Voices from the Forums: Bosaso welcomes people, but can it help them stay?
Bosaso, Puntland’s main commercial port, has long been defined by movement. People come here to trade, work, escape conflict, rebuild their lives, or continue onward across the Horn of Africa and toward the Gulf. According to IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) reports from early 2026 recently Bosaso welcomed almost 7,154 migrants from Ethiopia, 3,981 of them intended to move to Saudi Arabia.
Over time, this has made Bosaso one of Somalia’s key cities of arrival, where mobility is closely tied to commerce, opportunity and for many, survival.
As more people arrive and the city grows, pressure on land and housing has increased. Informal settlements have expanded, demand for water and basic services has risen, and existing environmental risks such as flooding and water scarcity have become harder to manage.
This means integration in Bosaso is not only about being accepted or welcomed after return or displacement. It also depends on whether a fast-growing city can be managed through stronger urban planning, land governance, and service delivery so that people can secure housing, access services, and build stable lives over time.
These points were central to discussions during the first Participatory Forum (PF1), held in Bosaso on 8 February 2026 and organised by Samuel Hall and Tadamun Social Society (TASS) as part of LLEARN. More than fifty participants joined, including local authorities, community police, private sector actors, religious leaders, women’s representatives, and displaced and returnee communities.
A Welcome creates entry, but land and shelter create stability
Participants repeatedly described Bosaso as a place that receives people. The Director General of the Ministry of Interior referred to it as “the mother who receives everybody,” reflecting the city’s long-standing role as a point of arrival and opportunity.
For some, that openness has translated into belonging over time. A female community representative reflected on her own experience: “I came with nothing, and I was welcomed. Today, I am a property owner.”
Her words highlight an important distinction. Acceptance may help people enter the city, but property ownership reflects something more lasting: security, permanence, and the ability to build for the future.
At the same time, the forum made clear that this pathway is not available to everyone.
Internally displaced women still living in settlement areas described carton shelters, overcrowded spaces, and broken sanitation systems. One participant explained that “350 families live without a toilet in their homes,” pointing to how far some communities remain from the stability others have been able to reach.
Another participant captured why housing emerged as such a central issue: “The home is the cornerstone of life. When you possess land you make a house.”
This is where policy becomes important.
The Urban Land Management Law helps clarify land administration and gives districts a stronger role in spatial planning, creating a pathway to integrate long-established settlements into more orderly and serviced urban areas.
Building on this, the Bosaso City Strategy links reintegration to the city’s wider development, including port expansion, coastal growth, and efforts to formalise a largely undocumented land market, while prioritising settlement upgrading, stronger tenure arrangements, and managed relocations in strategically important areas.
The wider question for Bosaso is whether these frameworks can translate into visible change for households still living with insecure shelter and limited services. This matters not only for living conditions, but for livelihoods: where housing is insecure, it is harder for families to save, invest, and build stable sources of income.
Work exists, but without stability it is hard to build livelihoods
Many displaced people and migrants are already working, particularly in the informal economy. The challenge raised in discussions was less about willingness to work, and more about whether that work can lead to greater stability over time.
One participant from an IDP women’s association pointed to changing labour dynamics: “Ethiopian female migrants have started working as maids replacing IDPs… they are trustworthy, but they also receive less salary.”
Her comment reflects a labour market where some groups are concentrated in lower-paid and less secure jobs, often with limited protections or bargaining power. Work may be available, but not always on fair or sustainable terms.
Participants also pointed to the close connection between housing and income. Where families face insecure shelter, overcrowding, or the constant risk of relocation, it becomes harder to save money, invest in small businesses, or absorb sudden financial shocks.
In practice, many households rely on informal systems to cope. Elders mediate disputes, religious leaders mobilise support, and private networks help people access loans or employment.
As one private sector representative explained, “When a person faces a business problem, if they are well integrated, the community will stand with them.”
These networks are important and often fill real gaps. But they also show that in Bosaso, livelihoods are still shaped as much by informal support and housing security as by formal economic opportunity.
Reintegration in Bosaso depends on how growth is governed
This sense of instability is reflected in how people think about the future. Bosaso’s role as a migration hub continues to shape how people think about the future. A speaker described how families spend large sums to send relatives abroad, drawing money out of the local economy. For these households, Bosaso is not only a place of settlement, but also part of a longer journey, where leaving remains a possibility or a goal.
What emerges from these conversations, thus, is not a single picture of reintegration, but several, shaped by position and experience. For long-settled internally displaced people and returnees, Bosaso can offer pathways to belonging and stability over time.
For women living in informal settlements, life remains shaped by insecure shelter and limited sanitation.
For those working in the city’s informal economy, including displaced people and migrant workers, employment exists but is unstable.
For families investing in onward migration, Bosaso remains part of a longer trajectory rather than a final destination.
This is why Bosaso’s experience matters beyond the city itself. As Somalia’s urban centres continue to grow, reintegration will increasingly depend on how cities manage land, inclusion, and opportunity together.
In Bosaso, the challenge is not whether people come. It is whether growth can be governed in ways that allow them to stay, settle, and thrive.
Read more about LLEARN Participatory forums here
