11-10-2023 | di COOPI

Somalia. A community and networked approach to build climate resilience

Phase two of the Somalia Drought Response Project, funded by SDC, the Swedish Agency for Development and Cooperation, has come to an end. The final project video features the testimonies of those who wanted to tell us how the activities carried out by COOPI – Cooperazione Internazionale have increased the level of resilience of Somali people, families, communities and systems chronically vulnerable to climate shocks in agro-pastoral and displaced villages and IDPs camps in Baidoa district.

Ibrahim Hassan Abdi, chairperson of the Climate Change Early Warning Committee formed during the project, tells how community members from 11 villages were in fact invited to participate in a workshop to plan and coordinate disaster early warning and action systems:

When we started we were five members, but now we are fifteen in total. Before the training, the community was not united, and during the drought season people were dying, some were leaving the village, and others were not visiting the sick and supporting each other. After the training, however, we gained the knowledge to help the community through the committee body. We also decided to establish an emergency fund by collecting $1 per family monthly to be used in case of epidemics, water transportation needs, and the purchase of fodder for animals during drought."

In fact, from 2020 to 2023, communities in Baidoa District faced unprecedented environmental challenges, such as the devastating and prolonged drought, which led many to abandon their activities or displace to other parts of Somalia. Through the project, however, all community members came together to protect their livelihoods, including women and youth, people with disabilities, local government, and religious leaders. In addition, agricultural producers were provided with real-time climate information to enable them to make informed decisions, improve people's food security, and promote economic growth. The creation of demonstration moments enabled the learning of innovative agricultural practices and the introduction of quality certified seeds, which increased grain yields and improved production. Osman Moalim Abdullahi, an Awdinle village resident and facilitator of the farmer field school, explains:

We have always been farmers, but we actually had no agricultural knowledge, and when it came down to it we had difficulty improving soil fertility. Fortunately, COOPI offered us training and seminars on good agricultural practices, including on soil preparation. If we used to harvest 50 bags of crops before the training, now we harvest 100 bags. In addition, after harvest we store the grain in a storage facility built by COOPI and run by a committee to protect and preserve all varieties. We also have a trade committee that appoints a reference person who knows the market price and can go and sell the goods at the market. This whole system was created with the support of COOPI, but also SomReP and SDC."

The project focus was also on famine prevention and humanitarian response through revolving credit mechanisms that would provide the Somali population with life-saving multipurpose cash. Women, in particular, took leadership roles within 10 savings groups with a total of 150 members. The promotion of these informal collective initiatives as community safety nets and a source of social capital enabled communities to make informed decisions, meet their basic needs and avoid negative survival strategies, such as limiting the nutritional burden of some family members or children dropping out of school due to family economic needs. This is the case, for example, with the children of Nurta Iman Adan, a member of the Tabarow Savings Group, who recounts:

My husband is 80 years old and cannot help me financially. Before I joined the group, I used to plaster houses, but I got injured while plastering and had to stop. It was only through COOPI that I joined the savings group, I was appointed cashier and I borrowed 5 million Soshillings ($193) to buy a second-hand Bajaaj (rickshaw). Having a stable source of income, with the profits I opened a small business and thanks to this I was able to enroll three of my children back in school and also in the madrasa".

COOPI and DRC also supported producers to form associations, whose registration and certification meant that they became legal entities able to benefit from government support, access to loans, and a greater voice in the market. After bringing together all market players along the value chain to identify barriers and opportunities in the sector, a district producer association was then created during a workshop attended by the associations and representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture and Livestock. The union enabled the various associations to strengthen their collective bargaining power, pool resources to support joint business activities, coordinate seasonal planning, and develop a common marketing strategy. Women, finally, were at the center of some of the activities carried out during the project. Along with some dynamic young people and minority leaders eight prominent businesswomen were able to take part to leadership and public speaking courses as well as business training, and receive a grant to set up their own businesses. Abay Sidi Sheikh, formerly a businesswoman who owned a small store, unable to generate enough income to support her family's needs, tells:

I borrowed wheat flour and sugar to run my bakery business and make cakes, cookies and pastries. Alhamdulillah, two months after starting the business I am able to pay my children's school fees, the madrasa and my family's daily bills! In addition, I have been able to provide employment to young people by hiring them. If I had the opportunity to buy a Halwa oven, I could have created more jobs for unemployed youth surviving on the streets...but I thank Allah, COOPI, SomReP, and SDC for giving me this opportunity, and I hope to be able to give as many to those in need in the future".

The success of the project is due among other things to the network within which COOPI operates in Somalia. Collaboration with the government has always been crucial and fruitful, as in the case of the Ministry of Livestock, which, thanks to project funds, have piloted the implementation of a livestock insurance program targeting nomadic pastoralists, with the main objective of contributing to the reduction of drought-related livestock mortality in arid and semi-arid lands. Equally, collaboration with SOMREP, a consortium of eight international agencies that aims to build resilience in Somali systems chronically vulnerable to climate shocks, has always been fruitful. As one of the frontline actors in the response to the humanitarian crisis in Somalia through emergency and resilience interventions, COOPI has made a significant contribution to SOMREP's strategic goals, life-saving and response to disasters and humanitarian crises.