Hon Mustafa Duhulow, CVE Coordinator was keynote speaker of today’s event at Jazeera Palace Hotel in Mogadishu. Attendees were diverse members of Somali women representing various civil society groups. The aim of the consultation was to provide opportunities for women to take part a leading role of the inclusive process to devise CVE strategy for the country.

Hon Mustafa Duhulow said "Somali women are breadwinners and champions of promoting peace, harmony and prosperity in the community. Therefore, Tubta Toosan Initiative recognizes the sacrifices of Somali women during the last quarter of century as the country was without functioning institutions. Today’s consultation meeting is the second consultation with women groups that we held within a month, as the last consultation took place on 27 April 2016. We will continue the discussion, debates and consultation with women and plan to reach out to all regions of the country in due course.”

Hon Mustafa Duhulow expressed his gratitude and thanks to Dr Mina Hassan Mohamed from the Ministry of Women & Human Rights of the Federal Government of Somalia and Mane Ahmed, AMISOM Gender Officer as they successfully lead the planning efforts to this very important and fruitful consultation event here in Mogadishu.

Hon Duhulow speaking on the process of the CVE Strategy said "In addition to the strategic importance in doing so, we want Somalia to become the first African country to develop a comprehensive CVE Strategy through an inclusive process. Moving forward, Tubta Toosan Initiative will continue the consultations and hold a number of individual and off-the-record consultations, particularly with civil society and private sector actors in rural areas across the country. Over the course of this process, this will continue to be prioritized and implemented whenever possible. We want a comprehensive strategy that meets the needs of communities, which is a community driven process. We have also agreed that the strategy should be a Somali owned, Somali led and Somali process throughout.”

The Tubta Toosan Initiative initiated the process to develop a national CVE strategy with the full support and at the direction of the leaders of the Federal Government of Somalia. Next steps will include further engagement with stakeholders and the sharing of a draft strategy for more consultation. As many Somalis as possible will be given the opportunity to make contributions to the strategy, including members of the Diaspora and through an online consultation where any citizen can offer their input.

Please contact the Right Path (Tubta Toosan) team on cvesomalia@gmail.com or +252617885690