Health and Education Sector Development through Skills and Knowledge Transfer in South Central Somalia

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

The project aims at improving the capacity of public sector health and education institutions to provide quality services with special focus on vulnerable groups: women, children and youth through skills and knowledge transfer by the Somali diaspora. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to stabilization in South Central Somalia and Puntland through increasing access to basic services (health and education) and creating employment opportunities for the youth, including women. In addition, young Somalis will be placed in internship positions under the supervision of the diaspora experts at relevant institutions. The project trains health and education sector professionals to produce quality public services in health and education and to administer the resources of the sectors. The trainers are diaspora experts, especially Finnish diaspora, who work and share their expertise in the sectors. The Mid-Term Evaluation, which was finalized in August 2018, showed that results have been gained in both health and education sectors. For example the intake of patients at Yardimeli Hospital in Mogadishu has increased significantly in a short period of time, from around 800 patients in July 2017 to around 4,000 in March 2018. Moreover, the number of assisted births increased substantially. The diaspora experts placed at the Ministry of Education were successful in supporting the organizational reform and writing key strategic planning documents for the sector. According to the Mid-Term Evaluation, the project was very relevant in filling the gaps and specialized needs in the institutions. According to all participants, both local and the diaspora, the project was successful in producing sustainable results in skills and knowledge. The implementing partner is the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). From 2015 to 2019 Finland has supported the project with 4 420 000 EUR. From 2019 to 2021 the total budget for the second phase, funded by Finland, is 5 400 000 EUR. The budget is disbursed as follows: 1 MEUR in 2019; 2,4 MEUR in 2020; 2 MEUR in 2021.