The Israel–Somaliland Friendship Association (ISFA) — Somaliland Side has spent 2026 doing the unglamorous work of building an institution from scratch: recruiting leaders, drafting job descriptions, opening lines with local authorities, and mapping out where friendship between two peoples might eventually become economic partnership. The organization’s own year-end report describes 2026 as “a foundation and institutional-building phase” — a year of scaffolding, not yet of ribbon-cuttings.

At the center of that scaffolding is a proposed 57-position leadership structure spanning a national secretariat and three district chapters — Gabiley, Berbera and Hargeisa. Candidates were asked to submit a cover letter, CV, national ID and passport photo, then assessed on qualifications, leadership capacity and commitment to the association’s goals — a recruitment process ISFA says was designed to “promote professionalism and accountability” from the outset.

“Sustainable friendship is strengthened when dialogue is complemented by practical cooperation that produces tangible benefits for communities.” — ISFA Institutional Vision, 2026 Report

Section 04Three Districts, One Framework

The district breakdown reveals where ISFA has invested its energy. Gabiley, an agricultural hub near the Ethiopian border, received the most developed structure — 27 proposed positions covering everything from livestock and water to interfaith dialogue and traditional leadership advisory. Hargeisa, the capital, follows with 14 positions oriented toward urban issues like digital marketing, youth coordination and combating antisemitism. Berbera, the coastal trade city, has the leanest structure at seven positions, though the report flags its long-term potential for maritime and logistics cooperation.

Section 12Twin Cities, on Paper for Now

The report’s most ambitious idea is a Twin Sister Cities initiative pairing three Somaliland municipalities with Israeli counterparts. ISFA is careful to frame these as exploratory concepts, not agreements — each would require formal municipal engagement and government approval before becoming real. Still, the pairings sketch a clear logic: farmland to farmland, port to port, and start-up city to start-up city.

ISFA lays out an eight-stage path from concept to implementation — concept notes, municipal engagement, needs assessment, technical consultation, a cooperation framework, official approval, joint programmes, and finally monitoring and evaluation. It is a deliberately slow sequence, and the report leans on that caution repeatedly: nothing here is a done deal.

Section 16The Harder Work Ahead

For all the structure-building, ISFA’s report is candid about what it still lacks. Formal registration and legal status remain unresolved. Financing is described as limited, affecting everything from administration to district-level meetings. The 57 nominated leaders are, in the report’s own words, “proposed positions” — not legally constituted offices until governance and verification procedures are complete.

Read in full, the report describes an organization still closer to its blueprint than its building — a leadership roster on paper, chapters that exist mostly as WhatsApp groups and Zoom calls, and a sister-cities concept that is, for now, three lines drawn on a map. Whether any of it becomes durable will depend on the priorities ISFA has now put at the top of its own list: registration, governance, and money.