Globally, and in the Somali context, peace processes and political settlements remain elite bargaining scenarios involving mainly male actors in a conflict. Conducted with women and men in Kismayo, this research underlines how the inclusion of Somali women in resolving violent conflict and
achieving political settlements is essential for long-term conflict reduction and reconciliation.
This study is conceived to generate important new insights into the gendered nature of conflict and peace dynamics, as well as shed light on the way in which power is exercised through gender norms, and thus expand the scope of existing conflict analysis in the Kismayo (and broader Jubbaland) context. The study seeks to identify new options for greater inclusion and participation of women in the region’s informal and formal peace and reconciliation processes. The study timing coincided with the series of Kismayo-based women’s peace dialogues facilitated by LPI and SWSO, the first such women-centred dialogues LPI has supported in Somalia. Twelve intra-clan women-to-women dialogues had been held by the time the study was undertaken in October–November 2016.
