General information

About the mission

Launch date: 1992
Local staff : 219
Expatriates :14

Action Against Hunger implements programmes in:

Mogadishu

Bakool, Bay, Gedo (Wajid) regions

Galgadud (Dhusa Mareb and Guriel)

Key facts

Population: 10 million inhabitants
Human Development Index : N/A

Humanitarian context

Somalia fell into complete instability following the coup d’état in 1991, which brought an end to its 20-year dictatorship. Without a new central authority, the country was divided by power struggles, along with high insecurity and trafficking of all kinds. A transitional parliament and government were formed at the end of 2004 but they are far from being in operation. Tensions ran high, faced with the hostility of the warlords who controlled the capital up until May 2008, and then the Union of Islamic Courts. The Ethiopian army has been intervening in Somalia since 2006 in support of these fragile institutions: a move which is strongly contested by certain groups. Since the Islamic Courts suffered defeat at the end of 2006, Mogadishu has been affected by violent attacks on a nearly daily basis, which have left hundreds dead, mainly civilians.

The renewed outbreak of fighting in Mogadishu is once again forcing the city's inhabitants to flee. Today, there are tens of thousands of displaced people in Somalia. Chaos has reigned for several months in and around Mogadishu, where insecurity and barricades are making any humanitarian access very difficult.

This permanent insecurity prevents people from carrying out normal economic activities and limits the adaptive mechanisms of pastoral and agro-pastoral populations in the face of climatic crises, in a country which suffers from recurring droughts. Relying heavily on their livestock both socially and economically, people find it hard to keep their herd and must resort to gradually settling and turning to farming, without the necessary know-how and tools.

Humanitarian support is crucial in this context, with people depending enormously on external aid. However, insecurity makes it difficult to reach people and the number of humanitarian organisations operating in the country is still insufficient.

Action Against Hunger in Somalia

Action Against Hunger first arrived in Somalia when the political crisis broke out in 1992. The country, in the grip of a civil war, descended gradually into famine. At that time, the organisation set up health, nutrition, food security and water and sanitation programmes.

In 1995, Action Against Hunger decided to extend its activities by opening a base first in Mogadishu and then in several rural areas. Since 2003, Action Against Hunger teams have continued their programmes in Wajid, providing both emergency and medium-term support. More recently, since the end of 2006, Action Against Hunger has also provided humanitarian aid by way of water and food assistance to the new area of Dhusa Mareb. Faced with extreme insecurity and limited access, Action Against Hunger has managed to maintain its "vital" humanitarian programmes for people in the capital, while having to adapt its operational methods.  While Action Against Hunger expatriates are working in Wajid and Dhusa Mareb to monitor activities already set up, Action Against Hunger Somali teams have been carrying out nutrition and health programmes in-situ in Mogadishu since 2001, completely independently, supervised and supported by expatriate coordinators based in Nairobi.

Mogadishu

Nutrition and Health

• Medical consultation centres
• Mother and baby care centre
• Vaccination centre
• Treatment of cholera (only during peak periods)

• Two therapeutic feedingcentres - treatment of severe acute malnutrition

Water and Sanitation

• Chlorination on water points

Wajid (Bakool, Bay, Gedo regions)

Nutrition and Health

• Treatment of severe acute malnutrition

Water and Sanitation

• Renovation of water points & washing areas
• Monitoring water quality (bacteriological contamination)
• Distribution of water in areas affected by drought

Food security

• Emergency operations where necessary (distribution of seeds, etc.)
• Improving farming and vegetable growing practices
• Income-generating activities
• Study of the livestock of pastoral populations in view of the adapted programmes

Dhusa Mareb

Nutrition and Health

• Treatment of severe and moderate acute malnutrition

Water and Sanitation

• Distribution of water in areas affected by drought
• Chlorination treatment of water points in areas at high risk of cholera
• Renovation of water points

Food security

• Study of the livestock of pastoral populations in view of the adapted programmes

Funding