Photo: WFP/David Orr

The dark clouds of the seasonal gu rains may be on the horizon earlier than expected, but for many people in the village of Docol it’s already too late. Like other pastoralists in Somalia, Nadifa’s life has changed beyond recognition over the past few months.

“Life was beautiful, we had good livestock and good rains, but gradually the rainfall situation deteriorated and our living conditions therefore also deteriorated,” she said. Nadifa’s family lived a nomadic life, moving to where the pasture was good for their livestock. They had a thriving business, selling milk and meat from goat herds. But the drought had a devastating effect and the animals started to die. The camels died first, so the family could no longer move to find better grazing. Then the herds themselves started to shrink.

“We could not continue living in the rural areas with so few livestock, and the pack camels we were using as transport died, so that’s why we came to this settlement,” Nadifa explained. They came to Docol, a village in the Mudug region of Central Somalia. “Only God knows how life is here. My sons have no jobs, I can’t work, my husband can’t work and we have only 10 goats left.”

But at least here they have found help in the form of distributions by the World Food Programme (WFP), supported by the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). Each month they receive enough to feed their family of eight, and for that they are grateful. Nadifa says she does not know what the future will hold. But she gazes towards the dark clouds and wonders if they may provide the answer.

Relief arrives to Central and South Somalia
CERF is a humanitarian fund established by the United Nations to provide timely and reliable humanitarian assistance to those affected by natural disasters and armed conflict. In 2011, the fund has provided more than US$52 million to six United Nations agencies in Somalia to support urgent humanitarian interventions, $16 million of which has been given to WFP this year.

On 20 July, a famine was declared in southern parts of Somalia, which has been further exacerbated by years of armed conflict and recent rains. CERF, together with United Nations agencies and NGO partners, reacted quickly to the crisis.

"The situation in Somalia is one of the worst humanitarian crises the world has had to deal with in recent years,” said Stefano Porretti, WFP Representative for Somalia. “It is through the contributions from the CERF and our other donors that WFP has been able to react swiftly by scaling up and adding to our existing programmes that help the most needy people, especially children, and save many lives."

Through WFP and CERF assistance, more than 1.3 million people are being reached with life-saving food assistance.

Updated on 18 November 2011

CERF allocates $38 million for Somalia famine response

02 August 2011:  Nearly $38 million was made available from the CERF in July and August to address the famine in Somalia. Tens of thousands of people had died and hundreds of thousands more risked starvation. Continued armed conflict exacerbated the situation , and insecurity was a serious obstacle to providing humanitarian assistance. 

The World Food Programme (WFP) was provided with $10 million to transport and distribute 18,000 metric tonnes of emergency food to an estimated 1.3 million drought and conflict-affected people in southern Somalia. 

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) received a further $10 million to provide supplementary food for 378,000 households for five months, in order to reduce severe acute malnutrition among 34,200 children under five. A further $4 million was allocated to UNICEF to treat nearly 70,000 moderately and severely malnourished children. $2 million was also allocated to UNICEF to provide safe water, and sanitation and hygiene support for more than 170,000 people. 

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) received $6 million to improve food availability by distributing seeds and fertiliser to some 300,000 people, as well as supporting communities to refurbish disused agricultural resources. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was provided with $1 million to work with communities to rehabilitate food and water sources. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) used $2 million of CERF funding to provide vital emergency health services, targeting children, pregnant women, and border-based populations. UNICEF used a further $2 million from the CERF to provide primary health care and carry out immunisation campaigns in the worst-affected areas. WFP was also provided with $1 million to launch the Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) in southern Somalia, to improve access to the affected population for humanitarian supplies and personnel. 

Updated on 5 August 2011

CERF allocates $15 million in response to ongoing drought in Somalia

14 March 2011: In response to the increasingly acute drought in the country, CERF has allocated some $15 million for humanitarian response in Somalia. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will receive $5 million to improve and maintain child and maternal nutritional status, provide maternal and child health services, and implement an emergency response to increase and sustain access to safe water and sanitation facilities for IDPs. The World Food Programme (WFP) will use $5 million for emergency food assistance and protection of livelihoods. Some $2.5 million has been allocated to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for livelihood support to IDPs and riverine communities. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) will receive $1.5 million for emergency provision of non-food items kits to IDPs in Puntland and Central Somalia. Finally, the World Health Organization (WHO) will use some $1 million to provide mobile emergency health services and life-saving health interventions in the areas hardest hit by drought.

Somalia is facing a severe and increasingly acute drought that is now even affecting regions that received good rains in 2010. According to results from a Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit country-wide assessment released on 28 January 2011, some 2.4 million people are currently affected by drought, up from 2 million people last year. This represents 32 per cent of Somalia’s population.

The south of Somalia is particularly affected as well as poor households that lack resilience to cope with the shock of drought. Food access for poor households in the south is a major concern as cereal prices have increased by up to 80 per cent and labour activity has reduced because of crop failure and livestock deterioration and death in the region. The national estimated prevalence of acutely malnourished children is 16 per cent, of which 4 per cent are severely malnourished. The main reasons for this are lack of clean water, poor sanitation and hygiene practices, lack of access to milk for the youngest children and long absences of mothers searching for food and water.

In an effort to meet their needs, people have been migrating to urban areas in search of economic activities and viable water resources. Urban and small town water supplies are now under huge stress due to the influx of pastoralists and other affected people, which has resulted in the breakdown of water systems and rapidly rising water prices. Sustained conflicts in the country also continue to cause further displacement, affecting mainly the southern and central parts of Somalia.

Updated 05 May 2011

CERF in Somalia 2009
CERF in Somalia 2008
CERF in Somalia 2007