How to develop civil society advocacy for policy and legal change

Despite the rise of SGBV, particularly rape, in Somaliland the issue was not seen as a priority either by the government or by the wider public. The low commitment from decision makers to change the use of a centuries-old legal framework that allowed the practice of three parallel laws (Sharia, customary and statutory laws) also made it very hard for SGBV cases to be tried in a formal court of law, blocking justice for survivors of SGBV.

In addition, the lack of availability of SGBV data and poor information sharing amongst CSOs were also major constraints to civil society advocates making their voices heard by policy makers and being taken seriously.

Another challenge was there was a lack of political/situational analysis about the scale of the problem, the context and the stakeholders, especially the limited stakeholder engagement on SGBV issues. This was because the CSOs did not conduct a thorough analysis at the start of the initiative.

Not all of these challenges were tackled. However, a shared platform between the Government and CSOs working on SGBV hosted by the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs (MESAF) was established. This platform was intended to offer a space for discussion and information sharing between actors, and to some extent its creation has helped to create an increased understanding of the importance of addressing SGBV issues.

A CSO task force was also established and members of the task force worked closely with MPs on the possibility of developing a law to address SGBV.  It was finally agreed that a Sexual Offences bill would be developed, and the Nagaad Network led the process of drafting it. It took seven years to get to the point of tabling a draft law for discussion in parliament, and in 2018 the Somaliland Sexual Offences Act was finally passed. However, as mentioned earlier, shortly after being passed the Act was repealed.

Despite this set back the efforts of CSOs to address gaps in policy and law around SGBV were seen by many as a significant development because they had brought SGBV issues more out into the open.

Determination and commitment are essential to advocacy for policy change especially for CSOs involved in promoting human rights. However, CSOs are often project-oriented and this can disrupt ongoing advocacy – when a certain project ends then advocacy efforts end too, but policy and legal change are long term endeavours which require long term, sustained efforts.

Competing interests between stakeholders is another hindering factor. It is hard to build understanding and trust amongst CSOs, and to establish strong coordination and collective efforts. Both local and international organisations (as well as government institutions) compete over who gets credit for the achievement of getting a new law passed. This kind of attitude can lead policy makers to view CSOs as not being genuinely committed to local work, and to criticise them for being too project oriented.

Before embarking on policy change initiatives, CSOs need to do a thorough political/situational analysis of the scale of the problem, context and of stakeholders. It is also essential that they engage all stakeholders in the process from the very beginning. They also need to develop and put in place well defined advocacy strategies and plans.

Current SGBV policies in Somaliland are made in a very top-down way, with little or no engagement or consultation at the grass-roots level, and this needs to be changed if future policy initiatives are to succeed.  CSOs have an important role in helping to facilitate this community engagement.

• Availability of data and analysis as a basis for advocacy is important. CSO’s should consider doing research on the issues at hand before any advocacy takes place.
• Engagement of all stakeholders – particularly potential opponents of policy or legal change, in this case religious and traditional leaders, in the debate on introducing/changing of laws is very important in conservative societies.
• Familiarity with the policy making process and with relevant laws is essential, as is the engagement of all policy stakeholders so that, once new policies are made or laws passed, implementation becomes the responsibility of all.
• Context, language and advocacy messaging must be appropriate and culturally sensitive.