In October 2016, the Life & Peace Institute (LPI), Peace Direct and the Somali Women Solidarity Organization (SWSO) began a qualitative study to understand better how women in Kismayo had been affected by the many armed conflicts that had taken place in the city since the collapse of the Somali state in 1991. What roles had women played to end the violence and help bring peace? The aim of this study is to illuminate ways to enhance women’s participation in peace processes in Jubbaland and so help to bring women’s voices to bear on policy and practice in the region. The findings of this research provide testimony to the multiple and appalling ways clannism has impacted women and girls. The findings also show that no social group has been spared from the violence. Perhaps most important for the purpose of the study – bringing women’s voices to bear on peacebuilding and political settlement processes – the findings provide unique, powerful and empirical evidence of the critical roles played by women in the construction and production of the clan conflicts that have afflicted Kismayo.
