Achievements

Over the 20  years of operations, GECPD has realized a long list of achievements ranging from the establishment of a strong asset base that include buildings and other physical infrastructure, to success in implementation of programs and recognition of its efforts through awards. The achievements are as follows;

Physical Infrastructure

GECPD has constructed and rehabilitated 10 centers that continue to provide formal and non-formal education and skills training to women and girls and a selected group of vulnerable boys. All these facilities are well furnished and equipped with all the necessary equipment. Before the construction of these centres, classes used to be conducted in rented rooms and open spaces where sometimes learners would seat on the floor.

These are ;-

  • GECPD Main Center
  • Ba’adweyn Women Education Center
  • Harfo Women Education Center (boarding and day school)
  • South Galkayo Women Education Center
  • Minority Education Center Buulo Ba’aley
  • Bursallah Education Center
  • Galkayo IDP / Orphans Girls Boarding school
  • Ba’adweyn Girls Primary School
  • Harfo Boys Peace School
  • Jariiban Women Center
  • GECPD Youth Vocational Skills Training Center
  • Halabookhad Community Center
  • Galkayo Youth Sports and Peace Resource Center

Programs 

GECPD has realized many achievements in the implementation of its programs. The cumulative programmatic achievements of GECPD are;

  • Increased access to formal and non-formal education for girls in Mudug Region. Statistics by UNICEF show that enrollment levels for girlsimg_6623 have increased from 7% at the time GECPD started offering its programs to 40% currently. This makes Mudug Region-a hitherto pastoral nomadic area where girls and women education was not valued-the region with the highest girls’ enrolment in Somalia. Having provided basic education to over 42,000 women and girls in Mudug region over the last 16 years, GECPD’s contribution is definitely key to this turn of events. Over 453 of the beneficiaries of our programs have completed upto grade 8.
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  • Increased access to vocational skills training for girls, young women and a selected group of vulnerable boys whereby 40% of our graduates have secured employment or are self employed. The main skills offered under GECPD programs have been Office Management and Computer Skills, Tailoring, Tie and Die and Food Production for girls, Carpentry and Welding for Boys.
  • Increased participation of women in public life and community development including peace building efforts at community level and  img_3666leadership. Participation in integrated education programs and capacity building trainings offered by GECPD has empowered them to demand this recognition as equal partners in development. A majority of women who have made it to the Galkayo Municipal Council and a good percentage of those in senior government appointments over the past 6 years are products of GECPD’s leadership and capacity building trainings.
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  • Elimination of the traditional harmful practice of FGM which has grave health consequences and violates women and girls rights is now on the agenda of policy makers and legislators. At the start of GECPD programs, this was a taboo topic. We have played a lead role in advocating for total abandonment of the practice in all its forms through years of intense awareness creation on its health effects and human rights violations. Although this is yet to translate into tangible attitude and behavioral change as well as legal framework, we believe with the current trend change will soon come. For the first time the Puntland President issued a decree in November 2011 banning the practice of FGM in all its forms. The Puntland Parliament also for the first time debated and passed a legislation banning some forms of FGM although its content is still wanting.
  • Through sustained awareness and advocacy we have succeeded in minimizing the culture of silence that surrounded the subject of issue SGBV and which GECPD believes encouraged the culture of impunity that partly contributed to the prevalence of the vice. This has reduced stigma against survivors and increased the number of reported cases hence increasing access to support mechanism for survivors. Access to justice however still remains a challenge due to weaknesses in the justice system.
  • Increased support for women and girls to access sanitary material through the production and distribution of 200,000 re-usable sanitary kits since 2008 with the support of UNHCR and UNICEF. Other actors have embraced this idea and provision of sanitary material to women and girls has become a key component of relief and development interventions in schools and community across Somalia.
  • Increased access to humanitarian assistance and support to communities affected by shocks and disasters. An estimated 7,500 households in Mudug including victims of the 2004 Tsunami, fire victims and newly arrived and evicted IDPs have benefited from NFI’s and cash support since 2005. A majority of the beneficiaries were women and children who have at times been ignored or by-passed in provision of humanitarian assistance.