Impact by Regions, Countries & Territories

UNDP’s Global Programme supports crisis-affected contexts across all regions to strengthen the rule of law and human rights. In this section, we present five regional overviews, detailing our priorities and approach depending on the context, as well as feature select country and territory results from 2021.

Five contexts from the list (Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Mali and Yemen) illustrate the achievements of the Global Focal Point for the Rule of Law (GFP). In peacekeeping missions and transition settings, UNDP’s Global Programme works through the GFP to deliver integrated assistance with our UN partners.

GFP Global Focal Point Highlights

Somalia

In 2019, UNDP launched the “Community Conversations” initiative in Somalia. For this initiative, a large number of community members gather together to discuss matters that the communities themselves identify as their common concerns. This may include issues around sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), high rates of crime, land disputes and the lack of effective and trustworthy local justice and police services. Facilitators – usually trusted community leaders or elders – encourage participants to unpack the root causes of the concerns. The purpose of these sessions is to find solutions and identify practical, community-led responses with, where necessary, the involvement of local authorities. During some sessions, participants can submit individual cases and solutions are found within the community, reinforcing social cohesion and reducing division along clan lines. In other sessions, participants discuss broader issues around security and justice, such as community-police interaction, engaging with police to patrol specific areas and engaging with local youth gang leaders to reduce crime.

Since 2019, 9,913 people (including 5,369 women) participated in 180 sessions.

Amina Abdi, a mother of seven, was one of them. Decades ago, she fled Somalia after her father had been killed during the civil war. She fled to Kenya, grew up in a refugee camp, and met her husband there. Upon return, she shared her story with the community members during the community conversations. Evidence and witnesses were identified who confirmed and restored Amina’s rights to a small house built by her father. “Community dialogue was a blessing, I got my land back after it was out of my hands for almost 30 years”, Amina said.

Woman sharing story
A woman, mother of seven, shared her story during a community conversation in Somalia and restored her land rights.Photo: UNDP