Core to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)s approach to assistance is sending international staff into foreign contexts to work with, and usually direct, locally recruited national staff. Outsiders bring experience, leadership and technical skills, and are in a better position to witness intolerable situations and speak out about them. International staff are also better able to… Read more »
Country: Somalia
Talking tactics: Kismayo, Somalia
Dialogue between military and civilian actors is problematic in Somalia, and no more so than in the southern port city of Kismayo, what was the Islamist group al-Shabaabs last remaining garrison. Considered the most complex urban space in the country, Kismayo is an important trade centre less than 200km from the Kenyan border, and the… Read more »
Monitoring results of the Somalia cash and voucher transfer programme: Phase I
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 »
Kenya (September 1994)
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 »
Risk aversion and cash in the 2011 Somalia famine
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 »
Working with Somali diaspora organisations in the UK
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 »
A deadly delay: risk aversion and cash in the 2011 Somalia famine
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 »
Mobile phones and crisis zones: how text messaging can help streamline humanitarian aid delivery
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 »
Conflict and deteriorating security in Dadaab
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 »