The Jubbaland project and the transborder Ogadeen

The Presidential elections in Somalia are at an impasse. Since the discredited elections of August 2019 in Jubbaland, which saw both protagonists failing to achieve their aims, Jubbaland (and its President and backers) has played a key role in opposing President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed ‘Farmajo’. The purpose of this blog post is to draw attention to a research memo by the same name, which provides some historical and identity-based context to the current political impasse and the position of Jubbaland and its President within that. The Federal Member State of Jubbaland plays a crucial role in relation to both national and regional politics in the Horn of Africa, given its borders with both Kenya and Ethiopia, as well as significant Ogadeen populations in both of those countries

Factors Affecting the Performance of Pastoral Cooperatives in Northern Kenya: A Case Study of Livestock Based Cooperative Societies in Isiolo County, Kenya

Pastoralist is people who thrive on keeping livestock in the arid and semi-arid areas in Kenya that constitute 89% of the land mass. The climate change effect has pushed pastoralist to settle and diversify their income base by engaging in livestock and livestock product for their livelihood support by the formation of cooperatives. There are lots of studies done on the deposit-taking cooperative with slight effort on the non-deposit cooperative society's performance. The research sought to establish factors affecting the performance of the pastoral cooperative movement in Northern Kenya. The study adopted the use of a questionnaire as the research instrument and descriptive research design. The questionnaire was pre-tested for validity and reliability. The data collected were edited and coded before analysis to check for consistency and completeness. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 16) and MS Excel (2013) was adopted for analysis. A total of 187 respondents were sampled with a response rate of 81 percent returned the questionnaires. Based on the findings, the researcher found out that organizational systems and corporate governance are not well understood by the members, boards and clients. The study recommends for the triangulation with other non-deposit taking societies performance and review of the policies. Keywords: Cooperative, livestock, livelihood, pastoralis

Finding peace in Somalia: the Galkaio ‘local’ peace agreement

A better understanding of ‘local’ agreements vis-a-vis national state-building processes is a strong current in policy and academic circles, with Somalia acknowledged as a context with a rich history in such processes. The 2017 Galkaio agreement is a landmark achievement in this history, and one that is located within the recent formation of the Federal system in Somalia. It successfully combined Somali and international actors and resources. As such, it is an important example of an appropriate external intervention. The Galkaio agreement-making process took place over 2-3 years, required sensitivity to both the national and local contexts and included a strong Somali identity among the international actors. This briefing discusses the blurred boundaries between organisational and personal identities, where, for example, a key individual in this case was able to leverage her multiple identities (in terms of gender, clan, diaspora, UN employee) with skill and sensitivity, in order to support and participate in networks pursuing peaceful outcomes. The agreement represents the re-establishment of social relations across a significant border area, a process which is still ongoing, and which remains fragile and unfinished. This social rebuilding process is qualitatively different than the 1993 Mudug Accord that characterised the pre-existing boundary. The international engagement, as embodied by a number of the key mediators working for international agencies, represented an activist approach to peacebuilding that was arguably sufficiently powerful to counter underlying grievances and the transactional elite-driven politics that dominates Somalia’s political marketplace

A Framework for Improving Computer-based Information Systems Auditing

Although Enormous investment is currently being made in computer-based information systems but many of them suffer chronic problems of information security and efficiency [1]. There is a concern about whether the standard quality and security of computer-based information systems is being achieved. As a consequence, growing attention is being paid to evaluating the information systems [2]. The main purpose of this paper was to propose a framework for improving computer-based information systems auditing. The study has two main features; firstly it structures the audit process; secondly it allows the evaluation of computer-based information systems according to a specific set of criteria based on quality, security, compliance and readability requirements. A descriptive survey research design was conducted to gather the primary data. In this paper, the researcher identified shortcomings of some accredited existing IT audit frameworks, and proposed an improved model of audit framework that addresses the main aspect of information security and performance. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to come out with a holistic Information System Audit framework that incorporates the general aspects of other important IS audit frameworks that can serve as a guide in Information System Audit for large and medium-sized institutions

Facing famine: Somali experiences in the famine of 2011

In 2011–12, Somalia experienced the worst famine of the twenty- first century. Since then, research on the famine has focused almost exclusively on the external response, the reasons for the delay in the international response, and the implications for international humanitarian action in the context of the “global war on terror.” This paper focuses on the internal, Somali response to the famine. Themes of diversification, mobility and flexibility are all important to understanding how people coped with the famine, but this paper focuses on the factor that seemed to determine whether and how well people survived the famine: social connectedness, the extent of the social networks of affected populations, and the ability of these networks to mobilize resources. These factors ultimately determined how well people coped with the famine. The nature of reciprocity, the resources available within people's networks, and the collective risks and hazards faced within networks, all determined people's individual and household outcomes in the famine and are related to the social structures and social hierarchies within Somali society. But these networks had a distinctly negative side as well—social identity and social networks were also exploited to trap humanitarian assistance, turn displaced people into “aid bait,” and to a large degree, determined who benefited from aid once it started to flow

Facing famine: Somali experiences in the famine of 2011

In 2011–12, Somalia experienced the worst famine of the twenty- first century. Since then, research on the famine has focused almost exclusively on the external response, the reasons for the delay in the international response, and the implications for international humanitarian action in the context of the “global war on terror.” This paper focuses on the internal, Somali response to the famine. Themes of diversification, mobility and flexibility are all important to understanding how people coped with the famine, but this paper focuses on the factor that seemed to determine whether and how well people survived the famine: social connectedness, the extent of the social networks of affected populations, and the ability of these networks to mobilize resources. These factors ultimately determined how well people coped with the famine. The nature of reciprocity, the resources available within people's networks, and the collective risks and hazards faced within networks, all determined people's individual and household outcomes in the famine and are related to the social structures and social hierarchies within Somali society. But these networks had a distinctly negative side as well—social identity and social networks were also exploited to trap humanitarian assistance, turn displaced people into “aid bait,” and to a large degree, determined who benefited from aid once it started to flow