Gripped by drought and racked by conflict for 20 years, Somalia is perhaps the most challenging environment in the world for humanitarian operations. Nonetheless, since famine was declared by the FSNAU and FEWS NET in July 2011, WFP has scaled up its operations and reached 1.5 million vulnerable people, many of them women and children. WFP has been working in Puntland, Somaliland, central regions and Mogadishu, as well as in border areas of the south.
The situation began to improve following reasonable Deyr rains during October and December of 2011, and in February 2012, the FSNAU and FEWS NET announced that famine conditions had receded. Other factors that contributed to this improvement included a slight decrease in the price of food, enhanced access to food and the impact of humanitarian assistance.
However, more than 2.5 million people remain in crisis throughout the country, and any gains made in food security and nutrition must be considered fragile as communities are recovering from many seasons of failed rains and subsequent drought. The Gu rains (April to June) have been uneven in geographical coverage and below average and there are fears that recent gains could be lost without continued humanitarian assistance. Meanwhile, insecurity and conflict continue to contribute to poor household food security and high malnutrition rates.
While still assisting populations in crisis, WFP will continue to move away from general food distributions to more targeted means of assistance. One critical focus is on nutrition programmes that support the most vulnerable elements of the population, namely women and children. Through supplementary feeding programmes and, where possible, through health centres, WFP provides specialised nutritional food products to treat and prevent malnutrition. In some programmes a family ration is included as there is a likelihood of other family members also being malnourished. The nutrition programmes, together with the family ration initiative, now make up 75 percent of WFP’s prgrammes in Somalia.
To assist communities and build resilience to shocks such as drought or floods, there are community asset-building programmes that include the construction of reservoirs, wells and roads. WFP continues to expand its school meals programme which ensures that school-going children receive either a cooked meal or a high energy each term day. This has the added benefit of increasing school attendance and promoting the well-being of future generations.
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