Somalia 2025 Vision - A must achieve goals

[Waranle_Warrior]

Before we all jump the gun and list lists of what see in the west or Japan. Let's think and discuss about what we need first, to be sufficient, sustainable and rich African success. Don't forget to keep in your mind during the thinking process that you should also be constrained by the available resources and capabilities.

[N.O.R.F]

Great thread Nuune

 

The Blueprints for Development

 

What we need to implement is a bottom up approach when it comes to development. When planting flower seeds in your garden, chances are, nothing will grow without good soil and clean water. What we have been guilty of in the past is the top down approach. We all know what the country(s) needs as well as what we would like. We should deal with the needs first.

 

The first thing that should be created is an umbrella authority independent of the government tasked with the country’s urban development. Independent of the government to avoid having to start over again at every change in government. However, a close relationship with government bodies is essential.

 

The ministries, after conducting their respective studies, would inform this umbrellas body of the country’s needs in terms of hospitals and clinics (how many bed in all cities and towns), how many schools and at what levels in all towns and cities, what areas should be reserved for housing, location of emergency services buildings, required roads and public transport etc.

 

The umbrella authority should have departments for urban planning, transportation planning etc. These departments will have sub levels at every region. The levels would be for example:

 

1. Development Authority

2. Banadir Regional Transportation Authority or Jubba Regional Transportation Authority

 

With clear processes and procedures, lines of communication and authority levels, this model would ensure the country is developed as part of a strategic development plan (2025 or 2030) and reduces the chances of conflicts and inconsistencies between regions.

 

This set up and the processes involved would obviously be layered. For example:

 

1. Banadir region wants to construct a 3 lane bypass highway running north to south to the west of Muqdisho to reduce the traffic in the city. Think M25 around London.

2. The go ahead is given by the Development Authority for a Traffic Impact Study.

3. The Traffic Impact Study is done and the results suggest this would reduce traffic by 50% in inner Muqdisho.

4. The go ahead if given for a survey, design and cost estimate study by the Development Authority

5. BRTA employ a consult to do the above.

6. The cost of building the road is approved by the DA and work can proceed.

7. The work can then be tendered.

 

The importance of controlling what needs to be built and how can’t be underestimated. If this isn’t in place you will get a haphazard, every region for itself way of doing things resulting in urban quagmires called cities. At the same time, a clear centralized approach underpinned by the strategic development plan which is underpinned by studies made by the various ministries, gets all departments and regions singing from the same hymn sheet and leaves little room for argument and political difficulties.

 

I have deliberately ignored the issue of financing. Maybe our economists can give us some ideas.

 

Ps, All Rights Reserved

[nuune]

Nicely put yaa Norf, and good points, that would be exactly the starting point, this is the kind of your area, the planning/consulting thing, I hope you will be involved in one or multiple project goals.

 

Read my updated post at the end of the firts page of this topic, many has being achieved in short term, that is amazing.

 

The UN Millenium Development plan is about to expire on 2015 in less than 2 years time, signed on 2000 by 191 countries, 15 years later, they achieved NOTHING in the 8 category they supposed to achieve:

 

 

 

MDG 1: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, none achieved

MDG 2: Achieving universal primary education, none achieved

MDG 3: promote gender equality and empower women none achieved

MDG 4: reduce child mortality none achieved

MDG 5: improve maternal health none achieved

MDG 6: combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases none achieved

MDG 7: ensure environmental sustainability none achieved

MDG 8: develop a global partnership for development none achieved

 

 

 

So, lots of question need to be asked, who is who and who is responsible of what, the UN is a total mess!

 

Tillamook, what is happening now is market oriented, but more centrally planned vision would make more sense since this allows us to follow a plan, rather than what we think and do.

[Tallaabo]

Waar Nuune did you forget about my village Erigavo. Your dream mega projects are passing us by east and west. It is not really fair that we were first neglected by the former Republic, then Somaliland disowned us, and now your Jinn kingdom is not willing to throw even a few basic spells our way!!

[Abu-Salman]

Nuune thanks, one of the best threads; focus on construction or investments rather than equality has risks, both sectors are booming unprecedently in Djibouti yet as shown by today historical elections cooked results, people are extraordinarily dissatisfied.

As pointed out by Norf, needs or basic human needs along equality must be the priority and raison d etre of the government.

 

I believe, in my humble opinion, that healthcare and prevention (which entails litteracy, nutrition, sanitation and urban planning) allied to equality (both are in fact indissociable as shown by countless studies or reports) are what really matters: general or population well-being depends on it after spiritual needs or public morality.

 

In purely economic terms, and most succesful economies such as S. Korea were diriged by engineers or technicians going against economic recommendations, or much could be achieved with minimal spending, eg WHO level of minimal primary healthcare expenditure of $20 per capita.

 

The economy is thus dedicated to human needs and equality rather than a goal in itself where GDP, investments and other figures are worshipped (exports and manufacturing can often be detrimental to population level well-being in many ways as shown by medical studies).

