Women’s Voice in Elections, Leadership, and Peacebuilding: KAAD Institute Convenes Consultative Dialogue in Garowe

GAROWE, PUNTLAND, 16 March 2021 — KAAD Institute convened government representatives, civil society organisations, community leaders, and regional media for a consultative dialogue on the role of women in elections, national leadership, and the advancement of peace.

Opening the dialogue, Hon. Amina Osman Hajji, Puntland Minister of Women, set a deliberately practical agenda: moving from commitments on inclusion to the institutional arrangements that make participation real — how parties nominate, how institutions recruit and consult, and how public bodies make room for women’s leadership in the decisions that shape services, security, and communities.

“When evidence reaches the people who can act on it, reform stops being a report and becomes a programme.”

Hon. Amina Osman Hajji — Puntland Minister of Women

From findings to entry points

Working from evidence presented by the Institute’s research team, participants moved into breakout consultations and identified concrete entry points: electoral processes that measure women’s participation rather than assume it, leadership pipelines inside public institutions, and engagement structures that continue between events rather than ending with them.

Across the sessions, speakers returned to a consistent theme: representation is sustained not by declarations but by systems — the electoral procedures, consultation structures, and accountability mechanisms through which institutions actually work.

“This dialogue did not stop at describing the problem — participants left with specific steps and the people responsible for them.”

Dr Abdirahman Jama Kulmiye — Director, KAAD Institute

What comes next

Regional broadcasters including SBC, HCTV, and Daljir carried the discussion to audiences across Puntland, extending the conversation well beyond the room. Contributions from the dialogue feed directly into the Institute’s advisory work with state institutions, keeping questions of inclusion, leadership, and peace on the reform agenda — where they can shape programmes, not just reports.