9 March 2023. We, the undersigned NGOs, are deeply concerned for the lives of millions of Somalis facing an imminent famine and who are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. We call upon donors including institutional donors, corporates, foundations, and individual philanthropic donors to contribute their full and fair share to the current humanitarian appeal to respond to the hunger crisis in Somalia where famine is projected in April to June 2023. Action should be taken before it is too late.
According to the latest Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) analysis,** about 6.5 million people - more than a third of the population - are expected to face food crisis with famine projected in Baidoa, Mogadishu and rural households in Burhakaba District between April and June 2023 if humanitarian response is not sustained or rains do not perform well. In 2022 alone, more than one thousand children died in nutrition centres and many more without even accessing the centres. About 1.8 million children under the age of five in Somalia will likely suffer from acute malnutrition over the course of 2023 and nearly 478,000 children are likely to be severely malnourished.
Every day, we meet and support hungry girls, boys, women and men. These people are being starved by years of conflict, poverty and by the impacts of climate change which they have never contributed to.
Every day, we see that it is women and girls who suffer the most. They face increased risks of gender-based violence (GBV) due to multiple displacements, overcrowded camps, and the need to travel long distances to fetch water and firewood. Child marriage has become a harmful coping mechanism for families struggling with poverty.
It is human actions that are driving famine and hunger and it is our actions that can stop the worst impacts of losing lives. We call on you to take action now.
We, the NGOs, are overstretched. The widening gap between the increased humanitarian needs in Somalia and the limited assistance we are able to provide, is threatening to steal what hope remains on the faces of children, women and the elderly in Somalia. We cannot allow all hope to be lost. We need to act fast!
Every day, we share stories and evidence of hunger, starvation, and increasing humanitarian needs facing people in Somalia. Yet this does not prompt urgent action or sufficient funding.
We stand ready to increase our response to meet the needs. We are grateful for the donor and private support that enabled us to avert famine in late 2022. We continue to scale up our existing programming to better meet the people's needs. However, we cannot respond to the escalating crisis without a sharp increase in funds by donors. We urge you to increase your commitments, cut and/or reduce red tape to release and allocate funds. The time to act is now!
The lack of an official famine declaration in late 2022 should not be interpreted that all is well in Somalia. Famine has been temporarily averted but the hunger crisis is far from over. We should not wait until a formal famine declaration is made to warrant meaningful action in Somalia when the lives of millions of people are already at risk.
We appeal for more donors to come forward and donate generously to 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia, seeking over US$2.6 billion to meet the priority needs of 7.6 million vulnerable people. The suffering people in Somalia need a more robust and unified global response for deaths to be prevented. The world should honor the 2011 pledge of "Never Again". There is no place for famine and starvation in the 21st century. History will judge us all by the actions we take today.