Books are a rare commodity in Puntland.  With a rise in displaced people fleeing the conflict in Mogadishu, piracy along the coast and an estimated 77% of the population which is illiterate, books may not seem to be the most pressing need.

But Abdurashid Ali, the Executive Director of the Puntland Library and Resource Center, disagrees

In his view, the Center brings together civil society groups in Puntland, fosters discussions among groups, and help them articulate their agenda for engaging with the authorities.

The Center, a two stories structure located right opposite UNDP offices in Garowe, has an internet room, where a group of teenagers hover every day, a meeting room, and a shielded terrace, where informal discussions take place. It also has a public library counting 40,000 books, in English and Somali, and covering a range of topics from economics to law to psychology. The books are provided by Books for Africa, an organization that collects, sorts, ships, and distributes books to children in Africa, free of charge.

Abdurashid Ali tells us that students of all levels come to the library, as well as teachers and professionals to either borrow books or consult them at the Center. In 2009, 5103 people visited the library, among whom 1620 girls – and the Centre is working to ensure that more women join the readers. In Puntland, the total number of children enrolled in primary schools increased from 45,120 in 2001 to 66,518 in 2004, and girls as a share of the total increased from 36% to 40% – a slightly higher ratio than in the rest of the country.

The Center boasts about being the sole source of books for the region. Abdurashid says that the Center dispatches books to schools and universities, but is lacking textbooks.

UNDP Somalia supported the creation of the Center in 2007, with a grant, computers, a V-Sat and furniture, and, later with a professional from the Somali diaspora, who came to set up the centre. This is part of UNDP’s work on governance.

Please note that the above text was taken directly from the UNDP Somalia website. The article can be found at: http://www.so.undp.org/index.php/Somalia-Stories/A-place-to-read.html