When we announced the SWALIM Open Days in Mogadishu – one in a series of Open Day events, following those held in Hargeisa, Somaliland and Garowe, Puntland – we were concerned that we would have to navigate complex logistical and security arrangements. This was also the first full-fledged SWALIM Open Days event ever held in the Somali Capital. A pleasant surprise awaited us in the beautiful and sea-breeze-swept city. The Somali involvement and commitment was clearly demonstrated at the event, held from 5 to 10 October, 2015. The Open Days kicked off on Monday, 5 October, with a high-level meeting involving senior Federal Government officers and the FAO Somalia Representative, Mr. Richard Trenchard, who opened the meeting. We were delighted by the depth of understanding that government officers from the four counterpart institutions (Water, Agriculture, Environment and Livestock) showed on key water and land development issues - and by their articulation of possible solutions. We learned of projects that were already formulated and documented and were only waiting funding for final design and implementation. SWALIM’s presentations were followed by open and lively discussions, and the government’s commitment to partner with SWALIM was clearly articulated.

What was organized to be the first SWALIM open day in Mogadishu turned out to be an active platform for strengthening SWALIM collaboration with key partners and for engagement with the wider group of water and land sector stakeholders. A spirit of reaching for “the common good” with Somalia water and land resources was evident throughout the five days of the event and the time turned out to be too short to address all the interesting and important issues that were raised. On Wednesday and Thursday, technical staff from the four partner ministries, the Disaster Management Agency, and representatives of three academic institutions, worked with the SWALIM technical staff to assess and document the water and land information management capacity needs of the Federal Government and its agencies along four thematic areas – Water, Agriculture, Environment and Disaster Risk Management. The assessment started with a stock-taking exercise, by the compilation of capacity development plans in these four thematic areas.

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