Somalis in Diaspora offer expertise

  1. Posted on Thursday 17 September 2009 - 08:50
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    Abdulkarim Mohamed Jimale, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya
    The United Nations Development Programme Somalia (UNDP Somalia) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have launched a joint initiative to tap into key technical expertise among the Somali diaspora in a bid to help rebuild key governance foundations in parts of the country.
    somalia refugees
    The Qualified Expatriate Somali Technical Support – Migration for Development in Africa (QUESTS-MIDA) project targets Somalis with professional expertise in policy and legislation, human resources management, and public financial management living in North America, the UK and the Nordic countries. Through the project, these experts will be engaged in short-term capacity-building placements in Somalia, for an average period of six months to provide on-the-job peer-to-peer training in their respective fields.

    Better management of public finances is just one of the areas that needs to be urgently targeted given that decades of conflict have left an almost entirely informal economy with a lack of most of the structures needed to handle donor inflows, collect taxes, pay security forces or even to maximize the potential of the estimated one billion US dollars in remittances the country receives each year.

    The programme builds upon UNDP efforts during the last four years through its Qualified Expatriate Somali Technical Service (QUESTS) project as part of a wider governance programme for Somalia. IOM will implement the programme, using the experience and expertise it has developed through its Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA) initiative and its network of missions in countries where Somalis with appropriate skills reside.

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