Somalia: addressing the root causes of piracy and warlordism

13 October 2009

Faced with a dramatic increase in piracy off the Horn of Africa, countries have stepped up their efforts to protect shipping in the region. However, attention is now turning more to the question of why people turn to piracy to make a living and what can be done to provide an alternative. ILO Online reports from Somalia where an ILO programme financed by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) seeks to provide a visible peace dividend to poor communities by engaging them in large scale employment-intensive projects, together with enterprise skills development and the promotion of social dialogue.