GALKAYO
EDUCATION CENTRE
FOR PEACE AND
DEVELOPMENT
(GECPD)
GALKAYO,
PUNTLAND STATE OF SOMALIA
Tel:
2525-43-6457, FAX: 252543-4844
P.O.Box 3885 Nairobi, Kenya
GECPD Background and Contex
Mandate:
- To
promote education for children particularly girl- child, women,
youth and
community at large for social reconstruction and peace
rebuilding of Somali
State.
- To
strengthen women's capacity to seek, defend and advocate for
their
fundamental rights in all sphere of life.
Legal
Status:
Galkayo
Education Center for Peace and Development is a Non-profit
making
Organization, Non Governmental Organization registered with the
Galkayo
Regional Court, registration number MDG/09/2000 on 29/01/2000 as
corporate
with juridical personality, and recognized by the Puntland
President's
Decree number 74 on 24/01/2000. GECPD enjoys tax-exempted status. It
has
board of Directors and 252 membership
Objectives
Galkayo
Education Center for Peace and Development was established on
the
objective of strengthening women's capacity to seek, defend and
promote
political processes, accessing to greater economic resources,
getting
provided with basic education and health services, protecting their
physical, psychological and social well being and promoting peace
and
reconciliation among communities.
To achieve these objectives, GECPD directs its programs to promoting
programs for:
- Women's
and girls access to literacy, basic education and skill
training for self employment,
- Girl
child's Education, welfare and her protection against Female
Genital Mutilation and physical and psychological violence,
- Establishment
within the primary education and family life
curriculum/syllabi, a program on Natural Resource Management
- Peace
Education " where there is no peace there is no life"
- Women's
legal and social rights to stand up against violence,
physical and emotional mistreatment, and elimination of social
barriers that
hinder women's empowerment,
- Women's
participation in the decision making and peace building
programs.
- Women's
access to meaningful economic resources, income generating
businesses, employable skills, loans, credit and subsidies,
- Women's
education on STD's, HIV/AIDS, community health and
sanitation.
- Resource
development and information dissemination networking about
women's issues and gender based cultures,
- Gender
harmony and gender sensitive programs to allow women take
part effectively in the country's reconstruction,
- Women's
collaboration and networking with other women's
organizations in Puntland Regions, Somalia, Somali Community in
the
Diaspora, international women's organizations and groups, INGOs,
donors and
UN agencies
Facilities
and Resources:
GECPD is
now a fully-fledged center with most physical facilities built.
Administration Offices 2
Store 1
Skill Training rooms 3
Resource room/ Library 1 Rain destroyed to be built
Conference/meeting room (very large) 1
Class rooms 6
Kitchen (nutrition demonstration) 1 to be built
School toilettes 6
Shop (new out let) to sell skill training product 1 to be built
Residence 3 bedrooms and facilities 3
Water tank /water storage 2
Room for the generator 1
Room for the security people 1
GECPD offices are equipped with computers, Fax, Telephones, Video
camera,
video and VCR for Educational purposes, , printing and duplicating
machines,
typewriters and Generator for power supply
We secured assistance from the following community groups and
organizations:
Biulding:
- Fund
raised from Somali community: Canada, USA, Italy, Switzerland,
Sweden, UK, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kenya, US$
13,432
- local
individual Somali contributors and friends US$ 2,550
- International
organizations working in Somalia-- NOVIB, Horn Relieve and OTP
US$ 4,200
Program implementation:
For
the implementation of the education program---- we secured
assistance
from Refugee/Emergency Relief (PWRDG) of Canada, and Dr
Barbara Fulford a
dear friend-Canada
We have 13
trained staff and volunteers
Activities Accomplished:
Since its inception GECPD carried out the following activities:
- Rehabilitated,
and built the Center's premises 273miters linear
wall and 29 units
- Identified
52 female teachers and conducted three orientation
seminars (Three week )
- Trained
women as vocational training instructors for sewing and
tailoring.
- Established
a sewing and tailoring vocational/ skill training
section with capacity of 160 trainees,
- Organized
26 women, discussed women's participation in education
and Peace processes and met the Puntland President about the
issues.
