ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the return process of Somali refugees from Kenya through the prism of women's experiences before departure and upon return. It delves into the findings, challenging the view of return as male dominated and highlighting the important role played by women, as mothers, wives, next of kin and workers. In Somalia, in Mogadishu and Kismayo, in-depth interviews and focus-group discussions were held to explore the challenges faced during the journey and upon return, protection issues and priorities upon return, decision-making processes, levels of information, and differences between expectations and reality of return. Women play a key role notably in 'split returns' or the 'stepwise return migration': families are split across the border, men having returned to Somalia to find work, check on the security situation, reconnect with family care for their parents and elders in an emergency, or simply to establish a base ahead of the return of the family.
