These schoolgirls are on the path to better gender equality in Somalia, where just 37 percent of girls attend primary school.
Africa

Somalia

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FRAGILITY RANKING

2nd out of 180 countries


Overview

Somalia is one of the world’s least developed countries, with an estimated 2.6 million Somalis displaced internally and 5.1 million living without reliable access to the food they need to stave off hunger.

More than twenty years of persistent conflict has ruined Somalia’s economic infrastructure and forced a generation of people from their homes.

Somalia experiences frequent natural disasters, including the ongoing 2019 drought that has caused widespread crop failures and left millions at risk of starvation. The number of people displaced and desperately in need of food continues to climb as Somalia’s most vulnerable populations struggle to cope with the devastating effects of recurring droughts, floods and famine.

Since 2009, Relief International has been providing critical healthcare, education, water and sanitation services to internally displaced Somalis and those who fled to other countries but have now returned home. We have more than 100 field staff working out of six strategically placed offices across Somalia.

The 14 healthcare facilities we support screen children for malnutrition and administer life-saving vaccinations, provide critical ante- and post-natal care to mothers, and treat waterborne disease spread by lack of access to clean water sources. Relief International treated more than 62,000 patients last year.

We’ve also collaborated with students, parents, teachers, community leaders and government ministries to enroll tens of thousand of girls, transforming an educational system that traditionally provides little opportunity for girls to learn and had poor graduation rates. More than 90% of girls enrolled in our programs have stayed in school for three years or more, and we helped educate more than 115,000 students last year.

Our teams on the ground are at-the-ready to help those most affected by Somalia’s natural disasters. We’re responding to communities suffering from the current drought by distributing more than 730 metric tons of food to 4,000 people, supplying 5,100 students with take-home food rations, trucking in safe water and distributing water purification tablets.

“The devastating effects of this drought are starkly present in the communities we’re working in throughout Somalia — and growing by the day,” said Valerie Rowles, Relief International’s Interim Regional Director for Africa and Asia. “The clinics we support are seeing sharp increases in patients suffering from severe malnutrition, and the lack of access to safe water and sanitation continues to heighten the risk of outbreaks of Cholera and other deadly diseases.”

But this drought does not have to escalate into a full-blown famine. The international community has come together before to successfully contain a hunger emergency, and it’s still possible in Somalia if donors commit at the level that is needed.

“Relief International’s field staff are poised to scale up our operations and deliver life-saving interventions, but our response is dependent on an increase in resources and donations to meet the population’s urgent needs,” said Rowles.


Our 2021 Impact in Somalia
26.5K
students enrolled in education programs
204
teachers trained
3.5K
people who received protection and support services from Relief International
5.2K
people who received information on best hygiene practices

Stories from Somalia

Learn more about our work in Somalia from our staff and program participants.

Somalia

Somalia Flooding Displaces Thousands, Deepens Food Crisis

Somalia’s Hiraan region is facing the worst floods in recent history following the seasonal Deyr rains that began in October. The region was already home to 66,000 internally displaced persons, and now an additional 273,000 in Beletweyne district have been forced from their homes by the flooding.

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Somalia

Educating Girls to End Poverty in Somalia

Throughout Somalia, violence and extreme poverty have left deep scars, forcing many families to keep girls at home instead of in school. In response, Relief International has implemented the Educate Girls, End Poverty program, providing Somali girls with the opportunity to receive an education and break the cycle of chronic poverty.

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Somalia

Somalia Braces as Climate Change Brings Recurring Droughts and Floods

In late April of 2018, Somalia’s two major rivers overflowed after weeks of heavy rains. Our response demonstrates how we provide emergency aid when a crisis is at its height.

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Somalia

Somalia Drought Brings Food Shortages, Leaving Millions at Risk of Starvation

A crippling drought has left 5.1 million people without reliable access to food. Our Somalia teams have the necessary relationships, experience, and expertise to help in this crisis, but are dependent on an increase in resources and donations to meet the population’s urgent needs.

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Somalia Floods Overhead

Somalia

Somalia Flooding Displaces Thousands, Deepens Food Crisis

Ifrah participates in Relief International's education program that empowers young women to break the cycle of poverty.

Somalia

Educating Girls to End Poverty in Somalia

Somalia Floods

Somalia

Somalia Braces as Climate Change Brings Recurring Droughts and Floods

Drought response, Somalia

Somalia

Somalia Drought Brings Food Shortages, Leaving Millions at Risk of Starvation

Somalia Floods Overhead
Ifrah participates in Relief International's education program that empowers young women to break the cycle of poverty.
Somalia Floods
Drought response, Somalia
Somalia Floods Overhead

Somalia Flooding Displaces Thousands, Deepens Food Crisis

Ifrah participates in Relief International's education program that empowers young women to break the cycle of poverty.

Educating Girls to End Poverty in Somalia

Somalia Floods

Somalia Braces as Climate Change Brings Recurring Droughts and Floods

Drought response, Somalia

Somalia Drought Brings Food Shortages, Leaving Millions at Risk of Starvation

Somalia_Project-Update_COVID-19_June-2020-e1592424997976.jpg
Featured Project

Delivering Emergency Healthcare Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

For close to three decades, Somalia has been gripped by war, chronic food shortages, displacement, and climate shocks. Now, the coronavirus pandemic is set to steer the country towards its latest crisis.

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Make a difference today

With a gift to Relief International, you can help deliver safe drinking water. You can help provide healthcare to displaced families, far from home. You can help ensure girls and boys alike receive an education, which in turn creates paths towards employment. This all starts with you.

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