Attachments
Intervention Summary:
Already by June, erratic and delayed rains in the Horn of Africa had left an estimated 2.9 million people in need of food security assistance in Somalia alone. The below average rainfall from the October to December Deyr rains and the delayed April to June Gu rains is leading to two consecutive crop failures. Lack of pasture land and water have put vulnerable populations at high risk of not being able to meet their basic needs or maintain their livelihoods.
Agencies responded with Start Fund grants to provide emergency food and water assistance in Puntland and Mudug, reaching nearly 1% of the affected population with £267,466. For the first time, the project selection decisions were decentralised to the regional level (Nairobi). Agencies on the ground coordinated closely with international organisations and local authorities to avoid duplication and design better implementation.
The projects were implemented directly by staff in areas where the agencies had a pre-existing presence. Both projects integrated WaSH and food security activities. Not only did they focus on meeting the immediate needs of the targeted populations but also on reducing negative coping strategies.
Improving access to water sources for targeted communities was essential both to mitigate resource-based conflict between clans resulting from pastoralist migration and to decrease the impact of dwindling assets. WaSH activities involved rehabilitating boreholes and shallow wells and water trucking to remote areas. To address food insecurity, short term unconditional cash transfers in Mudug allowed households to purchase food and avoid selling off profitable assets. Food aid was distributed to villages in Puntland to cover basic nutritional needs. In both the food distributions and the cash transfers, the communities participated in selecting the aid recipients.
About 70% of budgets were spent on inputs, and projects reached 33% more people than planned. Affected communities were already in receipt of assistance by 26 June, only 7 days after receiving funding. Agencies also sourced about £1.36 million from other donors. This will reach 142,000 people at a similar rate, five times the footprint of the Start-funded projects themselves, for ongoing emergency response activities.