This article summarises the findings of a recent monitoring report on an emergency cash-based intervention in South Central Somalia. In what is thought to be the largest cash programme to be implemented by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), 14 NGOs (six international and eight local partners) distributed $50.6 million-worth of cash and commodity vouchers to 136,673 households… Read more »
Drought situation improved. Good harvest anticipated in main agricultural areas of Western, Rift Valley and Central Regions. Wholesale prices for maize and beans have eased considerably and in mid-August the Government announced a suspension of the commercial imports of wheat and maize. Districts in the southern part of Eastern Province and the arid areas in… Read more »
Degan Ali, Executive Director of Adeso, spoke on Monday about risk aversion and cash in the 2011 Somalia famine, and hindrances to effective decision-making. Ali joined seven other humanitarian practitioners and academics who took part in a public event organized by the Overseas Development Institute to discuss new learning and issues associated with cash transfer… Read more »
Diasporas play a vital role in supporting relatives and communities back home. Over the past 20 years Somalis from around the world have provided a significant amount of humanitarian and development assistance to communities in Somalia: a recent UN Development Programme (UNDP) survey estimated that between $130 million and $200m is given annually for these… Read more »
There is immense potential for cash transfer programming to provide humanitarian relief at scale in times of crisis. By March 2012, $77 million in cash had been provided directly to beneficiaries in South Central Somalia, making this the largest emergency cash and voucher-based response ever implemented by NGOs anywhere in the world. However, as emergency… Read more »
When the 2010 Haiti earthquake struck, text messages sent by trapped survivors became crucial catalysts for aid delivery. When the 2009 Gaza conflict broke out, cell phones were the only medium of communication left largely unaffected by bombings. Landline wires and web servers are often the first to fail during a natural disaster, but cell… Read more »
The Dadaab refugee complex in north-east Kenya was established in 1991. Originally designed to accommodate 90,000 refugees, the camps now hold over five times their intended capacity, making Dadaab the third-largest population centre in Kenya after Nairobi and Mombasa. The region is remote and harsh, with temperatures of up to 48 degrees Celsius in the… Read more »
UN integration arrangements are the strategies and structures developed to facilitate greater coherence and coordination among UN agencies, funds and programmes, with the aim of maximising the collective impact of the UNs response. The benefits and risks of UN integration for humanitarian space have been intensely debated for many years. Most humanitarian actors accept the… Read more »
Counter-terrorism laws and other measures are having a significant impact on humanitarian action in Somalia. Research by the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) suggests that they have increased operating costs, slowed down administrative functions and operational response, curtailed funding and undermined humanitarian partnerships. They have also prevented access and altered the quality and coordination of assistance,… Read more »
