About the crisis

The humanitarian situation in Somalia is worsening due to consistent failure of rain over several years in a country where most households are dependent on rain for their livelihoods. A key driver of the crisis is the extreme lack of access to water due to consecutive seasons of poor rain falls and low river water levels, further leading to crop failures and widespread shortage of water and pasture, consequently resulting to livestock deaths and worsening food security levels across Somalia.

To date, 6.2 million people (50% of the population) are acutely food insecure and in need of humanitarian assistance, of which three million are in considered in emergency or crisis phase, requiring urgent assistance to save their lives. Over 4.5 million people are in need of emergency water, sanitation, and hygiene assistance. Poor access to safe drinking water and lack of adequate sanitation facilities coupled with poor hygiene practices are major threats for the survival and development of affected populations in Somalia. Those who resort to unsafe water sources are at increased risk of water-borne diseases, including acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) or cholera.

Widespread shortages in water and pasture have compelled people to migrate ever further in search of food and water for themselves and their livestock, which has caused a crisis of displacement within the El Niño crisis. More than 480,000 of the displaced, or 65%, are under the age of 18; children under 5 represent more than 25% of all those displaced and number in the hundreds of thousands (195.000); these most vulnerable children are the most at risk of malnutrition and disease.

The Dutch Relief Alliance Response

To meet the above mentioned acute needs, the six Members of the Somalia Somaliland Puntland Joint Response are implementing an integrated intervention focusing on Food Security and Livelihood (FSL); Nutrition; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Sanaag, Sool, Woqooyi Galbeed, Kismayo and Mudug regions.

FSL Results: 

• Improved household access to food for the most vulnerable
• Enable ’emergency’, ‘crisis’, and stressed population groups to produce and exchange food to sustain their livelihoods
• Restore and build household and community productive assets and capacities (including through C4W).

Nutrition Results:

• Strengthen lifesaving preventive nutrition services for vulnerable population groups focusing on appropriate infant and young child feeding practices in emergency, micronutrient interventions and optimal maternal nutrition
• Improve equitable access to quality lifesaving curative nutrition services through systematic identification, referral and treatment of acutely malnourished cases.

WASH Results:

• Improved access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene for people in emergency need
• Provide reliable and sustained access to sufficient, safe water through rehabilitation of strategic water points and establishment of sustainable management structures.