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SPARK supports Somalia/Somaliland economy to recover from Covid-19 Somalis have experienced years of struggle, climate shocks and disease outbreaks in recent years. COVID-19 has worsened the situation as well, with up to 20 percent of Somalia/Somaliland’s population expected to suffer from direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic. According to officials, There is widespread unemployment in Somalia/Somaliland with approximately 49% of the population between the ages of 15 and 64 years being unemployed. “The Tadamon project is the fruit of a long collaboration between ISDB and SPARK,” said Mourad Hentati, Regional Programme Director for North Africa at SPARK. “It is a relevant and timely project to address the negative impact...

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Sending blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ is one of the greatest acts of worship encouraged in Islam, and it is one of the most beneficial supplications for a person in this world and the hereafter, and it is one of the requirements of loving, venerating and respecting the Prophet ﷺ and giving him his rights. Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): “Allah sends His Salât (Graces, Honours, Blessings, Mercy) on the Prophet and also His angels (ask Allah to bless and forgive him). O you who believe! Send your Salât on (ask Allah to bless him), and (you should) greet (salute) him with the Islamic way of greeting (salutation i.e. As¬Salâmu 'Alaikum)” [AL-AHZAAB 33:56]. The Prophet ﷺ also urged us to do that and...

ADAM VAN BUSKIRK AUGUST 16, 2022 In the 1980s, when Deng Xiaoping committed China to the path of development, its strongest asset was its population. China was young and smart. Reaching one billion residents in 1982, the median person was in their low-to-mid 20s, making the country a perfect industrial workforce for a financializing West ready to offshore. Four decades of applying it has made China rich. But the accompanying urbanization and population control policies have had a cost, too: the median Chinese person is now 38 years old and projected to only grow older—nearly 50 years old by the mid-century. The new China is becoming old. This spells trouble for the future because as far as global power and prestige go, being young...

Sarmad Khan | Massoud A Derhally | Aarti Nagraj May 04, 2022 The central banks of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar increased their benchmark interest rates following the US Federal Reserve's move to raise its key rate by half a percentage point, its most aggressive decision in 22 years, as it tries to curb soaring inflation in the world's largest economy. The Fed's move is its second in less than three months as the US job market overheats and inflation reached 8.5 per cent in March, the highest level since 1981. Most central banks in the six-member economic bloc of the GCC follow the Fed's moves on key interest rates due to their currency peg to the US dollar, with the exception of Kuwait, whose dinar is linked to a...

Tafi Mhaka Johannesburg-based social and political commentator 10 Apr 2022 On March 30, just a day after a Russian missile hit an administrative building in the port city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, killing at least 12 people, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the case for the establishment of new world order. In a videotaped message to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Lavrov claimed the world is “living through a very serious stage in the history of international relations”. He added, “We, together with you, and with our sympathisers will move towards a multipolar, just, democratic world order”. Lavrov’s sentiments echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s February 4 joint statement...

By Tom Collins Published April 8, 2022 Somalia’s money transfer market is one of the most developed in the world, characterized by a large diaspora sending billions of dollars home in remittances each year and a local population that prefers mobile money to cash. Latest data from the World Bank in 2017 suggests that 73% of the population above the age of 16 use mobile money services—making Somalia one of the most dynamic markets in Africa and worldwide. Despite only being introduced 10 years ago, over two thirds of all payments in Somalia now rely on mobile money platforms. Although Hormuud, Somalia’s leading mobile money provider, only received GSMA Mobile Money Certification in March, a global standard of telecoms excellence, the...

By Hilal Kaplan December 04, 2020 The fashion model, Halima Aden, was born at a refugee camp where her family settled after fleeing the Somali Civil War. After seven years, the family migrated to the U.S. and settled in Minnesota, where the Muslim minority is concentrated. Some of her American classmates began to humiliate her as she started wearing a hijab in elementary school. She overcame the hard times with the support of her teacher. She both proved herself academically and was well-liked enough to be named the high school “homecoming queen.” In college, she competed at the Miss Minnesota U.S. pageant as it offers a scholarship opportunity, and despite wearing a hijab, she made it to the semifinals. This competition became the...

By Hassan Mohamud February 1, 2022 Despite the huge influence and financial muscle, thanks to standing in place for the government for several decades, the Somali business community and especially industry movers have not leveraged their economic power in productive politics and state-building. Some have instead compromised political processes through various antagonistic schemes to undermine the state-building processes and serve their narrow interests. In a similar vein, some of these traders, though have benefitted from an open market policy, have worked to counterman the same open policy through deliberate de-liberalization in form of monopolies and oligarchic tendencies. Once a budding democracy...

