Somalia_snapshots_Zeilacustoms.pdf

Youth Improve Government Service Delivery and Revenues

USAID Promotes Somali Stabilization

Questions? Contact Hodan Hassan at hohassan@usaid.gov

Omar Shirwa, previously an intern with the Ministry of Finance in Hargeisa, he is now the head of the customs office in Zeila (below).

[Photos / Abdi Latif Dahir]

“This is the experience of a lifetime for me. “

--Omar Shirwa

Today in Zeila, a quiet town on the Djibouti/Somaliland border, there’s talk of change and transformation. Omar Shirwa believes he is at the center of that change. Shirwa started working in Zeila in August of 2012; part of a new wave of young employees with the Somaliland Ministry of Finance. These young government workers were transferred to the border to improve tax collection.

“This is the experience of a lifetime for me. I was very thrilled and nervous when I first came here,” Shirwa said.

Shirwa first started working with the Ministry of Finance in December 2012 in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland. He was one of 18 interns (15 male and 3 female), recruited with USAID support, to increase government tax revenue, improve the relationship between taxpayers and the government, and radically re-shape the Ministry of Finances operational dynamics.

The interns were recruited as part of the USAID’s Transition Initiatives for Stabilization (TIS) program, which aims to imbue confidence in the government through improved service delivery.

“There has been a significant improvement since the interns arrived,” former Inland Revenue Director, Mohamed Abdullahi Gulhan, said of the interns.

Shirwa, who now heads the new customs office in Zeila, which was constructed with sup[port from USAID’s TIS, says he and his colleagues have been able to “double the income revenue from the port over the last few months.” Zeila, located off the coast of the Gulf of Aden, has been a trade port for hundreds of years.

USAID’s TIS constructed five Inland Revenue Centers and five customs offices across Somaliland to improve government service delivery and revenue collection.

Shirwa says they have enforced a new work ethic of dedication in the customs office, and have contributed in changing the public’s perception about the efficiency of government service provision.

His colleague, Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud, agrees: “We came into this environment, which was very different from what we were used to [in Hargeisa]. With patience and hard work, we have been able to show the people that the government is serious about development, and that the youth are here to contribute to that goal.”

Across all of Somalia USAID’s TIS is implementing over 400 quick-impact projects worth approximately $31 million, in close partnership with Somali local or federal government, civil society, and community members.

4/24/2014 mailto:hohassan@usaid.gov