From Margins to Centre

This report addresses the exclusion of Somali women from formal political decision-making and peace negotiations, highlighting their significant but undocumented contributions to peacebuilding. Despite underrepresentation in formal spaces, Somali women have historically developed strategies to influence their communities and build peace. Based on in-depth interviews with 13 Somali women, our paper challenges dominant assumptions about women's roles in peacebuilding, revealing how their participation manifests in politics and community efforts. It calls for a new recognition of women’s roles in peacebuilding, arguing that Somali women are already successfully negotiating and influencing peace within their families and communities, beyond the simplistic formal/informal peacebuilding dichotomy.