The key (RDP stated) priorities for the Sector Committee therefore are to assist the administrations, civil society and international partners in Somaliland, Puntland and the South to:

a) Build a sustainable peace.

b) Enhance the capacities of Somali institutions relating to governance, and conflict resolution.

c) Support the development of a participatory, democratic and transparent governance systems for Somalia.

Terms of Reference for the Sectoral  Committee

Background

Following increased level of interest by the international community in the area of governance, donors and operational agencies agreed to form a forum to collect, analyse and disseminate governance related information as well as to advise the Somalia Support Secretariat policies that relate to rehabilitation and development activities.  

The governance sectoral committee is one of the core sectoral committees of the Somalia Support Secretariat alongside education, health, food security and rural development and water and infrastructure. The governance working group was formed in 2000 and in 2002 it became a sectoral committee. The Governance Sectoral Committee comprises of the Gender and Human Rights working group. Task forces are formed when need arises and are disbanded after fulfilling their task.

The initial intention of the Governance Sectoral Committee was to play a more proactive role in both programming and strategic formulation along with the creation of a database on governance activities. Later, on the recommendation of the Executive Committee, the committee became more technical in nature focusing more on coordination and information sharing.

Objectives/Mandate

The most essential part of the coordination task of the committee is support to, and feedback from, field level sector coordination, which needs to be further enhanced. Discussions with the relevant TFI’s in the South are ongoing. The Sector Committees role is to encourage information sharing and provide support in improving civic and institutional building activities in Somalia through effective sector coordination. 

There is a need to identify whom will convene co-ordination meetings in the field and which bodies will take the lead.

At the coordination meetings at Nairobi level, cross cutting/regional issues are discussed, and information shared and updates on the political and institutional situation are given. The agenda is developed and sent for circulation prior to meetings and will be amended depending on request received, areas requiring urgent attention and issues requiring debate / information dissemination.

Membership

The membership to the Sector Committee, meeting once a month, hosted at the Secretariat in Parklands, is open to representatives of government, international and local NGOs and civil society partners, UN agencies, donor representatives and Somali Diaspora involved either directly or indirectly in the implementation or support of activities related to the sector covered by the committee. Members are expected to participate actively and provide substantive inputs to the monthly meetings and its agenda.

The committee is chaired by an individual selected on a form of consensus and will serve for a 12 month period.  The chair will be supported by two deputy chairs selected on the same basis.  Rotation of chair and deputy chairs will happen at six month intervals.

Criteria for Chair and deputy Chairs:

The Chair and deputy chairs can not be from the same institution nor type of institution (UN, NGO, Government, donor). One deputy chair must be from a Somali organization.  Ideally NGOs, UN agencies, Donors and when possible government officials should rotate chairperson posts with UN or any other group not holding both posts at any one time.  Specific criteria:

·         7 years of experience in working in related sector issues.

·         Hold a mid / senior management position from a reputable organisation engaged in the sector, in one or more of the following:

·         Civil Service development,

·         Parliament

·         Local, state and central governance

·         Human Rights, gender and peace building.

·         Civil society and media.

·         Experience in coordination, and meeting facilitation.

Responsibilities

The Sector Committee achieves its objectives mainly through the sharing, analysis and dissemination of information on completed and ongoing activities and future interventions implemented within the framework of the Reconstruction Development Framework (RDF) and the Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP) as well as Early Recovery. In particular, the Committee supports, builds upon, and tries to strengthen local and regional coordination structures.  

The main responsibilities of the Sector Committee are to:

·         Strengthen the coordination capacity of the Somali administrations and establish clear mechanisms for coordination where they are not yet in place. The members are expected to provide guidance and support to the Steering Committee and the Somali administrations.

·         Develop and encourage the adoption of strategies for cooperation between the various members of the Committee and the Somali administrations. For each member, this means working closely with the relevant administration and other sector stakeholders to consult, collaborate, involve and coordinate efforts.   

·         Support the development and the implementation of best practices through its existing coordination structure with strong linkages to the field.

·         Commitment and active participation to the Coordination strategies by addressing all issues that are common and of interest/concern to all members/partners in the sector.

·         Ensure smooth transition of current sectoral activities into the RDF and identify gaps.

·         Identify field representatives to maintain working relations with the Somali administrations and to provide feedback both ways. Clear ToRs need to be developed by the committee for the representative to assume this role. The representative should be empowered by the committee to be effective in field coordination efforts. 

·         Ensure inputs from meetings held in Somaliland, Puntland and Southern Somalia feeding into the Nairobi based committee and vice versa. This is the responsibility of the field representative and under instructions and guidance from the steering committee.

·         Ensure protection cluster updates at every meeting and monitoring of the areas where duplication is occurring. Also identifying areas where cluster/sector should be working very closely on policies/approaches/disaster risk reduction etc

·         The specific responsibilities of the (deputy) chair include preparing for the Coordination meetings, facilitate participation of stakeholders and ensure effective coordination of the sector activities.  

·         The (deputy) Chair represents the Sector on the Sectoral Chairs Committee for cross sectoral coordination and reporting to the CISS Executive Committee (ExCom).

·         The Committee through the (deputy) Chair makes recommendations to CISS ExCom on appropriate interventions and advises on governance, gender, human rights and civil society related issues.

·         Coordination the implementation of activities in pillar one.

·         Set up coordination structures in the field within the mandate of CISS ExCom.

·         The protection cluster will report to the sector and will give updates during the sector meetings.

·         The gender and human rights working group will give updates at the sector committee meetings.