- Commemorated
8th International Women's Day with 120 women (
business women, teachers, nurses, women activists and mothers)
- Mobilized
young girls/boys (Omar Samantar secondary and students
from private schools) and organized four forums
on education, health,
violence against women and gender equality and equity in
education and
employment rights for youth and women.
- Organized
young women support group on Puntland Constitution study
and training needs
- Established
Environmental Education Team and prepared the team’s
profile, organized quiz and debates on environment for primary and
secondary students (reached 900 children and youth)
- commemorated
17 April tree planting day, collected environment
education resource materials distributed trees
- Trained
8 community outreach contact volunteers,
- Trained
13 professional staff for the Center to implement education
programs
and women's focused projects,
- Participated
in the training and consultation meetings in which
Women's Activists network (WAWA) was established.
- Organized
civic education project for 60 young boys and girls
The Galkayo Education Center
for Peace and Development has established, as
part of its program, a primary school for girls, adult
education/literacy
program for adult women and skills training for young girls and
women. There
are at present six classrooms and two skill-training rooms. 420
women and
young girls are learning different programs at the center
morning and
afternoon. There are 200 girls age 8-16 ready to take the
primary
education. These are girls who missed schooling during the civil
war.
Beside the ordinary syllabi, FGM, primary health education, and
women's
rights, environmental education are included in the curriculum
to raise the
girls' awareness on these issues. The girls' mothers and community
women
elders also participate in these awareness-raising programs. Peace
education
and conflict resolution among children and youth are included
in the
program. Because of the prolonged civil war and its traumatic
effect on
children and women, we found that girls show very violent behavior
and
hostile attitude to their peers in the neighborhood, at school and
everywhere. We teach the girls how to sort out their
differences peacefully
without resorting to violence and clan-based pride. We also teach
all
students, volunteers, support groups conflict mediation.
Peace
Building Education
Peace Building Education is a
major objective in our community education
program. We organize seminars, Peace Demonstrations and
informal discussion
meetings on Peace and reconciliation The approaches we have employed
in
promoting the peace education comprise
1.
encouraging
women, girls, and youth to talk about their experience in the
conflict in open discussion
2.
highlighting the effect of the war on their lives-economic,
social,
psychological, emotional, loss of loved ones, friends, loss of
property
3.
describing
effects of being refugee and dispersion of family members in many
counties,
4.
emphasizing on the importance of Statehood and Government
against Clan hood system.
Analysis of this on PRO and
CONS. We emphasize
on the importance of peaceful coexistence of different clans and
tribes.
We use the religious teachings and the Prophet's sayings as moral
directives
and guiding principles to reject hatred and repudiate violence among
brothers, sisters and human kind. We established Peace women support
groups
north and south Galkayo
Established
young boys/ girls support group on civic education. Some of the
topics include: (a) What is government, (b) the role of a government
(judiciary, legislative and executive), (c) The citizens rights
(peace,
socio-economic, political and justice), (d) Duties and
responsibilities of
citizen (defense, tax payment, production, patriotism) (e) The role
of
international organizations UN, OAU, Islamic, League, Arab League
IGAD
Informal
structure:
GECPD
has developed many informal structures in the community such as
women's groups who advocate for women's rights; youth groups who
collaborate
with the center in matters that affect girls and boys lives, such as
education, environment, sports, violence against women, Peace and
Puntland
Constitution Study and women's leadership training. Women religious
leaders'
who cooperate with the center in matters relating to FGM, peace
education
and women's rights. We organize for these groups
discussion forums at the
center on the above issues. We are starting parent teacher
association and
women teacher association. We also organize businesswomen's groups
for
discussion and exchange of business information.
Professionals' groups such
as medical doctors, teachers, nurses, lawyers, politicians and
others from
whom we draw facilitators for our training seminars and workshops
and
general discussions.
Our
needs are many, but the most urgent are:
1.
School furniture for six classrooms of 40 students
2.
Rebuilding a resource unit (library) 16mx4m) that was
destroyed by the rain in May/2000
3.
Nutrition and health education unit (10mx9m)
4.
Educational materials
____________________________________________________________
Brief Profile of Executive
Director of Galkayo Education Centre for Peace and Development,
GECPD (formerly known as Puntland Community development Centre),
Hawa Adan Mohamed
Hawa
Adan Mohamed was forced to flee from war torn Mogadishu in 1991,
when the country collapsed. The first stop in her flight was Kenya
and eventually to Canada. In Canada, she continued her outstanding
work, which begun many years earlier in Mogadishu.
