Garowe, 10 February 2019. Forty-nine newly elected members of Puntland’s parliament have taken part in a three-day training this month on the role of parliament in reviewing and passing legislation, and on human rights and gender equality.  

The training was facilitated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with funding from Norway and Switzerland, as part of ongoing support to the Government of Somalia in building the administrative and legislative capacity of parliaments.

Sixty-six members of parliament (MPs) were elected to the House of Representatives of Puntland in December 2018, with a term of five years, and forty-nine of those elected had not yet served in the parliament or received training on effective parliamentary legislation or administration.

The training was carried out following a formal request by the Speaker of Puntland House of Representatives to UNDP.  Speaking at the opening of the training, Mr. Sayed Sahibzada, Head of UNDP Puntland Area Office, said the purpose of the training “is to cover the technicalities, the processes, the procedures in conflict resolution, in oversight function and making laws.”

Effective law making, the role of parliamentary committees, the Sustainable Development Goals and how parliaments help to achieve them; and the importance of human rights and gender equality in legislation and in parliamentary work, were also covered during the workshop.

At the closing of the three-day event, Hon. Abdihakim Mohamed Ahmed, Speaker of the Puntland House of Representatives, thanked UNDP for its ongoing support and partnership, and added that a strategic planning process to draft a five-year Strategic Plan of the House would follow the training upon establishment of a Strategic Planning Committee of the House.