Somalian People Affected By Drought Since 2015
Somalian People Affected By Drought Since 2015: Across Somalia, people have lost much of their livestock since the drought started in 2015. Poor families, who have the least resources and ability to adapt, have lost 40–60% of their herds in Somaliland and 20–40% in the rest of the country. The drought has also devastated crops, forcing more than 1.15 million people to leave their homes between January 2016 and May 2018, often only once they had become malnourished and weak.
Beyond familiar social and economic support networks, people’s survival has become precarious, and their efforts to survive have often put them in yet more danger.
Research was conducted in January and February 2018 by seven international and one national non-government organizations (NGOs) in 28 sites for internally displaced persons (IDPs) across 10 regions in Somalia and Somaliland. It shows that drought-related displacement must be viewed as a protection crisis which impacts women, men, boys and girls differently, and has disrupted gender roles and identities.
The research underlines how survival strategies are gender- and age-specific, and how resulting dynamics often make individuals more vulnerable to (other) protection threats. Finally, the research shows how individuals’ experiences are heavily influenced by where they are geographically, and how much they move.
The Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation has distributed 824 tonnes of food items to 6,000 families – around 30,000 people – in the drought-stricken area of Jubaland in Somalia.
The food aid was distributed as part of the Foundation’s first phase of relief assistance this season and is in line with the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Chairman of the Khalifa Foundation.
A spokesperson from the organisation said that the humanitarian assistance aims to alleviate the burdens of the Somali people in the face of the severe drought affecting the area.
The aid was distributed in cooperation with local authorities.
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