ARDAA Annual Conference – “You can buy a House but not a Home” Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Program Outline: July 3 – 5, 2009

Convention Chairs:  Ibrahim A. Absiye, Mohamud A. Iman & Mohamed A. Omer

Convention Coordinators: Mohamed Abdilahi, Shiine, Mohamed Barako

Secretariat: Hassan Abtidon, Ubah Ismail Nur, Suleman Abdi Duksiye
Local Coordinators: Mohamed Adan, Mustafe Ugas, Harawe Goth, Rashid Bakal, Abdirazak Weirah

ardaa-conference.pdf

Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaProgram Outline: July 3 – 5, 2009 

  Convention Chairs Ibrahim  A. Absiye,Mohamud A. Iman &Mohamed A. Omer  Secretariat Hassan AbtidonUbah Ismail Nur Suleman Abdi Duksiye
  Convention Coordinators  Mohamed Abdilahi, ShiineMohamed Barako Local Coordinators Mohamed Adan, Mustafe Ugas, Harawe Goth, Rashid Bakal, Abdirazak Weirah
  Friday July 3, 2009Venue: 1000 Brookfield Road:  http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&q=1000%20brookfield%20Ottawa%20ontario&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
1 3:00 – 4:00 pm Registration
2 4:00 – 7:00 pm Board and Chapter Representatives meeting/capacity building
3 7:00 – 9:00 pm Official Business Meeting
4 9:00 pm Closing
  Saturday July 4, 2009Venue: 1264 Walkley Road: http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&q=1264%20walkley%20Ottawa%20Ontario&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
 5  8:30 – 9:00 am  Registration and Breakfast:Opening  & Welcome by Mohamed Dahir Aden & Sheikh Mustafe Ahmed Nur
6 9:00 – 9:45 am Opening Plenary: “You can buy a House but not a Home!”The opening plenary will address why and how it is important that the community in the diaspora should not lose connection with “home”.  Models for historical unity, leadership, community development and projects/support networks will be presented. The session will strongly advocate and recommend a process of building and maintaining strong/supportive diaspora network. Resources/Panelists: Hashi Abib                         Abdirahman Aw Elmi  Omar Abdi                          Mohamed H. Bahal Adan Amin                         Omar Abdillahi Hande Ali Warsame                       Abdisalam A. Nur Mohamed H. Farid              Ugas A/Rashid U. Dodi Mohamud Duksiye             Abdulqadir Sh. Ibrahim Mohamed A. Farah             Dr. Mohamed N. Ali Abdikarim E. Guled            Musa Elmi (Joome) Ibrahim M. Aye                   Mohamed H. Hadi Moderators: Ibrahim Absiye & Mohamed Abdillahi (Shiine)
8 10:00 – 10:45 am ARDAA Journey:A group from the community got together in Washington DC and articulated the need for a development-focused organization owned and operated by the Awdal diaspora in the North America. A year later, Association of Awdal Community of North America (AACNA) was officially established at a convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. What have we achieved since then, and what is next?Presenters:1.       Ibrahim  Ahmed Absiye2.       Khadra Muhumed Barkhadle3.       Idiris Abdillahi FarahModerator: Ali Abdi Hore
9 10:45 – 11:15 am             Health Care:The medical industry is still very primitive and unreliable. Young doctors who have graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Amoud University do not have the tools to deal with epidemics as well as pandemics. Areas outside the city of Borama have chronic shortages of any sort of health care facilities. This session will present recommendations for supporting the basic needs and infrastructure of the health care systems across the regions Resources/Panelists:1.       Dr. Nimo Sh. Abubakar2.       Dr. Abdishakur Dr. Jowhar Moderator: Nuh A. Arre
10 11:15 – 12:00 noon Non-Profit Organizations (NGOs):A number of NGOs are involved in very important projects and making differences in the lives of many people back home, including children, youth, women and disabled. Support for these agencies is critical and deserve sustainability and recognition. This workshop will report the efforts of these organizations and the challenges and opportunities they face regularly.1.       Amoud Foundation: Abdi Dahir Aye2.       IQRA: Saeed Hassan3.       Awdal Charity: Safiya Abdillahi Ismail4.       Gurmad: Muhyadiin Warsame Moderator: Abubakar Hamud Jibril
11     12:00 – 12:45 pm Infrastructure (Roads/Ports):Awdal & Salal regions were cut-off from the rest of the Somali Republic since independence and now from Somaliland. There are no roads, airports and seaports. Capital and human mobility, which are the basis and pre-requisite for economic development do not exist. Local business and entrepreneurship are discouraged by the crippling network of impassable roads. This session will build upon the discussion at Minneapolis in 2007 on the need for a road network system in the region. It is expected that focus will be on the roles and responsibilities of the public and private sectors as well as the diaspora community. Resources/Panelists:1.       Hamud A. Mansheeye2.       Mohamed Dahir Aden3.       Dr.Abdikarim Hassan Mattan4.       Fawzi I. Rijal  Moderator: Hussein Jama Abdillahi
12             12:45 – 1:30 pm Education, Employment, Libraries/Archives: It is often mentioned that the education system in the Adal regions is relatively advanced. Schooling systems from kindergarten to university are in place. Libraries & archives systems are beginning to show signs of improvement. However, the fruits of these hard-earned academic skills are never reaped due to lack of employment opportunities. So what is the use of education, one might ask? Should the focus change to vocational training and development of certain skills that have marketable job opportunities? The panel will recommend solutions to these challenges and other barriers relating to poverty reduction/elimination. Resources/Panelists:1.       Saad I. Samatar2.       Ibrahim  M. Aye3.       Ahmed M. Gedi Moderator: Idiris Farah, Gaas
13 1:30 – 2:30 pm Prayer and lunch
14 2:30 – 3:30 pm Leadership & Economic Development:Socioeconomic developments in the Third World are featured by strong will in leadership and business ventures. Both elements are pre-requites for sustainable development in our society. This distinguished panel will focus on these topics with emphasis on applicable models of bottom-up development. They will also discuss the importance of law and empowerment to economic development.  Resources/Panelists:1.       Prof. Ahmed Ismail Samatar2.       Prof. Hussein Ahmed WarsameModerator:  Dr. Fawzia A. Abrar
15 3:30 – 4:15 pm Special program – reality check:Members of the Advisory Council and other elders/leaders of the community will challenge the conference participants on a reality check topic! Leaders:1.       Sheikh M. H. Hadi2.       Sheikh M.H. Farid Moderator: Sheikh Mustafe A. Nur
 17  5:00 – 6:00 pm  Questions/Answers/general comments 
 18  6:00 – 7:00 pm  Prayer and break/stretch 
19       7:00 – 8:30 pm The Acme of literary Achievement: Memorializing Hassan Sheikh Mumin.Literary production is a critical endowment of most societies. For the Somali people, such an endeavor has been at the heart of its artistic imagination. More precisely, no other aspect of Somali culture is at once as challenging and captures most acutely the creativity, internal mores, standards, and aspirations of Somalis as the works of their most celebrated composers. The name and the brilliant compositions of the late Hassan Sheikh Mumin stand out in a gallery brimming with super stars. This panel discussion will offer brief meditations (followed by comments and questions) on the role of the poetic arts in society, and Mumin’s legacy to the annals of the Somali literary tradition.1.       Maryan Omer Ali2.       Prof. Ahmed Ismail Samatar3.       Quman Sheikh Mumin Moderator: Mohamed Farah, Saqiiro 
 20  8:30 – 9:30  Prayer & Dinner 
 21  9:30 – 12:00 midnight  Awdal Night in Ottawa – featuring cultural celebration and showcase of our youth talents. Event Leader: Rashid Abdi Bakal               
 22  1:00 pm – 5:00 pm  A Lecture on Muslims and the West: What Future? By Prof. Ahmed I. Samatar  While Muslims and the West have had centuries of intimate encounters, the present age could be best identified as one dominated by severe misunderstandings and flammable suspicions. Out of this context arise two questions — one is being asked by many in the West (Why are they so angry, if not hate us?); the other is being posed by numerous Muslims (What has happened to us?). This lecture suggests that to respond effectively to the first requires an exploration of the second question. At the center of the presentation is this thesis:  Despite impressive earlier civilizational glories, contemporary Muslim peoples are confronted by the powerful confluence of three humiliations. To fully comprehend this phenomenon is to open up the possibility of new constructive conversations between the peoples of the West and Muslim Umma.
 Introduction by Prof. Mohamed Nuh Ali