Somalia - Land Governance Country Profile

4. Land Administration and Institutions

Land administration in Somalia is very weak and there is no specific Ministry that is responsible for land. There are some institutions that are responsible for land administration. The key ones are as follows:

4.1 Ministry of Livestock, Forestry and Range

The Ministry of Agriculture has three broad areas that include agriculture, food processing and co-operation;

4.2 The Local Government Structures of the District

These have been empowered to deal with land management. The mayor, with the approval of the municipal council, has the authority to grant permanent ownership over land and this authority can be delegated to a committee appointed by the mayor. A technical committee also assists the local government; it is the committee’s responsibility to analyse and make recommendations on the general town plan, construction layout and all other relevant issues concerning the land for settlement.

• In Bossaso, the land department is in charge of land allocation, planning, land regulation and other such activities. The land department includes: a land section, in charge of land allocation, registration and records keeping; a planning section; and a monitoring section to check compliance with the regulations. The department reportedly uses previously existing land laws as a basis for operation and by 2006 had registered approximately 6 000 plots.

• The registration office has the authority to register ownership, land taxation and rehabilitation authorization documents, building permits and inheritance certificates, but this is not a compulsory process. Land information collected by the different registration offices is not shared among them. Each office must transfer land information to the district responsible for updating information. When updating is not done, it leads to mistakes about the identity of the owner

• The Islamic Court in Bossaso is also authorized to register the same legal documents and this is commonly done to ensure recognition of people’s rights under the Islamic law.

4.3 Other Institutions

• The Coalition for Grassroots Women Organizations (COGWO) is an umbrella organization composed of 30 local women’s non-governmental organizations (NGOs), drawn from different clans. It was established with the intention of protecting the human rights of women after the breakdown of the government and the war.

• Daryeel Women Organization (DAWO) aims to: (i) Advocate for women’s rights for health services, education, environmental protection, employment and decision making; (ii) Strengthen the capacity of women’s groups to participate in the advancement of women’s status; (iii) Establish educational centres for women; (iv) Create awareness about modern teaching methods among the teachers and managers of existing educational institutions; (v) Build health care centres with improved facilities especially for women and children; (vi) Participate in the promotion of peace and development of the nation; (vii) Raise awareness about the spread of HIV/AIDS; and (viii) Fight illiteracy;

• We Are Women Activists (WAWA) is a network of groups which advocate for women’s participation as decision makers at all levels of civil society and government. WAWA has focused on training and sharing resources among women’s groups, including capacity building in institutional and organizational development for all member organizations. Following training, WAWA has distributed small seed funds to all of the member organizations to start their own projects.