Daryeel Bulsho Guud (DBG) implemented a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) project targeting marginalized youth (male and female), women, men, IDPs and other socially excluded groups (such as minority clans and people with special needs) in Galmudug state covering five districts of  Adaado, Abudwak, Guriel, Dhusamareb & Galkayo.  Through the SSF (Somalia Stabilization Fund), the GESI project seeks to improve stability and good governance as well as to strengthen state-building in the Galmudug state of Somalia through empowerment and inclusion of women, youth and other traditionally marginalized groups. The project also seeks to promote an environment with equal access to economic opportunities and a fair platform for decision making within the local governance structures. Therefore, the overall objective of the project is to ensure that women and excluded groups are actively engaged to participate in local governance with sufficient and safe spaces for promoting their equality in political participation and enhancing social inclusion. Specific project activities include: Advocacy and lobbying for women’s rights and political inclusion at the community, district and state levels;  The establishment of a shadow parliament where women and men gender champions have a safe space to discuss women rights and needs;  Building women, state and non-state actors’ capacities through skills development.

This baselines assessment of this investment was carried out with the following objectives in mind; Provide a deeper contextual understanding of the status of gender equality and social inclusion which can inform programming at both the investment and SSF level; Establish a quantitative baseline for indicators on GESI in the intervention districts to monitor and evaluate the impact of the investment and progress against the outputs above; and Evaluate the investment against SSF’s Output 2.1 indicator –  “Quality, relevance and effectiveness of SSF-delivered work to increase popular participation in formal and informal governance structures” – in order to inform SSF-level reporting, monitoring and evaluation. The evaluation was conducted in all five districts of intervention – Dhusamareb, Adado, Guri’el, Abudwaq, and Galkayo. To meet the above objectives, the evaluation was divided into two parts, conceptually and methodologically.