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In Somalia, the window for famine prevention is closing fast, and assistance to rural areas is in urgent need of scaling up. About 6.7 million Somalis are no longer able to make ends meet, including over 300,000 people who are already facing famine conditions. About half of those most affected by the drought are in rural communities, and many are in areas that are difficult to reach with traditional humanitarian assistance due to insecurity. To help rural communities cope with the historic drought conditions, FAO and the United Kingdom are supporting thousands of vulnerable families with emergency cash transfers, targeted at some of the hardest hit and most difficult to access areas of Southern Somalia such as Beletweyne, Afgoye and Xurdur Districts. 

In rural areas of Beletweyne District, the response targeted a total of 1,034 vulnerable families with three months of cash assistance to enable them to meet their immediate food needs and protect their livelihoods. With Cash-For-Work activities, the project engaged able family members to participate in rehabilitating communal infrastructures like Feeder roads and canals, which will later benefit the communities when the rains return. With funding from the United Kingdom, an additional 6,250 families were reached with unconditional cash transfers, adding up to a total of 7,284 families supported in three hard-to-reach districts with cash transfers across Southern Somalia. 

Keeping the most vulnerable safe from harm 

For the vulnerable, disabled or the elderly such as Amina Mohamed from Qoydo village, unconditional cash transfers are provided directly to the family, so they can meet their needs. “This drought is a long one. It has largely affected our livelihoods and some of the people in the village fled to urban centres,” said Amina. With few options available to them, many in Amina’s situation have had to leave their homes in search of assistance. “I had a farm, but with the drought it’s no longer functional,” she said. Supported by FAO and the United Kingdom, Amina has been using the monthly cash transfers she receives to provide for her family. “I was able to buy food and other basic needs like medication,” she said. 

With cash transfers, rural communities are within reach 

Drought-affected rural Somalis like Amina are the human face of the global climate emergency. Yet assistance often reaches them too late – when they’ve been forced to leave their homes and travel to displacement camps where they’re exposed to physical, psycho-social and other health risks. By bringing lifesaving and livelihood assistance to rural areas, even those considered ‘inaccessible’ or hard-to-reach through its cash transfer approach, FAO’s approach saves lives while protecting livelihoods and supporting local market systems. 

Using a secure mobile money system, with verification and accountability mechanisms, cash transfers can be a better option than other forms of assistance. “The cash transfer system is much more efficient than traditional types of aid,” said Ishaku Mshelia, FAO Somalia’s Deputy Emergency Coordinator. “It’s designed in a way that makes it easy for the participants to directly receive support even if humanitarians can’t always reach them,” said Mshelia. He added that the organization is also rolling out Remote Voice Verification in its various cash transfer projects to further simplify verification and accountability mechanisms for participants. 

FAO is scaling up emergency cash transfers to respond to the drought emergency in the most drought affected rural areas of Somalia, however its Famine Prevention Plan is currently only 26% funded. “Famine prevention must begin in rural areas, at the centre of the crisis where food producing communities are hardest hit by drought,” said Etienne Peterschmitt, FAO Representative in Somalia. “We need to rethink how and when we reach the most vulnerable with assistance and provide dignified support that protects people’s livelihoods, it will save lives,” he said. 

For Amina, cash transfers gave her more options to look after her family in the middle of a climate disaster. “The cash transfers were important for our community to get through the drought. They were important because now we could buy the food, water and medicine we needed and even the canals in the village were rehabilitated. It was a special thing for those of us who had so very little,” said Amina.