 

For tentative and flexible targets by 2025 (flexibility is key; even clinicians must do much with limited resources):

 

 

Health, prevention & well-being:

 

• Sanitation and basic litteracy are prioritised as simple nutritional guidance or hands washing save most lives at birth and beyond with no cost
• a ratio of a clinician and 5 healthcare workers for 10000 locals, the latter including "community nurses" required to visit each home at least once annually (task shifting allow fully trained nurses to do 80% of routine doctors workload as some specialised procedures are taught to less qualified colleagues).
• an Anti car attitude in urban planning that prioritise pedestrian spaces and walking, parks and trees (which are the essence of international best practice: Curitiba, Brazil, a city for people, not for cars);

  Parks and trees are essentials for crime reduction, absorbing pollution, mental well-being etc (stress is often too the number one killer and health problem).

• Nutritive staples such as beans free of charge to at least expecting mothers and infants (maternal malnutrition even before pregnancy has remarkable effects on child overall life prospects; so do stress); rations targeted towards the disadvantaged and managed very locally (Imams and other leaders enlisted in distributions; mosques to relay messages etc)
• international best practices to be studied and proactive mentality to be adopted; eg Cuban world leading health indicators, equality and scientific achievements under minimal resources, Cuba urban farming again internationally acclaimed, Rwanda successes in reducing the growing worldwide plague of traffic accidents in particular etc

 

Equality and Economic opportunities:

 

 

• Dirigism and planning: an independent body, chaired by reputable figures, ensure the economy is at the service of rather than against the interests of the masses.
• Basic needs and key industries to be prioritised: appropriate technology in vital sectors such as small-scale irrigation or mini fishing vessels, large scale low cost housing or its intakes etc (appropriate technology means designing for simplicity, for local manufacture and maintainance to avoid endless ephemeral projects dependent on external factors: ApproTEC human-powered irrigation pump)
• Economy run by engineers, technicians, public health specialists and activists or intellectuals (S. Korea is a stellar example of fastest technological and output growth against economic experts and orthodoxy albeit not a model of efficiency as Cuba record on healthcare, education, sustainability and equality).
• Economic self-reliance is key for national sovereignity and prioritisation of well-being & equality.

  Industries to be protected and internal markets to be prioritised, especially for agriculture and basic needs.

  Public spending from $100 to $500 per capita, achievable through successive stages over the medium term, are more than necessary if wisely managed.

  Public-Private Partnerships schemes or external financing reserved for major infrastructure financing (those aternatives need to be limited to non-recurrent, massive, non vital infrastructure costs so to avoid dependence or basic human needs reliance on private or foreign sources).

• Opportunities for all to be prioritised with educational focus on vocational training, labor intensive processes and industries; small scale farming using permaculture or urban garden schemes or small scale trading to be protected against large scale land tenure and firms to achieve livelihoods for all and prevent inequalities or environmental unsustainablity.
• Economy firmly subordinated to empowering the masses, popular well-being and equality rather than corruption prone pure worship of growth, GDP and other figures often disastrous in human and environmental terms.

  Popular well-being more generally (which includes urban planning) or public health (well beyond healthcare services) are indeed both closely linked to equality, hence the avoidance of divisions into artificial compartiments: economics, urban traffic or parks, prevention and care etc when a focused vision on the human factor or equality takes care of the rest at minimal cost in terms of environment, mental & physical fitness and crime.

[Suldaanka]

They say take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves. In that spirit, think taking baby steps in making sure the foundations are solid i.e. promote peace, provide food, give education and deliver health services to women and children... with that done. Everything else will fall into place.

[Rahima]

Great ideas guys- thanks for sharing.

 

That said though initial stages of concentration should be Education (first and foremost) and primary health care.

[OdaySomali]

Cool thread, some great ideas and very interesting to read.

 

But... Nuune this is a wish list. Forgive me in advance if I accuse you wrongly because I have not read everything in this thread. And it is not bad to have a wish list if you have the finances to buy the things yout want. But if you do not have those finances it is perhaps better to formulate first how you are going to get those finances. The projects you have talked about require billions upon billions of dollars to be invested in them.

 

Several things I picked up on:

 

- One thing you did not mention is financing, how will this be financed?

 

- The second and other is sustainability... both are interlinked.

 

- You only talked about public infrastructure, and not so much the private sector. What the New Somali Republic needs to focus on is sustainable job-creation by investing in industries that bring in hard currency. This will mean a particular focus on labour intensive industries as our current labour pool is for the vast majority unskilled labour.

 

- Your expectations of job creation are excessive and is not something that the Somali economy can realize. Of the 10m population, >50+ is non-working age. The working population is a small percentage of the total population. If things worked out the way you envisage, Somalia would need to import labour because the sheer amount of jobs created would exceed what our labour market can supply.

 

- What you envisage is an enormous mammoth public sector - this is something that is not economically viable, beneficial or desired. We need our labour to engage in productive sustainable economic activities and not bureaucracy/living off the public purse.... 50,000 coast guard, seriously ?... that's excessive man. 1m people or 10% of the total population employed in the heallth sector... to say that is an unrealistic expectation would be an understatement.

