As wells dry up, grazing lands shrink and cattle die, villagers in Somaliland and Puntland are facing a dire situation. The IFRC and the Somali Red Crescent have teamed up to responding with urgent, life-saving support.
By Timothy Maina, IFRC, Officer, Communications
As the sole provider for her household of ten, 45-year-old Mama Mako Rooble Mataan bears the immense responsibility of sustaining her entire family. Her goats, once a reliable source of sustenance, now struggle to find a place with enough grass to graze.
Standing nearby the almost completely dry well, her voice was filled with worry.
"The weather has become so unpredictable," she explains, her gaze sweeping across a dried-up riverbed.
Alongside Mama Mako was a team from the Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS), which was there to conduct field assessments on the impacts of prolonged drought in the area, including in Mama Mako’s village, called Il-Hagar, in Somaliland’s Awdal region.
Three consecutive years of failed rains have pushed the Horn of Africa to the brink of catastrophe. Seasonal forecasts from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development's Climate Prediction Centre (ICPAC) warn the 2025 Gu rains (April-June) may be 55 per cent below average, threatening water access and food production. Over 3.8 million people now face acute food insecurity.
The cracked earth and dry togs (seasonal riverbeds) tell the story. Shrubby, jagged hills and mountains stand over sun-scorched plains after failed Deyr rains (October-November) were followed by a harsh Jilal dry season (December-March).
Recognizing the escalating disaster, the SRCS activated its Early Action Protocols (EAPs) for drought, triggering rapid assessments and preemptive aid delivery of aid and cash grants to 1,330 households to address urgent food and medical needs.
The crisis has since triggered a 984,393 Swiss Franc allocation from the IFRC’s Disaster Response Emergency Fund (IFRC-DREF), to deliver life-saving support over six months to 5,800 families (approximately 34,800 people) in Somaliland and Puntland.
The scaled-up response maintains integrated cash, health, as well as water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, through coordinated emergency operations, prioritizing vulnerable groups while strengthening community resilience against ongoing drought conditions through both immediate relief and preparedness measures.
Health teams, through both fixed and mobile clinics, delivered nutrition services, and hygiene education, while WASH programs rehabilitated water sources for 30,000 people.
For the 300 families who live in Il-Hagar, existence depends on livestock. As well dry up and grazing lands vanish, each passing day tightens the drought’s stranglehold.
Further into the Lughaya district, in Gargaara-Baki, the unrelenting drought has left livestock dead, livelihoods ruined, and families starving. The closure of the only Mother and Child Health (MCH) clinic due to funding cuts has compounded the catastrophe, leaving the community without medical care as climate-displaced families seek refuge there.
The lack of pasture has led to sick and dying livestock, while minor illnesses now pose life-threatening risks due to the lack of a local clinic. Amid this crisis, Mama Xalimo Abdilahi Mohamed, a mother of seven and small business owner, spearheads a women’s solidarity group.
“We’ve lost everything except each other,”' she says. “Together, we pool what little we have—grains, wages, hope—to keep our children alive. It’s our way of staying strong.”
In the meantime, more people are now coming to the village because they can no longer survive on their own in more remote areas. Abdinassir Hassan Haji, the village headman and a father of eleven, bears the dual burden of his family and displaced arrivals.
“We are supporting so many now,” he says, his brow furrowed. “Their arrival adds to our struggles.”
Despite the challenges
Lack of functioning infrastructure also plays a role in some areas.
In the neighbouring Garbo Dadar district of Awdal region, for example, a once-reliable water source built after Cyclone Sagar in 2018 has failed, leaving 3,500 households in crisis.
Mayor Jamaal Muumin Caare explains that years of drought and erratic weather have dried up the pump, forcing residents to trek long distances for water—worsening their daily hardships.
Despite challenges, this resilient community established a local hospital and a technical and vocational education and training (TVET) centre to improve livelihoods.
The TVET centre offers practical training in trades and entrepreneurship, while the medical centre provides both healthcare services and employment opportunities.
However, Dr. Ahmed Saeed, the hospital’s lead doctor, stresses the urgent need for medical upgrades: "We lack an operating theatre, essential supplies, and staff,” he says. “Without them, lives are at risk."
A long road to water
The story was similar in the Sahil region. In Sheekh district’s Robo Robo village, Aadan Ali Nur, an elderly agropastoralist, spoke of the long distances they now had to travel just to find water.
"It’s a struggle every day," he sighed, "Sometimes, we all chip in to pay for water to be trucked in, but it costs so much."
In the next village, Ximan, Muse Hayan Elmi looked with concern at their only remaining water reservoir (berked).
"To conserve the limited water we have, we take our camels to distant water sources while allowing goats and calves to drink closer to home,” he offered.
In many cases, people have been forced to leave their villages entirely due to lack of water for daily use, livestock or farming.
The Geed Abokor internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Burco, Togdheer Region of Somaliland is home to about 1,000 displaced households—mostly pastoralists—forced from their lands by recurrent drought and unbearable weather conditions.
With no functional health centre, residents must either wait for humanitarian medical outreaches or travel over 20 kilometres to Burco town for care.
Their most immediate crisis, however, is water scarcity. The camp’s sole berked (traditional water reservoir) has run dry for months now, leaving families dependent on costly water trucking.
Each household must contribute from their meagre resources to fund weekly deliveries—an unsustainable solution for people already stripped of livelihoods.
Abdikadir Osman, the camp’s headman, adds: “The reservoir has been dry for months. Now, everyone pays for trucked water, even though they can barely afford it.”
Beyond water, the camp grapples with inadequate latrines, poor sanitation, and lack of camp management, exacerbating health risks.
Dahir Noor, a mother of six, describes the desperation: “We wait for the water tankers. If they don’t come, we travel to rural areas, collect whatever water we can, and haul it back on donkeys to share equally. We can’t overburden nearby towns—their resources are stretched too.”