Introduction
For decades, Somalia has suffered from prolonged conflict and extreme weather, including recurrent droughts and floods. The country is now in the midst of a severe drought, already affecting over 4 million people.
Against a background of extreme poverty, Somalia has faced the worst desert locust infestation in 25 years. The country has also seen a major political crisis and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
EU humanitarian funding is helping aid organisations in Somalia provide life-saving assistance to vulnerable people. This includes those affected by conflict, drought, floods, food shortages, and epidemics.
What are the needs?
In November 2021, Somalia declared a state of emergency because of the severe drought. Due to 3 consecutive failed rainy seasons, nearly the entire country is experiencing severe drought conditions. It is expected that a fourth one will hit the country in spring this year.
Over 4 million people have already been affected by the drought. More than 270,000 people have been internally displaced by the drought, adding to the 2.9 million already displaced.
A major drought in 2011/12 led to a catastrophic famine killing an estimated 256,000 people. In 2017, an early humanitarian response mitigated the impact of a similar drought. However, it still led to significant, preventable deaths among those most vulnerable.
Without an urgent scale-up of humanitarian assistance in response to the drought, displacement and hunger-related deaths will rise quickly and exponentially.
Already several parts of the country report upsurges of inter-community clashes and resource-driven conflict, especially about water, alongside decades-long insurgency conflict. Most worryingly, drought conditions are likely to worsen further.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 667,000 Somalis live in neighbouring countries. Most internally displaced people live in overcrowded sites and poor conditions.
In total, some 7.7 million people now require humanitarian assistance, which is nearly 50% of the population. The rate of malnutrition among children is critically high with over 1.2 million children acutely malnourished.
How are we helping?
In 2022, the EU allocated €41 million in funding for humanitarian projects in Somalia. This comes on top of €18.5 million that the EU allocated in December 2021 in response to the catastrophic drought.
This additional EU humanitarian funding will allow aid organisations to scale up emergency water, cash and food assistance, nutrition and health services. The EU and its Member States provide over 35% of all humanitarian aid in Somalia.
We support aid organisations in delivering life-saving assistance to cover the urgent needs of the most vulnerable. This includes access to cash and food assistance, basic health and nutrition services, clean water, protection, shelter, and education in emergencies.
In 2020, the EU also provided €9.5 million of humanitarian aid specifically to help tackle the locust outbreak and protect the livelihoods of affected farmers and pastoralists in Somalia.
This effort was sustained in 2021, with €8 million allocated to surveillance and control desert locusts within the Horn of Africa, including Somalia.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, EU-funded humanitarian projects in Somalia are adopting measures and adapting to the new challenges. The aim is to help beneficiaries and staff keep safe while providing life-saving assistance to support vulnerable communities.
These actions complement ongoing efforts by the Ministry of Health of Somalia and are implemented in line with the COVID-19 country preparedness and response plan for Somalia.
The EU also organised 3 Humanitarian Air Bridge flights to Somalia in 2020, transporting much-needed health equipment to humanitarian partners.
In addition, the European Commission has been providing €100 million in humanitarian assistance to support the rollout of vaccination campaigns in countries in Africa with critical humanitarian needs and fragile health systems. At least €14 million of this funding will be supporting vaccination campaigns for the most vulnerable in Eastern Africa.
EU-funded humanitarian health actions continue helping local health centres and Somali hospitals. We help them provide access to health care and epidemics prevention and control.
In 2020, a share of the EU’s humanitarian funding was used to support Somalia’s health authorities. This corresponds to our funding to the World Health Organization for its global coronavirus response. The aim was to scale operational readiness for early detection and respond to large-scale community transmission.
Whenever relevant, EU humanitarian support helps people in need through cash transfers. This enables them to feed and sustain their family, including education and health care. Using cash transfers helps overcome some of the accessibility challenges in the country while supporting local markets.
Somalia has a high child and maternal mortality rate, severe malnutrition rates, and frequent disease outbreaks. Therefore, the EU focuses on providing quality health care and emergency treatment of malnutrition through experienced health and nutrition implementation partners.
The country needs more long-term development to prevent vulnerable people, such as pastoral and agricultural communities, from sliding back into crisis. Cooperation between the EU’s humanitarian and development actions is ongoing, especially for cash-based safety nets and education, to build up the longer-term resilience of fragile Somali communities.
Facts & figures
More than 7.7million people need humanitarian assistance and 3.8 million are at risk of acute food shortages (OCHA)
1 in 7 children dies before turning 5 (UNICEF)
2.9 million internally displaced people (OCHA)
More than 667,000 Somali refugees in neighbouring countries (UNHCR)
EU humanitarian funding: €41 million in 2022 nearly €438 million since 2017
Source: European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations