International Forum for Rural Development

Somalia's first issue of complexity is found in its relentless political crises: constant conflict in the country has led to a political and normative void and has discouraged long-term supporters of community reconstruction. The second issue of complexity is found in development strategies promoted by International Agencies, much more focused on re-establishing the state's legal and institutional structures rather then sustaining a process of construction of community social purpose shared by all clans: this feature is at the basis of political and social identity funding principles of any functioning national state. The third issue of complexity is found in defining the best policy approach in International Cooperation, in regard to beneficiaries and donors. The objective of the present report is to design a development strategies for rural areas in the actual fragile context in order to help local communities in fostering their development capacity, based on the idea of bottom-up development approach.