FAO Representative Etienne Peterschmitt in Ottawa and Washington, DC, emphasized the need for sustained investments in agricultural aid to curtail humanitarian crises in Somalia
Washington, DC – Etienne Peterschmitt, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Representative in Somalia and his technical team, were in Ottawa, Canada on March 16-17 and in Washington, DC on March 20-23 for high-level meetings with key stakeholders and partners. The visit comes at a time when Somalia is experiencing a historic drought crisis, affecting the food security of millions of rural Somalis, and as FAO scales up lifesaving assistance to the most vulnerable.
In Canada, FAO Representative Peterschmitt and his colleagues met with leaders from Global Affairs Canada (GAC), including Caroline Delany, Director General of the Eastern and Southern Africa Bureau and Andrew Clark, Director of the Somalia Development Division, and various divisions across GAC. They also convened meetings with leaders from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), including Santiago Alba-Corral, the Director for IDRC’s Climate Resilient Food Systems. While in Ottawa, the Somalia team also met with Members of Parliament - MP Yves Perron, Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agrifood and his staff, as well as staff for MP Stephane Bergeron, Vice-chair for the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Throughout these meetings,the Somalia Director and team discussed the drought crisis in Somalia and emphasized the critical role of agriculture and water security as solutions, noting that the Canadian government has been a steadfast supporter of FAO’s mandate. In 2021, Canada’s humanitarian assistance to Somalia totalled more than 30 million CAD, and in 2022, it reached close to 42 million CAD.
The FAO Somalia team shared the impacts of investments and work on the ground with Canada stakeholders and partners, including the The Rome Based Agencies (RBA) Resilience Initiative funded by Canada which has strengthened livelihood resilience for over 2600 households, with a specific focus on vulnerable women and children.
Similarly, the United States has long been a major contributor to FAO, and in the past two years has demonstrated a significant increase in financial support for emergencies and resilience, donating USD 150 million to FAO’s emergency funding for Somalia in 2022 alone. While in Washington, DC, the FAO Somalia team held fruitful discussions with the U.S. government stakeholders, including the U.S. Department of State’s Special Envoy for Global Food Security Cary Fowler, as well as the Bureau of African Affairs. They met with leaders at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), including Matthew Nims, the Deputy Assistant to the Administrator of USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) and Jeff Bryan, Director of BHA’s Office of Africa, as well as Mia Beers, the Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Resilience and Food Security (RFS) and Elevated Bureau Response for Horn of Africa.
In addition, the team shared their insights during a roundtable discussion convened by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which was facilitated by the CSIS Global Food Security Program Director, Caitlin Welsh. The discussion brought together key thought-leaders from the U.S. government and the non-governmental sector to assess the Somalia situation and share impacts from FAO’s innovative agricultural input and market-based approach.
In addition, on Capitol Hill, they met with senior staff members for U.S. Representatives and Senators on key Congressional Committees. Namely, the Somalia team met with staff for: Representative Colin Allred and Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, both Members of Foreign Affairs Committee’s Africa Subcommittee, as well as staff of the Africa Subcommittee’s Ranking Member, Representative Sara Jacobs. They held discussions with staff for Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, Chairman of the influential Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations (SFOPS) on the House Appropriations Committee and Senator Chris Van Hollen’s policy team who advise in his capacity on the Senate Foreign Relations and Senate Appropriations Committees.
During these discussions with the Executive Branch and on Capitol Hill, Peterschmitt and his team underscored the importance of the dual role of emergency support to the Somali government, as well as supporting the productive sector, including livestock and fisheries. They also shared rainfall projections and the need to sustain support through the end of the calendar year to avert famine for 5 million people.
Throughout their mission, Peterschmitt and his colleagues expressed a message of deep appreciation and gratitude for the generous contributions from the governments of Canada and the U.S to implement the FAO’s Famine Prevention Scale Up Plan for Somalia. Thus far, this program has helped to curtail the ongoing devastating food insecurity situation in the country, wherein millions of people have been pushed to the brink with a risk of famine after a five seasons of poor rainfall.
The program seeks to reach extremely vulnerable rural communities and provide immediate access to food and basic needs in rural, hard-to-reach and inaccessible areas, as well as to safeguard livelihoods and support food production where it is still possible. So far, 1 million people have been reached through this program – 47% of the 2.4 million people targeted. More funds are needed to scale it further and to save the lives and livelihoods of millions of Somalis.
Peterschmitt highlighted that a long-term resilience approach is the best way forward in Somalia. Climate-adaptive agricultural assistance needs to be included as a key component of humanitarian support to help avert disaster and to pave the way for a faster recovery.
As the impacts of the drought in country continue to be felt, scaled-up investment in multisectoral and transformative approaches to save lives and safeguard livelihoods remain critical.
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