A charred Russian tank and captured tanks are seen amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in the Sumy region, Ukraine, March 7, 2022. (Reuters Photo) By Abdiwali Mohamed Sayid Researcher at East Africa Association for Research and Development (DAD) March 19, 2022 After Russia launched a military assault on Ukraine, the concern over the impact of the war on global peace and security has heightened – particularly when everyone is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, given that the world's largest economies are involved in the war directly or indirectly, gloomy days in terms of economy and security are expected. According to some estimates, there could be a global gross domestic product (GDP) decline of nearly $1 trillion by...

Illustration by Shutterstock - edited by Büşra Öztürk By Mohamed Dubo Director of the Somalia Investment Promotion Office (SOMINVEST) at the Ministry of Planning, Investment and Economic Development March 15, 2022 By investing in the peace-building process at home, Somalia wants to kill two birds with one stone and increase foreign direct investment When, in February 2019, the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) rolled out the road infrastructure program with financial help from the African Development Bank (AfDB), Abdulwahab Ahmed Ali was apprehensive about the government prioritizing the people’s needs. The father of four, who is a livestock keeper in the Adado area of Galmadug state, wished that the Somalia government had...

Somali refugee girls stand by the fence surrounding their hut at the Dadaab refugee camp, northern Kenya, Dec. 19, 2017. (AP Photo) By Hassan Yuusuf Waal, Activist, freelance writer and documentary filmmaker based in the U.K. May 7, 2021 Every year, Somalis in Kenya (often referred to as “Kenyan Somalis”) remember the February 1984 Wagalla massacre, which was committed by Kenyan forces in Wajir – a town some 310 miles (almost 500 kilometers) north of the capital Nairobi. According to witnesses, the lives of 5,000 ethnic Somalis were claimed. Many fear a repeat of the past state violence and repressive tactics used against ethnic Somalis in Kenya as diplomatic tensions between the two countries have soared in recent years on a host...

By Hassan Sheikh Mohamud November 26, 2020 In March 1977, Ethiopia and Somalia edged toward war over the region of Ogaden, which both claimed. Cuba’s revolutionary President Fidel Castro made a desperate dash to the Horn of Africa with a bold plan to keep the peace: with the backing of the Soviet Union, he proposed to combine Ethiopia, Somalia, South Yemen, and the soon-to-be-independent French Territory of the Afars and the Issas (now Djibouti) into a Marxist-Leninist superstate that would control the Red Sea and the all-important entrance to the Suez Canal. Not only would the merger resolve the long-standing rivalry between Ethiopia and Somalia, it would unleash the region’s economic potential. Even more important to the Kremlin, it...

Somali legislators of the lower house of parliament raise their hands to vote to extend President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed's term for another two years to let the country prepare for direct elections, in Mogadishu, Somalia, April 12, 2021. (Reuters Photo) By Abdirashid Diriye Kalmoy Graduate student and a teaching fellow at Sociology Department, Ibn Haldun University April 15, 2021 Somalia, a country that is facing unprecedented security challenges, has entered uncharted waters. On April 12, the Somali parliament voted to extend its mandate and that of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, also known as Farmajo, for two more years. This has increased political tensions in the country, which were already simmering since Feb. 8 – when...

By Kate Foster March 8, 2022 An Economist article last year, “Why Nations that Fail Women Fail”, caught my eye. It reported that peace lasts longer when women are at the negotiation table, whereas societies that oppress women are far more likely to be violent and unstable. Despite some progress, Somalia’s gender inequality remains alarmingly high – the fourth highest in the world. Any country loses if it ignores the skills, experience and voice of over half its population. Whereas a society which makes the most of the potential of both its men and women gains immensely, not least in terms of greater stability, economic growth and political development. Since I became Ambassador just over a year ago, I have been fortunate to meet...

By Patrick Gathara Communications consultant, writer, and award-winning political cartoonist based in Nairobi. October 10, 2021 When he was first elected in 2013, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, along with his running mate, William Ruto, was awaiting prosecution at the International Criminal Court. They had been indicted for crimes against humanity in relation to the post-election violence that rocked Kenya following the December 2007 elections. Once in power, the duo set about an ultimately successful campaign using the resources of the state to intimidate witnesses and to frustrate the court into dropping the charges against them. Now in the final year of his final term, it appears Kenyatta plans to end his tenure the same way...