Youth Development

The youth of any community are the future of their country.  With a lack of central government in 1991 for more than two decades in Somalia and ongoing conflict, the younger generation were compelled to engage in violence, stay idle or migrate abroad. Problems facing the youth during this transitional period in Somalia have strong bearings on their future, especially given the primacy of their reproductive and productive years of life. The youth in Somalia were hard-hit by the impacts of the civil war that ravaged the country, often used and abused as militiamen, many dying in the process as others got ever battle-hardened as the most active players in the war. Deeply pre-occupied by the war, the majority of them lost opportunities for their socio – economic development like education.  In particular, youth below 24-years of age have been the most affected age-group. Not only have they been systemically deprived of opportunities to services like education, they have been phenomenally manipulated and forced into becoming vessels for incessant hostilities between warring clans and political factions.

On top of the negative personality impacts and psycho-development these alone has on their lives, the unwitting participation of the youth in the Somali civil war is feared to make them, the most vulnerable group at high risks of infections by HIV/AIDs and other sexually-transmitted diseases.

Tadamun Social Society (TASS), in partnership with UNICEF, began supporting Somali youth in 2005 through empowerment projects. The objective was to reduce youth idleness, which encourages them to get involved in criminal activities, and instead push them to participate in local development.

Trainers of Trainers (TOT)

In 2006, the Trainers of Trainers (TOT) project was conducted in which some 878 youths benefited across villages and towns in the Puntland state of Somalia.  A gender balance was sought with a record 42% female youths trained in leadership and life skills.   The trainers offered the youth group members and their leaders insights into organisational manage­ment scenarios, life skills promoting their relation­ships, interactions and existence among peers and the wider society. Topics were deduced according to their groups’ backgrounds in nature, type and ca­pacity.  Half the period was dedicated to mainly Leadership and Organisational Development (LOD) while the other half was left to Youth Peer Education (YPE) issues.

TASS facilitated various groups to be trained together, thus promoting cohesion and integration across villages and traditional boundaries. This also eased communication and information ex­change and sharing of experiences in turn incul­cating unity and fostering peace between different communities.

Youth Mentoring

In 2006, TASS imple­mented a mentoring programme for groups focus­ing on influencing youths positively through change in behaviour and attitudes.  Mentors were assigned to check on the application of LOD training within their respective organisations. Generally, the es­sence of mentoring youth groups is to strengthen them so that they could perform their tasks effi­ciently and effectively.   Pursuant to this goal, TASS’s mentors have been involved in a multi-faceted youth mentor­ship programme throughout the North-East Zone (NEZ), covering a total of 60 youth