 

But having said all of the above, you have a good idea about what we need and are sincere in your desire for Somalis to realise development and enhancement in the quality of life. Kudos to you, we need more like you.

[nuune]

^^ OdeySomali, as well as many other Soler's main concern has being the FINANCE, how will the projects get financed, it is a valid question, and the reason I skipped this is because I know that the finance can be easily obtained if the right route and method is followed, in fact, when Djibouti recently announced 15 projects that will need to be completed within 3 years, for your information, Djibouti secured 85% of the $4.5 Billion needed for the 15 projects, the rest I let you find out how they found the investment.

 

But everything has stages, phases and steps, as sister Rahima said, education should be the priority, and primary healthcare, the top priority should be kicked off as of now, and as you maybe aware, read my last post on the first page, it is an update since I started this topic more than 10 months ago, without even following a particular vision, a lot has being achieved in 10 months, please read that UPDATE POST. on the first page.

 

 

50 thousand coast guard, you sure know that our coast is more than 3,000 kilomerers, countries with less than 500 kilometers have a coast guard army numbering up to 5 thousand, another word, it is not about protecting the coast alone, but our share of the ocean which is like hunndreds of kilometers fromt he coast.

[nuune]

Abu Salman, great contribution sxb, always you made great points.

 

Suldaanka, nothing can be achieved without implementing the points you mentioned, we are a society that is broken into pieces, and peace with education and healthcare is a must for that society that has being neglected for so long.

 

Tallaabo, lool Erigabo, Jinni kingdom, well expect flying soucers to arrive soon ehe.

 

 

I will leaveit to Abu Salman, and Norf as well as Ngonge to tell us more about the finance side, and where a possible invetsment might come from.

[NGONGE]

^^ I refer to hounourable gentleman to my earlier reply!

 

NGONGE;828393 wrote:

In 13 years? And you say you're not a dreamer!

 

If Somalia manages to establish proper systems of government. If it can maintain peace. If it can begin a sembelance of a rebuilding process and if it can improve (at least to the minumum requirement) its health care and education in the next thirteen years then you are into a winner, saaxib. Airplanes, trains and trams waa hadalada qof xalwo ka dergay ee naga daa sheeko jinnka ninyaho.

[NGONGE]

Double post.

 

But let me take this opportunity to ask you all to WAKE UP!

[Alpha Blondy]

^ are you taking the piss or something?

 

......and what will you do while we WAKE UP?

 

empty rhetoric from delusional individuals is not not worthy of mention.

[Tallaabo]

OdaySomali;921158 wrote:

Cool thread, some great ideas and very interesting to read.

 

But

... Nuune this is a wish list. Forgive me in advance if I accuse you wrongly because I have not read everything in this thread. And it is not bad to have a wish list if you have the finances to buy the things yout want. But if you do not have those finances it is perhaps better to formulate first how you are going to get those finances. The projects you have talked about require billions upon billions of dollars to be invested in them.

 

Several things I picked up on:

 

- One thing you did not mention is financing, how will this be financed?

 

- The second and other is sustainability... both are interlinked.

 

- You only talked about public infrastructure, and not so much the private sector. What the New Somali Republic needs to focus on is sustainable job-creation by investing in industries that bring in hard currency. This will mean a particular focus on labour intensive industries as our current labour pool is for the vast majority unskilled labour.

 

- Your expectations of job creation are excessive and is not something that the Somali economy can realize. Of the 10m population, >50+ is non-working age. The working population is a small percentage of the total population. If things worked out the way you envisage, Somalia would need to import labour because the sheer amount of jobs created would exceed what our labour market can supply.

 

- What you envisage is an enormous mammoth public sector - this is something that is not economically viable, beneficial or desired. We need our labour to engage in productive sustainable economic activities and not bureaucracy/living off the public purse.... 50,000 coast guard, seriously ?... that's excessive man. 1m people or 10% of the total population employed in the heallth sector... to say that is an unrealistic expectation would be an understatement.

 

But having said all of the above, you have a good idea about what we need and are sincere in your desire for Somalis to realise development and enhancement in the quality of life. Kudos to you, we need more like you.

Did you not realise that Nuune is a communist?

[nuune]

^^Tallaabo, loolz Shuuci

 

 

 

Alpha, Leave Ngonge,he makes valid points, but would be good if he adds his 7 cents!

 

Ngonge's most concerns has being achieved since last openinng this topic, without even following a proper system of vision, airlplanes as you said qof xalwad ka dhargey, Somali Airlines re-establishment is in place as of now, investment from concerned countries, Somali Air Space, would be relocated soon, healthcare, read East Africa's largest childrens hospital being built in Mogadishu, same is happening in other parts of the country, all without following any vision.

 

Education as we write this is improving now, without taking any consideration about any vision.

 

Peace was achieved and more is needed to secure the whole country, this is happening now with out following a single vision

 

What would happen if a strict vision is followed.

 

Proper system of governance is what is required now and I agree with you on that, as well as the points Norf and Abu Salman mentioned.

 

Would be better if you contribute what you think needs to be improved or areas you think would make the vision achievable rather than making me drunk with xalwad