The Somalia Humanitarian Fund (SHF) has allocated US$25 million to provide life-saving assistance to communities affected by drought. Additionally, the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has provided Somalia with $18 million as part of its global 'famine prevention' allocation. These two complementary pooled fund allocations of $43 million are addressing the impact of drought and food insecurity in support of the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP).

Although famine was averted in 2022 through a concerted scale-up of the humanitarian response, the humanitarian situation remains extremely alarming, with approximately 8.25 million people (50 per cent of Somalia’s population) in need of humanitarian and protection assistance and over 3.2 million people displaced. Prolonged and extreme conditions continue to exacerbate needs and protection risks, including for the most vulnerable.

The SHF and CERF allocations aim to strengthen the response in areas where the risk of famine persists and minimize further displacements, by targeting hard-to-access rural locations in Bay, Lower and Middle Shabelle, which are major sources of displacement. The SHF continues to champion localization, and 71 per cent of the SHF funding in 2023 has been directly allocated to local organizations. The CERF grant complements the SHF allocation by mitigating the impact of drought and reducing associated protection risks through scaled-up recovery efforts in drought hot-spot locations.

"This allocation is a testament to our commitment to supporting the people of Somalia,” said Mr. George Conway, Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia ad interim. "We need to do more, hence our continued appeal to our donors and partners for additional and timely support to Somalia to sustain the response and retain gains made."

The 2023 HRP requires $2.6 billion to respond to the needs of 7.6 million most vulnerable people in Somalia. However, only 30.5 per cent has been received as of mid-year. Given the ongoing immense humanitarian needs, additional funds are urgently needed to deliver crucial assistance.