How can drought-parched Somalia break out of endless crisis?
What’s the context?
Boosting drought resilience, in part by focusing on local priorities, could cut long-term need for humanitarian aid, experts say
- After four failed rainy seasons, 44% of people face hunger
- $2 billion annual spending has not built resilience
- Focus on community priorities could cut need for food aid
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Over the last half-decade, Somalia has received roughly $2 billion a year in development aid and humanitarian assistance from abroad, United Nations figures show.
But after four consecutive failed rainy seasons, more than 7 million people - or 44% of the population - face acute food insecurity, with more than 200,000 on the brink of starvation, according to the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP).
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The constraints, designed to ensure money is well used, effectively exclude local organisations from accessing the funds they need to make local priorities a reality, Yasin explained.
To build a more resilient Somalia, "we have to change the narrative that local people do not have the capacity to manage finance," he said.
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