Somalia David Womble

For the second CTG project, I designed a fragility index and maturity model (FIMM). Essentially it’s an assessment tool that looks at the relative fragility or stability of a district in Somalia. You develop a set of questions that try to paint a picture of the governance, security and rule of law and socio economic elements of the district.

We designed this tool in close collaboration with the Ministry of Interior. We conducted training with 40 government staff using a guide that I’d developed to accompany the assessment tool itself – that was very rewarding. It was one of the most engaged trainings that I’ve been a part of. It was well received because Somalis know their context, it’s the international communities that often don’t understand.

We were asking them to record information about their conflict so that the international community can digest it and understand it easily. It’s an incredibly inaccessible place and international agencies and the donor community need reliable, nuanced information to provide good programmes. I had a great relationship with my colleagues, they were very supportive and interested in the outcomes.

My latest project is a Senior Programme Advisor for a new stabilization programme called SOMALIA STABILISATION INITATIVE (SSI). The SSI programme is designed to deliver; the overall goal is to consolidate and expand recent stabilization gains in Somalia.

It’s an incredible time to be working on building government capacity in Somalia. Since 2012, this is the best opportunity that Somalia has to shed its failed state image.

I think that I’m suited for this kind of work because I have a genuine interest in Somalia, particularly in Somalia governance. The kind of person who would be successful in this role would need to have an enormous amount of patience, a sense of humour, comfort with uncertainty and ambiguity, and the ability to build relationships across a wide range of people and cultures.

CTG have always been a tremendous support to me, processing time sheets and expenses expeditiously so that I can focus on my work and not worrying about payments. CTG also ensures I have all the information I need when traveling in and out of Somalia, including updating me on recent changes to Somalia’s visa policy.