Somalia to launch One Dollar Campaign for reconstruction

Officials from Somalia foreign ministry have told Goobjoog News that plans are afoot to set up a diaspora driven fund for the reconstruction of Somalia.

Speaking during Goobjoog FM Jimaale show, Abdikadir Ahmed Kamatirey, the director of Diaspora Office at the foreign ministry, said that he hoped to launch the One Dollar Campaign, a replicate of a similar campaign in Rwanda.

“We are planning to launch One Dollar Campaign which we want every Somali Diaspora to donate $1 dollar so as to help rebuild the country. I can tell you that the government will not get involved in the managing of the funds but will streamline and offer encouragement,” he said.
Abdikahim Yussuf Aynte, the policy advisor for the ODA said the campaign has been proven to be successful in other countries like Rwanda and chances are that it would in Somalia.

Diaspora Policy

The office is also drafting Diaspora policy so that Somalia would exploit the potential of Diasporas who are now fragmented in their contribution to Somalia.

The officials said Somalia had adversely suffered from brain drain since the civil war broke out in 1991 which resulting in skill flight.

They cited IOM run Migration for Development in Africa project (QUESTS-MIDA) program which they say is not as effective it as it was supposed to be and that discussions are going on to restructure it.

According to QUESTS-MIDA website, the first phase of the SIDP-MIDA project was initiated in April 2009 as a successor to the UNDP program UNDP-QUESTS, a version of the former UNDP Transfer of Knowledge through Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN) modality. From this time, it was administered under UNDP’s Somali Institutional Development Project. The project is currently in its Third phase of implementation.

The initiative IOM and UNDP is designed to bring the skills, knowledge and expertise of Somalis in the Diaspora to Somalia.

Goobjoog News