Somalia and East Africa Crisis

Courtesy of Oxfam East Africa

In 2011, the United Nations declared catastrophic famine in several regions of Somalia. Armed conflict and political statelessness further pose threats to lives and livelihoods, and complicate relief efforts. Extreme drought and food shortages also affect Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. Overall, 12.5 million people in the region are suffering severe food insecurity and need humanitarian aid.

Drilling and coordinating community-managed wells may not seem like a human-rights response to drought and famine but UUSC's newest project in Dadaab — the huge refugee complex in northern Kenya — is precisely that. With the Rural Relief and Development Organization (RRDO), UUSC is supporting the drilling of three community-managed wells in settlements for 9,000 displaced people around Dadaab.

This project serves hundreds of thousands of Kenyan pastoralists who are ethnic and cultural Somalis (referred to as Kenyan Somalis) and have been displaced by the drought ravaging East Africa and the Horn of Africa. Having lost everything, they are pouring into the area around Dadaab, seeking help that has not materialized. The local population, already short of water and food, has responded violently against Kenyan Somali women trying to get water at local wells. Close, accessible, and fairly managed water provides protection for girls and women who do not have to walk long distance and risk attack just to get water for the household.

Even better, these community-managed wells provide water for the next stage of UUSC's project with RRDO: small greenhouses with drip irrigation where displaced groups can raise quick-growing crops for nutrition and income. In just a few months, their situation will be greatly improved with steady access to food.

In Kenya right now, the Kenyan Somalis are extremely marginalized in the famine relief efforts. Because they have not crossed borders but are internally displaced by the drought they cannot receive the famine relief offered in the camps. Representative of UUSC's Rights in Humanitarian Crises response, this project in Dadaab includes an immediate tangible response to the rights of marginalized people affected by the emergency — and builds towards sustainable recovery.

Background

By September 2011, the United Nations declared catastrophic famine in seven regions of southern Somalia; over 13.3 million people in Somalia, Djbouti, Kenya, and Ethiopia are in grave need of emergency assistance for food and water, and 750,000 people are in acute danger of dying of starvation in the next four months. The crisis affects also extends into Tanzania and Uganda. This is the world's worst food security crisis in the last 20 years.

There are three major disasters happening at different speeds in East Africa and Somalia that create this crisis, which overlap and fuel each other:

• Famine and food insecurity affecting 13.3 million people and causing massive displacement in the region
• Changing weather patterns that have decimated pastoralists' herds in many areas and challenged the sustainability of pastoral lives and livelihoods
• Armed conflict in Southern Somalia that is now spilling across the border, prompting a military response from Kenya into Somalia

Given the catastrophic nature of this crisis, UUSC is expanding its response to Puntland in northern Somalia as well as Ethiopia, where pastoralists have lost everything and are being ignored by their government.

UUSC's approach

In every disaster, UUSC's Rights in Humanitarian Crises Program identifies which groups are most marginalized in the mainstream relief efforts and partners with local organizations that can most effectively reach these groups. These eye-to-eye partnerships are the most cost-effective and sustainable way of ensuring that UUSC shepherds the available resources through the best channels to reach those in need and build for future recovery.

UUSC has used initial funds generously donated to the Somalia and East Africa Fund for the RRDO project as well as a project to protect children and youth around Dadaab with the Appropriate Sustainable Pastoralists' Empowerment for Community Transformation (ASPECT). The latter project has opened five child-development centers around Dadaab, providing education and food to 2,000 displaced children, and supports emergency assistance to pastoralist boarding schools — bringing children off the streets and protecting them from abuse, trafficking, and militia recruitment.

Check back for updates about partner organizations, aid activities, and communities and individuals that UUSC's efforts will reach in Somalia and East Africa. Please consider donating to the UUSC Somalia and East Africa Relief Fund today to support people suffering from this catastrophic famine.

Last updated: November 17, 2011