LocationsHow strong local governance lifted the port city of Barbera
June 12, 2025
A decade ago, Berbera, a bustling port city in Somaliland, faced serious challenges. In 2012, the city’s municipal budget for health and education was almost zero. Public services struggled, infrastructure lagged behind, and citizens had limited access to basic services.
Fast forward to today, Berbera tells a different story — one of optimism and growth driven by strong local governance, visionary leadership and strategic support through the UN Joint Programme on Local Governance and Service Delivery (JPLG).
By 2024, Berbera’s local revenue had soared from $1.5 million in 2012 to $14 million, allowing the municipality to allocate $2 million per year to schools and $1.7 million annually to healthcare. Roads, clinics, markets, and schools have been upgraded, and the capacity of local authorities has been strengthened to deliver better services.
Serving his second term in office, Barbera’s Mayor, Abdishakur Mohamoud Hassan, is a popular figure, who led the transformation with the strong backing of his townspeople.
“This is what strong local governance delivers,” says Mayor Hassan. “JPLG also helped us build the systems, skills and capacity to plan and deliver for our people.”
One standout example of this transformation is Berbera’s Central Bus Terminal, which has changed the face of public transport management in the city. Before its construction four years ago, buses from all over Berbera converged in an open, chaotic space with no clear organization. Today, the terminal, built in 2021 through systems supported by JPLG, serves thousands of travelers every week in a safe, clean, and orderly environment.
“Before this bus terminal was built, it was just an open space, always littered and muddy, where buses from all over the city gathered. It was disorganized and chaotic,” recalls Najah Abdirahman, a Berbera resident pasting through the terminal. “Today, all transport companies operate from one central, well-structured location. The city is greener and cleaner, trees have been planted, and everything is more orderly, thanks to our local government.”
The infrastructure has also benefitted the people engaged in the transport sector businesses. Abdifatah Sacid, a local youth who works for Nabad-Gale Transportation that operates multiple buses from the terminal, says, “The transportation system in Berbera has significantly improved. Our passengers can now reserve seats and enjoy smoother travel. Plus, city-wide sanitation and tree planting initiatives have made Berbera even more attractive for visitors.”
Berbera’s progress demonstrates that when local governance is strong, everyday life improves for everyone.
The success of Berbera is undoubtedly due to many factors. “The leadership, dedication and visionary qualities of its Mayor, commitments of his team, and needless to say, commitment of the government at all levels have definitely been major and crucial factors,” says Lionel Laurens, UNDP’s Resident Representative in Somalia. “That being said, the Mayor himself recognizes that JPLG, one of the longest-running joint UN programmes, has been catalytic to Berbera’s success. For years, the programme has worked alongside the local government and communities to provide substantial support to enhance governance systems and capacities to plan, budget, procure, and implement services etc.”
Over the past decade, with support of the programme, over 32 similar local government units across Somalia and Somaliland have significantly enhanced their capacities in local development planning, public finance management and climate vulnerability response, reflecting community priorities, including women, youth and marginalized groups.
Today, due to global financing constraints, JPLG has transitioned to a smaller project called Dowlad-kaab, which is focusing on Galmadug, Hirshabelle, South-West and Jubaland States, along with Somaliland and Puntland as knowledge partners, which comparatively benefited less from the initial JPLG programme.
“These states are in great need of local governance support to empower municipalities to deliver services and strengthen the social contract,” says Laurens. “In parallel, discussions are ongoing in Somaliland to develop the next generation of local governance support programme, aiming at more advanced and sophisticated municipal systems and capacities with embedded sustainable financing mechanism that will be less dependent on external partner funding.”
About the programme
Launched in 2012, the Joint Programme on Local Governance (JPLG) — which has now evolved into a new programme called the Joint Programme on Strengthening Local Governance and Decentralized Service Delivery (Dowlad-kaab) — was a collaborative initiative of five UN agencies to strengthen Somalia’s local governance systems. It helped significantly improve the way government is run at the city, such as in Berbera, and state levels in all five Member States in order to boost economic development and make communities stronger in the face of conflict, climate disaster and other challenges.
While the most visible achievements of JPLG are the roads, clinics, markets and schools it helped build, the programme was about much more than service delivery. It aimed to create a “local government ecosystem” that included: well-designed laws and systems for public procurement, budgeting, oversight, tax collection and other government functions, well-trained staff with the administrative, financial and other skills needed to implement these laws and systems; and an empowered citizenry that is involved in decision making through regular discussion forums and consultation meetings in both towns and villages.
By pooling their expertise and resources, the programme worked toward a common objective: enhancing decentralized service delivery, fostering inclusive citizen-state relations, and building accountable local institutions. Each agency delivered specialized support:
UNDP led legal and capacity development, district planning, local government structuring, citizen-state relations, and gender equality in local governance (GEWE). UNICEF focused on citizen engagement, education, awareness-raising, and health/education service delivery, with integrated gender equality initiatives. UN-Habitat provided urban-focused implementation support. ILO managed public procurement for rural projects. UNCDF oversaw equitable distribution of local development funds. Read more about JPLG and Dowlad Kaab. Story by Ilyas Ahmed, photos by Ahmed Fais.
A decade of promoting local governance in Somalia
[Key results achieved through JPLG]
With 443 new and rehabilitated schools across 18 districts, over half a million Somali children—58% of them girls—are now learning in safe, well-equipped classrooms.
JPLG has improved 281 health facilities, reaching over 3.2 million people. Families now have access to life-saving treatment, maternal care, and essential medicines—right in their own districts.
In five districts, JPLG has provided 10 new water points, ensuring over 57,000 people no longer have to walk miles just for a drink.
Through civic engagement, JPLG has empowered over 101,000 citizens directly and reached more than 4.5 million through media—giving every Somali a voice in shaping their future.
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