Report on SCWE Project 2005 with Mogadishu University

This short note gives a summary of the report on environmental and water project carried out by SCWE in Mogadishu. The project, named Environmental and Water Awareness Raising Project in Mogadishu, was implemented by Mogadishu University (MU) in close collaboration with Somalia Centre for Water & Environment (SCWE). The project was mainly financed Swedish International Cooperation Development Agency (SIDA). The main aim of the project was to increase the knowledge and awareness in water and environmental issues of the Mogadishu rsidents. The specific objectives of the project were (i) to carry out seminars and discussion meetings on environmental and water issues in Mogadishu and (ii) to establish a Centre for Water & Environment in Mogadishu and Green Library. The centre and its green library will function as a driving force setting environmental and water issues in Mogadishu on focus through dialogue with all available stakeholders. The centre and its library will initiate activities for environmental awareness raising, information gathering and data collection in the field of water and the environment in Mogadishu and surroundings area. The main target groups of the project were university students, univerity staff and civil society organisations existing in Mogadishu. The project will empower the target groups with increased knowledge on water and environment to contribute to changing attitudes towards environmental issues.

The project gave the target groups seminars and lectures related to the environment and water issues in general and country’s environmental and water problems in particular. The project has also established the first Centre for Water & Environment and its Green Library in Mogadishu. The new centre received more than three hundred of books and other text-based material on water and environmental sciences. The centre has also received following technical equipments: stationary computer, digital projector, HOP, digital camera and video, DVD player. As the Mogadishu and Somalia in general suffered from environmental degradations and water problems during the last 16 years, the library serves the city with important and useful information in the field of environment and water.

As part of the project program, several seminars and workshops with different themes of water and environmental issues related to both local and global situations have been arranged during the project period. Commemorating the World Environment Day (WED) on June 5, the project has organized two days seminar and large ceremony for the public in Mogadishu. Both the seminar and the WED ceremony were executed in close collaboration with local youth organization and held at The HADHSO Youth Center in Mogadishu during 4-5 June 2005.

Members of the SCWE in Sweden visited Mogadishu in July 2005 to follow up the project and to deliver books and other technical equipments to the project. In conclusion, the project has satisfactorily fulfilled its established aims and objectives during the project year.

Here you can see the continuation of the Environmental and Water Awareness Raising Project in Mogadishu, Somalia for 2006.