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Project Highlights: Sustained cash assistance to prevent famine and respond to drought in rural Somalia

Countries
Somalia
Sources
FAO
Publication date
Origin
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Objective:

To increase immediate food access, while protecting, restoring and enhancing household food production.

Key partners:

Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Climate Change (Puntland), Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation Development (Somaliland), Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (Hirshabele), Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (Galmudug).

Beneficiaries reached:

89 091 households (534 546 people).

Activities implemented:

• Provided USD 14 741 139 through cash for work to 29 345 rural households, enough to feed each household for 3-6.5 months.

• Rehabilitated 135 water catchments.

• Rehabilitated 18 irrigation canals to increase cereal production of small-scale farms.

• Rehabilitated 17 feeder roads and eight prosopis management sites.

• Rehabilitated 81 contour bunds to control soil erosion and improve pasturelands.

• Trained 2 339 community members on infrastructure management and formed water management committees for each rehabilitated site.

• Distributed USD 7 630 141 to 46 230 households, 39 360 of whom received cash assistance through the cash+agriculture modality during the Gu and Deyr cropping seasons, and 6 870 of whom received unconditional cash support in response to flooding in October 2019.

• Distributed USD 3 218 673 to 13 516 households through the cash+livestock modality.

Results:

• Increased immediate household food consumption and restored household food production, covering a total of 412 277 months of food security.

• Increased beneficiary communities’ coping mechanisms, with increases shown in the coping strategy index.

• Increased access to water through improved water infrastructure, providing sufficient water to 378 601 animals during the three months of the dry season.

• Increased livestock survival rates, with surviving animals expected to have sustained milk production to boost family nutrition levels thanks to increased access to water.

• Improved water management committees’ capacity to manage, operate and maintain water facilities and provided a sense of ownership of the infrastructure.

• Contributed to the conservation of natural resources critical to sustainable crop production through soil bunds that increase soil water retention.