Somalia humanitarian response plan pleas $1billion aid to assist 3 million people in 2020

The Federal Government of Somalia, the United Nations, and humanitarian partners on Wednesday launched the 2020 Somalia Humanitarian Response Plan. The plan requires more than US$1 billion to provide life-saving assistance and livelihood support to 3 million people.

Hamza Saeed Hamza, Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management said “The response plan complements ongoing Government efforts to address the humanitarian and livelihood crises in the country.”

He added that ‘’The Federal Government of Somalia is fully committed to working with all humanitarian agencies operating in the country to implement the 2020 Humanitarian Response Plan,”

The people targeted for assistance include 1.7 million people displaced by conflict, insecurity, forced evictions, droughts and floods. According to the Plan, more than half of Somalia’s population lives below the poverty line. Among poor agro-pastoral, marginalized and displaced communities, huge food and nutrition gaps exist.

Severe acute malnutrition rates among children are high with some areas having Global Acute Malnutrition rates of over 20 percent.

United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia said the UN and its partners are working to ensure that emergency and development assistance complement each other in line with the Government development plan in order to achieve long-term recovery and resilience,”

The Humanitarian Response Plan focuses on four core objectives: which are reducing the prevalence of acute malnutrition and health needs; meeting the basic needs of people across 74 districts; strengthening protection and right to safety and enhancing the capacity of IDPs to cope with significant shocks.

The plan aims to provide food assistance monthly to 2.1 million people, support access to education for more than 300,000 children, provide health assistance to 2.5 million people, and deliver safe water to more than 1.2 million people.