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BACKGROUND
Middle Shabelle is an administrative region in southern Somalia that is named after the Shabelle river which passes through for 150 kilometers. The region borders Galgadud to the north, Hiran to the west, Lower Shabelle and Banadir regions to the south and the Indian Ocean to the east. The region consists of four districts: Jowhar - the regional capital, Balad, Adale, Aden Yabal. The region supports livestock production, rain-fed and irrigated agriculture and fisheries. The total population in the region is estimated at 514, 901. As of September 2014, the region hosts an estimated 51,000 IDPs (UNHCR total IDPs per region report, September 2014)
The Middle Shabelle region has faced multiple hazards and calamities ranging from floods, low rainfall resulting in chronic food security and clan conflict. As per the latest FSNAU post GU 2014 analysis report, trade disruption and reduced access to seasonal agricultural employment have exacerbated the food insecurity situation in parts of south central Somalia including Middle Shabelle where staple food prices have quadrupled between January and July/August 2014. Populations experiencing acute food security crisis (IPC Phases 3 and 4) are found in large numbers in rural and urban areas and among displaced populations in Middle Shabelle.
Long controlled by the Al-Shabaab, access to Jowhar, the region’s capital by the humanitarian agencies was very limited until February 2013 when the Somali national army supported by AMISOM has liberated the city. Since then, the region was managed by an interim administration appointed by the Somali government and access was becoming increasingly possible, paving the way for humanitarian interventions to help the vulnerable including IDPs.
This fact-sheet presents an analysis of primary data collected by AVORD during the month of April in Jowhar. The collection of data was closely supervised by the Shelter Cluster in Somalia.
The objective of the infrastructure mapping exercise is to provide a useful and timely ‘snapshot’ of the IDP1 settlements2 in Jowhar, with a main aim to map out the basic services that IDPs can access in their respective settlements.
This factsheet does not aim to provide detailed programmatic information; rather it is designed to share with a broad audience a concise overview of the current situation in this area.
Settlements in Somalia generally are divided into numerous ‘umbrellas’. Each umbrella is made up of multiple IDP settlements. Umbrella leaders are responsible for the oversight and management of the settlements. Each of the settlements generally have an elected leader or ‘gatekeeper’ responsible for multiple IDP settlements and landowner engagement.
Settlements in Somalia are often divided by natural land boundaries belonging to one or more landowner.
The report takes into account several key limitations in the collection of data:
• Due to budget restrictions and the short time-scale, general data on each settlement was collected through a key informant interview (KII).3
• Due to security restrictions and the capacity of field staff, the methodology used for average shelter density was limited to 4 case-studies and random sampling in the other settlements.
• Data collected may reflect both IDP and host community needs.
• Other approaches based on probability sampling, including cluster and area sampling4 , were considered but were not used due to budget restrictions and nonavailability of updated Satellite imagery. Emphasis was given to collecting reliable GPS data for the perimeter, density and facility purposes, which resulted in less representative data at the household level.