In
Mogadishu, she had established the first Woman's Adult Education
Development Centre, a centre whose track record in well known. In
the 80's, during the influx of many ethnics Somali refugees into
Somalia Hawa spearheaded refugee Women's relief and development and
worked tirelessly for their cause, not knowing many years later she
too would be a "refugee".
In
1996, Hawa's journey and her heart took her back to Somalia to
establish a women's development centre in Kismayo, a city of over
80% displaced and destitute population. Hawa returned to a city
where she was neither born, raised or had worked. Hawa chose to
return to Kismayo because it was a city of uprooted innocent
civilians, displaced from their homes, regions, cities, towns and
villages through floods, civil war and as a result of clan and
family divisions.
Hawa
returned out of hope and a determination to make a difference in the
lives of the suffering population. The Juba Women's Development
Centre (JWDC), a non-profit non-governmental organization, was then
founded by Hawa, other refugees, displaced and returned grass-roots,
women from various clans and sub clans. Their mandate was to serve,
educate, and improve health and vocational training for economic
development.
The
centre served over 500 women and children in Kismayo. Some
activities to date were literacy and health education, primary
school for young students (including the only girl's public school
in Kismayo), establishment of health unit for the center’s
population, income generating and skill training (small business and
market training, sewing instruction, a revolving income), support
for 50 orphans and educational seminars towards improved health.
Through
Hawa's networking and a call for assistance and support, a network
of support of JWDC was established in Toronto and two volunteer
health workers joined her in Kismayo, through a train the
trainer-health project, funded in part by local Canadian NGOs. The
first phase of a major project to establish a health centre for
women and children was completed. The health workers have since
returned to Canada. They attest to the work Hawa was carrying and
the difference the effort has made in the lives of hundreds of
destitute population of Kismayo.
But
their struggles have developed a united front with the motto of
"enough is enough! Action not rhetoric, for peace and
reconstruction is needed". Hawa was invited to attend the
recently held Somali Studies Congress held at Toronto's York
University. During a meeting with the community she told them that,
"you are our windows of hope to the outside world to tell our
struggle and plight".
She
promised to help Puntland People start successful models of
schooling for community development. The above project, GECPD, is
the first of many rewarding projects in the future.
Her Past
Accomplishments:
Hawa
Adan created the JWDC, a Somali NGO (non-governmental
organization) managed by an executive director with a grass roots
membership. Its mandate is to promote woman's health, social,
political and economic development. JWDC serves those who are or
have been uprooted refugee returnees and/or displaced. The centre is
supported through private donations, international funding, local
community support and in kind voluntary work.
Three
years ago, the centre found a permanent home through a multi-clan
and overall general community agreement, the completely destroyed
former Bilal School compound was taken over after compensating
displaced persons occupying it. Kismayo was under siege for a
long time forcing JWDC to adopt the policy to " run when their
is danger and return to carry on the work as the immediate danger
subsides".
From
the ruins and destroyed remnants of the former Bilal School, JWDC
has carried out extensive renovations, rehabilitation, and
reconstruction and built new sections. The centre manged in a
short time to create:
-Two
administration offices
-
One store
-
Three Skill Training Rooms
-
Resource and library room
-
Very large Conference/Meeting room
-
6 Class Rooms
-
Two Rooms/Health unit
-
One Kitchen (nutrition Demonstration)
-
Two Rooms/Bakery Unit (new with two ovens traditional and modern)
-
Three School Toilets/Three showers (new with running water)
-
Shop (new outlet) to sell student skill training products (teach
basic business practice)
-
Residence (newly-built) three bedrooms with facilities
-
Water piping and water tank (a well dug with pipes running 150
meters)
-
Two generators (new) for power supply
Other
programs JWDC has initiated were a literacy project, an income
generating program and a basic health education/promotion component
integrated into literacy/skills program
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Anyone who is interested in viewing
the GECPD project, please contact Toronto Videographer Mr
Abdirashid Buubiye at:
Tel: 416- 565-5604
Pager: 416-339-6911