Title:SFS-Qatar Student Mitigates Conflict in Somaliland

Religious scholar Sh. Faysal Ali Faarax, professor Ali Mahdi, poet Axmed Cabdi Xirsi, mediator Xariir Iimaan, and Kaltuun Maxamed speak at a panel organized by Mustafe Axmed (F’21) and held in Burco, in the Republic of Somaliland, in August 2019. The panel was targeted at young people interested in learning and talking about the reasons for tribal conflict and how to address it. | Photo: Mukhtaar Xareed for Hir Media.

What are the key contributors to tribal conflict? A lack of water and grazing land contribute to clashes for pastoralist communities like the one in which Mustafe Axmed (F’21) grew up. But more than anything, nepotism in politics drives discord, says this student of international economics at the School of Foreign Service-Qatar. “The government doesn’t provide the social services that people need.”

As the debut first-year student to receive a $10,000 Projects for Peace award from Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching & Service (CSJ), Axmed sought to improve his community in the Republic of Somaliland. In summer 2019, he created a storytelling project with three local colleagues to reach young people most vulnerable to tribal conflict and connect them through social media.

“Fifty percent of the population is younger than 25, and most of them are unemployed, so engaging with destructive action is tempting for them,” says Axmed. “We wanted to connect and inspire them to do simple things that will take them out of that mindset.”

Axmed traveled to the site of a recent tribal conflict to give local youth the chance to tell their stories. There, a young man recounted how his school principal discriminated against his tribe and deterred him from attending school, which made him want to run away from home. Using Facebook, Axmed and his team shared these stories with 30,000 people. Moving forward, they will work with the Somalia Diaspora Forum.

Axmed’s goals to support civil society exemplify the mission of CSJ’s Projects for Peace. While CSJ supports social justice initiatives led by students that prioritize local community engagement, their award program asks undergraduates to design grassroots summer projects that creatively repair human conflicts and build sustainable peace. “There’s a focus on doing work in your community versus parachuting into other areas to make a change,” says Amanda Munroe (G’12), associate director for mission curricular integration at CSJ. “The most compelling projects are from students who are already involved in their communities.”

Past projects, which are all supported by the Davis United World College Scholars Program, have spanned the globe, and award recipients have gone on to launch social impact organizations based on their projects. One award recipient, Haroon Yasin (F’15), was recognized by Queen Elizabeth II for his work in Pakistan educating refugee children and co-founding the educational organization Orenda with Ahwaz Akhtar (F’16, G’19).

Axmed says the award project inspired him to continue researching conflicts and dedicate himself to social work. “No matter where I go, there’s always this negative image of our country and people, and I want to contribute to erasing that image,” says Axmed. “I don’t want my children to experience it as they grow up.”