United Kingdom - Somalia faces major human resource gaps as it attempts to move forward and achieve the reconstruction and peace-building objectives set out in its Vision 2016 initiative.

The Somali diaspora present a unique reserve of experts with skills and professional experience combined with local knowledge of their country of origin. But mobilizing Somali diaspora resources to strengthen the institutional capacities of government agencies represents a challenge.

The IOM’s Migration for Development (MIDA) Somalia programme, implemented in collaboration with the Somali authorities, allows for skills transfers to take place through short-term assignments of diaspora professionals in Somalia and to date has placed over 300 experts.

“Our mission is to contribute to the on-going process of stabilization and state-building in Somalia by developing the capacities of key government institutions through the mobilization of Somali diaspora resources,” says programme manager Frantz Celestin.

The UK is host to one of the largest and longest established Somali communities in Europe, with an estimated population of around 90,000. To inform the community about the programme and opportunities to participate, the IOM office in the UK this week organized an outreach event, in collaboration with the Worldwide Somali Student and Professionals (WSSP).

WSSP, a London-based NGO established at University College, London in 2010, aims to recruit Somali students and professionals working in the fields of engineering, healthcare, education and agriculture, and to enlist their services in Somalia's ongoing post-conflict reconstruction process.

WSSP currently hosts the largest global Somali professional network and has already facilitated capacity building assignments for over 70 Somali professionals from around the world as part of its Operation Restore Home programme, which began in 2011.

For more information please contact

Frantz Celestin
IOM London
Email: fcelestin@iom.int

For details of the MIDA Somalia vacancies, please visit http://www.quests-mida.org/vacancy.php.