The Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family (MOLSAF) has Published the review of its 2025 Annual Work Plan, outlining an ambitious roadmap aimed at strengthening social protection, creating employment opportunities, improving labour standards, empowering women and families, and expanding services for persons with disabilities across Somaliland. The plan aligns with the Ministry’s five-year strategic framework, the Third National Development Plan (NDP III), and selected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
According to the Ministry, the 2025 work plan focused on promoting decent work, strengthening inclusive social protection systems, increasing women’s participation in leadership, improving services for persons with disabilities, and enhancing the institutional capacity of MOLSAF to deliver its mandate effectively. The document states that the plan was developed through extensive consultations involving ministry departments, technical staff and stakeholders.
Among the ministry’s key priorities is expanding employment opportunities through national job creation conferences, regional job fairs, labour market assessments, internship programmes, and the establishment of employment and labour market information systems. The Ministry also plans to provide seed grants to vulnerable families and strengthen partnerships with the private sector to improve youth employability.
The Annual Work Plan also gives significant attention to social protection. Planned interventions include developing a national social registry, expanding humanitarian cash transfer programmes, improving emergency response mechanisms, providing shelter assistance for vulnerable households, and strengthening coordination with humanitarian organisations. The Ministry intends to improve access to financial support schemes for poor families while expanding food assistance and social welfare programmes across Somaliland.
For persons with disabilities, the Ministry has outlined programmes to strengthen inclusive education, improve accessibility, distribute mobility devices, conduct a nationwide disability registration and survey, and advocate for the approval of disability legislation and policy reforms. Capacity-building initiatives and awareness campaigns are also planned to promote equal opportunities and social inclusion.
Women’s empowerment and gender equality remain major priorities within the 2025 programme. The Ministry plans to establish a Women’s Economic Development Fund, create a Women’s Centre for life skills development, advance policies to combat gender-based violence (GBV), strengthen anti-FGM initiatives, finalize the National Family Law, and promote greater political participation for women through quota reforms and leadership training programmes.
The work plan further outlines comprehensive child protection initiatives, including strengthening case management systems, improving psychosocial support services, enhancing safeguarding policies, increasing professional social work capacity, promoting community awareness on child rights, and improving coordination among child protection stakeholders.
To improve institutional performance, MOLSAF will invest in planning, policy development, monitoring and evaluation, staff capacity building, digital transformation, research, and stronger coordination with government institutions, development partners, civil society organisations and the private sector. The Ministry also intends to strengthen regional outreach to ensure programmes reach communities throughout Somaliland.
In the foreword to the document, Minister Milgo Mohamed Elmi said the annual work plan is designed to guide national programmes in labour, social affairs and family welfare while serving as a framework for mobilising resources and partnerships to improve the lives of Somaliland’s most vulnerable communities.
The 2025 Annual Work Plan represents one of the Ministry’s most comprehensive planning documents, setting measurable targets and strategic interventions intended to improve service delivery, strengthen social protection systems and support inclusive socio-economic development during the year ahead.
Reporting by Somalilandpost News
