing the basis for IDPs’ role in the economic life of the city (BRA, 2019). The overarching objective was to provide a concise policy response to the city’s IDP crisis in line with Somalia’s national policy on refugees, returnees and IDPs (NPRRI), formally adopted in 2019.

The policy development initiative itself is an example of how political commitment – supported by both elites and widespread public concern about increasing IDP numbers – could be taken forward through the development of a specific policy that drew on considerable local expertise as well as on political economy analysis that illuminated the underlying conditions leading to a poor quality of life in IDP camps.

The 2018-19 process was led by the BRA, headed by the mayor of Mogadishu, with technical support from Tana Copenhagen (Tana), an international development consultancy. The process was funded by UK FCDO, which also funded 18 months’ prior groundwork, during which Tana worked with the BRA to test and refine models aimed at improving IDP sites’ management and governance.

Consultation and policy design

Initial consultation involved identifying and consulting groups in the wider Mogadishu area who were impacted by IDP issues – such as IDPs themselves, ISMs/gatekeepers, district commissioners, private landowners, humanitarian service providers and clan members. This allowed for diverse opinions and perspectives to be considered by the BRA during policy design. In particular, the approach was rooted in navigating the intricacies around working with gatekeepers as important administrative and political entry points to camps and, therefore, to IDPs themselves. This acknowledgement represented a new precedent within Mogadishu’s context because it highlighted the importance of integrated approaches to policy design that consider key informal actors on the ground as well as formal ones. It was also the first formal acknowledgment of the political economy around IDP settlements in Mogadishu. Past attempts had failed to ensure a degree of accountability, as they did not acknowledge the political economy that lay behind the informal settlement in the city. However, by involving gatekeepers and making the process transparent, the policy forced the untransparent management processes into the open and paved the way for enhancing their accountability towards IDPs.

The policy design process then involved a series of consultative design and validation sessions with groups including federal line ministries and agencies, BRA sub-departments coordinating IDP efforts in Mogadishu, district-level agencies (district commissioners, police) and IDP participants. Five districts formed the focus of these consultations, due to their high concentration of IDP settlements, namely, Kaxda, Dayniile, Hodan, Dharkenley and Garasbaley.

IDP partner coordinator forum

As part of the process, an “IDP partner coordinator forum”, led by the BRA, was also set up as a platform for stakeholders involved in addressing IDP-related issues in Mogadishu to engage and coordinate their activities within the scope of both the policy development process and its subsequent implementation. A range of government agencies and ministries are engaged through the forum, as well as national and international NGOs, the UN and other development partners. The purpose of this forum, led by the BRA, was to allow actors involved in the policy design process to share knowledge, coordinate planned interventions in a centralised manner and engage with IDPs and their representatives directly.

Building on existing expertise

One of the strengths of the BRA’s IDP policy development process was that, in addition to the immediate preparatory work (as above), it built on several prior years of action research by Tana and other agencies investigating the realities of displacement and informal settlement camps in Mogadishu. As well as helping to inform the BRA’s policy approach, this earlier work meant that, by 2018, there was a capacitated group of Mogadishu-based experts, including IDP managers, positioned to engage with the emerging political commitment to act on this longstanding problem. An example of such work is the 2015-19 DFID-funded Implementation and Analysis in Action of Accountability Programme (IAAAP), a research-led intervention, under which Tana applied political economy analysis to designing targeted governance-centred interventions to improve the accountability of ISMs in IDP sites.

In launching the IDP policy, the BRA committed to ensuring that key issues were addressed through development, implementation and monitoring of guidelines related to evictions, registration of IDPs, improved service provision, and stakeholder engagement. Priority areas identified for the policy’s introductory implementation phase focused on establishing an administrative framework to monitor and champion policy implementation, as well as identifying key issues and devising appropriate responses – including as relates to the challenges IDPs face in accessing and securing tenure, developing secure livelihoods, identity documentation and exercising their rights as a vulnerable community living in displacement, and access to services.

