Somalia: Coalition Building for Press Freedom

"The existence of an enabling environment is a precondition for civil society to perform their role as advocates for inclusive and sustainable growth and development."

This briefing paper describes the Somalia Programme of Free Press Unlimited (FPU), which sought to bring together the media and civil society organisations (CSOs) to contribute to social change at a time when opportunities for political and social reforms were being made possible following the 2017 elections in Somalia. The paper outlines the programme's activities and some of the outcomes and lessons learned, particularly around building coalitions for advocacy on legal reform, gender equality, and journalism safety. The programme formed part of a larger international 5-year programme funded by the Dutch Government (2016-2020) called "No News Is Bad News" (NNIBN).

The paper describes how FPU and its Somali partners seized the momentum created by political changes to support Somali media and CSOs to create sustainable collaborative relationships. Local partners included, for example, the Media Association Puntland (MAP), Media Ink (Somaliland), Somaliland Journalists Association (SOLJA), and the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders in Somalia/Somaliland (NCHRD-SS).

In an effort to support media and journalists in their role as catalysts for change, the programme set out to achieve three intermediate outcomes (IO):

1. Establishing an enabling environment for the media, conducive to freedom of expression (IO1);
2. Media serving the interests of the public and acting as a watchdog on their behalf (IO2); and
3. Journalists and media actors working professionally, effectively, and sustainably (IO3).

The paper outlines the activities of the programme for each year from 2016 to 2020. FPU engaged with local media organisations in order to improve the capacities of individual journalists and media organisations. Programme activities also included building coalitions among media, CSOs, and different stakeholders to implement local advocacy strategies that supported an enabling legal framework for the media and gender equality. Advocacy targeted government actors, including the judiciary and law enforcement, but also media owners. This was done through joint advocacy and advocacy by individual partners. The activity types that corresponded with this were: engaging and influencing, direct advocacy, and information sharing. Engaging and influencing was also used as an activity intended for media organisations in order for them to change and create capacity development opportunities for female media professionals.

The brief describes a range of specific advocacy and capacity-building activities, which included, for example, a baseline workshop at the beginning of the programme in 2016, which focused on coalition building and capacity development and also served to raise general awareness for the need for advocacy for an enabling environment for the media in Somalia. This led to the organisation of a media summit, held by media and CSOs together, which was attended and addressed by the president of Somaliland.

As explained in the brief, advocacy and capacity-building activities over the years were directed at various stakeholders. They included improving awareness among Somali security forces on the rights and existing laws that protect journalists in Somalia through regional advocacy meetings. Workshops were also held with CSOs, citizen journalists from different media outlets, self-employed journalists, and bloggers on topics such as in-depth investigative stories, fact-checking, and strategies for improving the quality of storytelling. Capacity building also focused on female journalists. Another activity involved the establishment of a Committee for the Protection of Journalists with representatives from the media, police, and CSOs such as the Puntland Women Lawyers Association, which set up two helplines, one for male and one for female journalists who are in danger.

The report also highlights some of the outcomes of the project, which included strengthened advocacy capabilities of programme partners. Specific outcomes included the fact that ten selected and mandated members from the media and civil society in Somalia started negotiating with the Parliamentary Committee on Media and Telecommunication towards the amendment of Media Law. In addition, 20 human rights defenders and 20 media organisations worked together to finalise advocacy strategies around freedom of speech and press freedom in Somalia.

The project emphasised building bridges among local CSOs and media organisations (both media outlets and media development organisations) as a first step before engaging with government actors. The coalition of CSOs and media, as well as individual partner organisations, have entered into a dialogue with various stakeholders, such as the government, judicial and security sector actors, and members of parliament. "[T]hese relationships were previously not existing and...[have since] produced positive results" towards creating an enabling environment for journalists.

Regarding the FPU focus area on gender and safety, partners have also shown a strong focus on gender equality. For example, one partner has had some success in getting acknowledgement from media owners for improving the working conditions of women in media outlets; another advocated at the level of the Ministry of Women Affairs for the harmonisation of gender policies for media organisations.

Overall, the report states that FPU contributed to coalition-building between the partners by giving strategic and policy advice, by co-designing projects, and by networking internationally. "FPU's role in bringing partners together has had a lasting effect...[and] helped to build trust and relationships between the partners from the beginning of the program."