Community engagement as a mindset: lessons for community led response and leadership

From October to November 2025, selected community engagement partners (ASEP, HARD and URRO), together with district Area-Based Coordination bodies (ABCs), held in-depth community consultation sessions in Baidoa, Afmadow, Jamaame, and Jowhar to identify community priorities and needs. These were intended to shape the implementation of projects in these communities under the Somalia Humanitarian fund (SHF).

From 2-4 February these partners, joined by Area-Based Coordination (ABC) facilitators and representatives from OCHA and the Somalia Humanitarian Fund (SHF) met in Mogadishu to reflect on the community engagement process so far: lessons learned, opportunities for replication, and how this could help to build a more accountable and community-driven response. The workshop was designed and facilitated by ASEP, Ground Truth Solutions and the Centre for Humanitarian Change.

The workshop had the following objectives:

• Listen to and analyse community voices presented by the community engagement partners, understanding their implications for the response.
• Reflect on the process of engaging with communities to draw out good practices to replicate and scale the process.
• Identify the barriers and opportunities for how ABCs can help to drive a more bottom-up response.

This report shares the key takeaways from the workshop.