Informal settlement management committees

The lack of accountability of gatekeepers/ISMs is one particular challenge in Mogadishu (see background section). The IDP policy therefore addresses the need for new local governance models, by proposing to formalise the ISM system and enhance transparency and accountability through the establishment of informal settlement management committees (ISMCs) to be chaired by district commissioners – a governance model that had already been piloted, with Tana’s support, in a few IDP sites.

ISMCs can be understood as a key element in making the accountability link between the gatekeeper and IDPs. Under the camp-based model, committees meet monthly to discuss issues emerging in the camp, such as access, engagement with NGOs for services, or security concerns. There are no costs or budget involved in the process. By agreeing to engage in ISMCs and report to district commissioners on their commitments to improving conditions for IDPs, ISMs have allowed opening up for outside scrutiny and approval of their actions. By agreeing to have the district commissioner chair the ISMCs and hold monitoring sessions in the settlements with and in front of the IDPs, the gatekeepers have moved one step further towards transferring accountability to the formal governance structure. Incentives for ISMs to be willing to engage, such as conferring legitimacy, have been understood as entry points in designing and introducing the model.

Although there are currently no accurate figures on the number of IDP settlements where ISCMs take place, this is the first time that the formal system is examining the behaviour of the gatekeepers. In this way, the district commissioners have established a new hierarchy of authority in the settlements. The design of ISMC meetings also made it clear that the participating IDPs were open and willing to express their views in the meetings, giving the gatekeepers a glimpse into what it means to be publicly accountable and transparent in their operations. There are women present in all committees and several gatekeepers are women, although current ISCMs remain male dominated.

What has changed

It is important to note that, thus far, the scale of improvements for IDPs as a result of the new policy has been limited. Given the context in Mogadishu and Somalia generally (see background section and below), commentators warn that progress will at best be incremental towards setting “progressive and lasting policies that will have a long-term effect” on the status and living conditions of IDPs (Kamau et al., 2023: 14). While efforts at strengthening local governance and service delivery in Mogadishu are improving, “[t]he country is not yet at a place where such policies can be expected to be wholly effective, taking into account the immediate and competing interests posed by other issues such as security and land ownership, not to mention finalising the [Constitution]” (ibid).

With this in mind, below are some of the ways in which this policy has begun to be rolled out in practice, and observed changes to the situation of IDPs since its adoption.

• Research in 2023 has found that many of Mogadishu’s IDP settlements now have relatively better security of tenure than in 2018 and report a reduction in cases of arbitrary evictions (Kamau et al., 2023). This is because IDP site land rental agreements are now regulated by the municipal authority and are required to be in writing and lodged with the BRA – where previously agreements were verbal, resulting in regular reversal of terms, forced evictions and destruction of property (ibid).
• Development and implementation by the BRA of an agreed set of eviction guidelines since the 2018 policy shift has “managed to marginally lower the number of unlawful and forced evictions” of IDPs within the city and on its periphery (Kamau et al., 2023: 24). This can be seen as part of a gradual shift towards greater acceptance of the idea of integrating IDPs into the urban development of the city, together with gradual modifications in practice, albeit within a complex political environment (ibid).
• Parallel national-level efforts to better understand the role of cyclic droughts in influencing displaced communities’ movements into IDP camps in Mogadishu and elsewhere have improved enumeration methodologies and baseline data about IDP numbers and the status of IDP camps.
• The improvements in the situation of IDPs have also been enabled by additional funding provided through other national-level international donor-funded programmes, including: EU Re-Integ (2017-20), Danwadaag (2018-22) and Durable Solutions (2017-20) (Kamau et al., 2023).

Target population, communities, constituents or "beneficiaries"

The initiative sought to improve the living conditions and socioeconomic security of IDPs living in urban areas within the remit of the BRA. The policy document encompassed IDPs as well as other displaced communities, including returnees, many of whom face a similar predicament as IDPs in the city. In 2019, approximately 497,000 IDPs, 20,000 Somali returnees and 3,000 refugees and asylum seekers were living in Banadir (UNHCR, 2019). However, the city’s IDP populations are constantly in flux (Kamau et al., 2023) and more recent data (2021) has identified over 800,000 individuals living in 1,808 IDP sites in just two Mogadishu districts (Khada/Kaxda and Dayniile/Deyninie) (CCCM, 2021).