Somalia faces over three decades of protracted civil war leaving the country fractured along political and clan lines. In the past decade, Violent Extremist Organizations, namely al-Shabaab, have exploited this conflict to exert control and influence over many varying regions of Somalia. These organizations in turn violently obstruct efforts to establish state authority, create and exacerbate conflict in local communities, prevent humanitarian aid from being delivered during times of crisis, and undermine economic investments to improve people’s livelihoods.

The Transition Initiative for Stabilization Saddex (TIS3) program will identify initial stabilization opportunities presented by new clearing operations in newly recovered areas. It will also continue to consolidate security and political gains and stabilization opportunities in long recovered areas that remain vulnerable to al-Shabaab influence and are at risk of backsliding. TIS3 uses small grants to support a community's transition from conflict to long-term development. All TIS3 interventions are informed by hyper-local contextual analysis so that small grants respond to the unique conflict drivers present in each target area. The activities that TIS3 implements are a combination of grant, short-term technical assistance, and infrastructure activities layered with research and analysis activities to achieve programmatic objectives.

The end goal for the TIS3 program is to develop a community where basic security is provided, the possibility of the outbreak of violent clan or communal conflict is reasonably reduced, and decision-making processes more closely reflect the needs of all members of the community.

The goal of the TIS3 program is to assist Somali communities in establishing the initial governance and security conditions necessary to address the long-term social, economic and political causes of Somalia’s instability by reducing the factors that enable violent extremist organizations to gain and maintain influence. This will contribute to building a foundation for political, economic, and social development in conflict affected communities in Somalia. In order to accomplish this goal, the TIS3 program’s objectives focus on reducing those factors that TIS3 can most immediately impact that allow al-Shabaab to gain influence and destabilize communities in its target regions. These factors include citizen engagement in political, economic, and security decision-making and communities’ ability to manage conflict peacefully.