WHO WE ARE

ILAYSNABAD: Dialogue & Development Initiative (IDDI) is a community based initiative focused on dialogue, community harmony, reconciliation, social healing, conflict resolution, personal and social transformation, peace capacity building and developmental projects for Somali youth living in a conflict-affected fragile State of Somalia as well as in the diaspora.

IDDI is competent, compassionate, and committed to facilitate purposeful peace-building and conflict resolution programs, inspirational and motivational youth events as well as developmental projects for young Somalis and community members at large.

Our Vision
Our vision is to restore and instil the sense of hope, confidence, community spirit & solidarity among Somalis particularly youth in order to enable them realize their full potentials and contribute to rebuilding a peaceful, cohesive, harmonious, creative, knowledgeable, developed and prosperous Somali society back home in Africa and in diaspora.

Our Mission
Our mission is to advance and facilitate purposeful peace educational programs on conflict resolution, social transformation and human capacity building through dialogue, reconciliation, storytelling, arts, universal values, spiritual guidelines, and cultural-specific approaches, drawn from IDDI’s long term vision. Developmental projects and the establishment of peace library are also employed as a means of building peace.

Our objectives are to:

1. inspire community members particularly young people restore sense of hope (rajo), confidence, trust (kalsooni), and inner-peace through positive yet critical dialogue, understanding (isfaham), reconciliation (heshiis), building health relationships and non-violent communication approach;

2. transform mindset, perceptions and behaviours of community members particularly young people in positive ways through purposeful personal transformation, self-understanding, educational programs, meaningful training workshops, arts and storytelling in order to advance peace capacity building;

3. develop culture of harmony, positive social engagement abilities, negotiation and conflict resolution skills among young future trainers on peace living in a fragile state of Somalia as well as in diaspora;

4. develop youth intellectual capabilities to understand the root causes of Somalia’s social ills that will enable them identify relevant solutions;

5. undertake development projects to strengthen social stability and peace;

6. develop future strategic plan on reconciliation and peace capacity building particularly among young Somalis.


Background
Somalia has suffered devastating civil war that continued over 3 decades. The war completely destroyed national institutions, and undermined the social foundations of Somali society. The young generation has grown up in a miserable, disillusioning environment, lacking a sense of safety and trust in the community. A war mentality and violent culture has become part of youngsters’ everyday life. Because of their tendencies to violence together with their sense of hopelessness, young people can easily be recruited by any criminal syndicate. Similarly, young diasporic Somalis have experienced huge challenges such family breakdowns, culture shock, identity crisis, intergenerational gap, and short of successful role models.

As members of the Somali diaspora with training in peace building, conflict resolution, and social empowerment, our desire is to give back to our diasporic Somali communities as well as our homeland through higher education students, community centres and social networks. We hope that facilitating constructive dialogue, social healing, and teaching our participants universal peace values, human rights, non-violent conflict resolution, effective communication and conflict transformation skills will help them transform themselves positively and develop culture of peace, harmony, and coexistence. Constructive dialogue, and peace education training programs will also help youth and the Somali people at large restore of sense of hope, confidence, community spirit and social solidarity in the midst of mistrust and unhealthy relationships posed by prolonged civil war and clan divisions. We aim to help our participants understand and identify the root causes of Somalia’s social problems believing that this will reflect in the long term on Somali society in positive ways.