For many years, Khadra sat under a tree by a dirt road in the small town of Gabiley and called it her shop.
She’d spread her vegetables on the floor and wait there in the afternoon heat, watching them gather dust as people wandered past, some stopping to buy something, but most not.
Each day she’d make about US$3, before the sun started to fall and she went home to her family and her housework.
UNDP’s Joint Programme on Local Governance and Service Delivery (JPLG) is one of the longest running joint UN interventions in Somalia, now in its third five year phase. Through civic engagement between local government and the community, it improves local governance, expands service delivery and identifies community priorities for economic and social development. As a consequence, in Gabiley, key infrastructure such as the market and road network have been significantly upgraded resulting in more commerce. The ethos of the JPLG programme is that local people have the best local knowledge and make the best sustainable decisions that fit the local context and meet people’s needs.
Khadra has worked at the market for 21 years and, along with other market representatives, met with the Mayor of Gabiley seven years ago to discuss ways to renovate the market. As highlighted by Khadra: “Before [the UNDP-supported renovation], we used to work in an empty place under a tree. After the construction of the marketplace, we are now protected from rain and the exposure of the sun. Nobody wants to be in a difficult place, under the heat of the sun and be soaked from the rain. We now have access to water and toilets. We also have workers who take out the rubbish each day. We are so blessed today; it is a blessing from God. We are in a much better place than before.
I am 100% more stable today with the income that I get from working in the market. It is a much better living than what I had before. I used to earn $4 per day and feed my family with that money. Today, I make up to $23 per day and I spend that money to support my family on everything they need. My kids are in school now and studying. Now I’m a grandmother and today I am supporting my grandchildren. We were struggling before, we were short of money sometimes and the
The push came when her daughter got sick and needed treatment in Ethiopia.
“I’d brought my children up fine,” says Khadra. “But now I had to bring up seven grandchildren, too.”
There wasn’t enough money and so eventually hard decisions had to be made. They ate less meat. Things were sold. Some of the kids had to drop out of school.
As part of its Joint Programme on Local Governance and Service Delivery (JPLG), UNDP has supported the renovation of Gabiley’s market including constructing toilets, expanding the size of the site and putting in a concrete floor. It is now cleaner and busier.
JPLG is one of the longest running joint UN interventions in Somalia, now in its third five year phase. Through civic engagement between local government and the community, it improves local governance, expands service delivery and identifies community priorities for economic and social development. As a consequence, in Gabiley, key infrastructure such as the market and road network have been significantly upgraded resulting in more commerce. The ethos of the JPLG programme is that local people have the best local knowledge and make the best sustainable decisions that fit the local context and meet people’s needs.
In 2012, as Khadra dusted off her vegetables by the side of the road and some of her grandchildren went to school — and some stayed home — staff from the district council met with local people to ask what they wanted from their government.
There were plenty of women like Khadra, who had produce to sell and nowhere decent to do it.
Give us a proper market, they said. Somewhere clean. Somewhere we can work out of the sun. With running water and toilets and garbage collection. Somewhere customers will want to come.
As part of its Joint Programme on Local Governance and Service Delivery (JPLG), UNDP has supported the renovation of Gabiley’s market including constructing toilets, expanding the size of the site and putting in a concrete floor. It is now cleaner and busier.
JPLG is one of the longest running joint UN interventions in Somalia, now in its third five year phase. Through civic engagement between local government and the community, it improves local governance, expands service delivery and identifies community priorities for economic and social development. As a consequence, in Gabiley, key infrastructure such as the market and road network have been significantly upgraded resulting in more commerce. The ethos of the JPLG programme is that local people have the best local knowledge and make the best sustainable decisions that fit the local context and meet people’s needs.
The consultations were part of a joint UN programme to recreate local administrations devastated by 30 years of civil war.
As well as setting up systems to canvas feedback and make sure citizens have a say in decision making, the programme helps government staff design laws and policies for how government should be run, with clear lines of accountability and transparent rules for procurement, budgeting and financial oversight.
The project also trains officials on how to operate these systems, sets up work-placement schemes to bring in university graduates, and helps repair or resupply damaged and dilapidated facilities.
Their grandmother, Khadra Yusuf Omer, sells groceries in Gabiley market which – along with the town’s road network – has seen a substantial upgrade as a result of UNDP funding resulting in more commerce. With a significant increase in shoppers following UNDP’s support, Khadra now earns six times more than she did prior to UNDP’s intervention. She now uses her extra income to support her grandchildren including contributing to their school fees and buying food.
UNDP’s Joint Programme on Local Governance and Service Delivery (JPLG), which the road and market upgrade in Gabiley was a part, is one of the longest running joint UN interventions in Somalia, now in its third five year phase. Through civic engagement between local government and community representatives, the aim is to improve local governance and service delivery as well as well as identify community priorities for economic and social development.
The ethos of the JPLG programme is that local people have the best local knowledge and make the best sustainable decisions that fit the local context and meet people’s real needs.
When all this is in place — good systems, well-trained staff, decent facilities and mechanisms for citizen engagement — local government becomes an engine to power local development.
And so when work started on Gabiley’s new market, a transparent bidding process ensured that the best contractors and suppliers were hired for the job. Contracts and payments were handled with strict oversight and work was closely monitored from start to finish.
The market was built on time and to budget. Just as the people had asked, it included covered areas so trade could go on in the rainy season or when the sun shone at full blast. There were clean toilets and running water, too.
For Khadra, things started to look up. Now she earns more than US$20 a day — six times what she used to make.
And all her grandchildren are back in school.
Their grandmother, Khadra Yusuf Omer, sells groceries in Gabiley market which – along with the town’s road network – has seen a substantial upgrade as a result of UNDP funding resulting in more commerce. With a significant increase in shoppers following UNDP’s support, Khadra now earns six times more than she did prior to UNDP’s intervention. She now uses her extra income to support her grandchildren including contributing to their school fees and buying food.
UNDP’s Joint Programme on Local Governance and Service Delivery (JPLG), which the road and market upgrade in Gabiley was a part, is one of the longest running joint UN interventions in Somalia, now in its third five year phase. Through civic engagement between local government and community representatives, the aim is to improve local governance and service delivery as well as well as identify community priorities for economic and social development.
The ethos of the JPLG programme is that local people have the best local knowledge and make the best sustainable decisions that fit the local context and meet people’s real needs.
The Joint UN Programme on Local Governance (JPLG) is an initiative from UNDP, UNICEF, UNHABITAT, UNCDF and the ILO.
Working hand-in-hand with local government and local people, JPLG improves the way government is run at the city and state levels in all five Member States in order to boost economic development and make communities stronger in the face of conflict, climate disaster and other challenges.
Funding from: Denmark, EU, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US.
Find out more: tiny.cc/JPLG
