22-12-2023 | di COOPI

Somalia. Community-credit and resource management to increase climate resilience

Resilience is the ability of a person to maintain his or her integrity even in the face of dramatic circumstances to overcome difficulties. This is well known by the practitioners of our project, "Increasing the Resilience of Chronically Vulnerable Somali People, Communities and Systems to Recurrent Climate Shocks," funded in Somalia by BMZ, the German Ministry of Economic Development over three years from 2020 to 2023, who spent themselves on improving the resilient capacities of communities.

In 2023, the project came to an end, but with great success: the results that COOPI and the Somalia Resilience Program - SomRep consortium (project partner) had set out to achieve were accomplished, and the lives of more than 3,000 rural and displaced families (a total of about 18,000 people) were improved through a variety of interventions. In Baidoa, over 3,000 beneficiaries have benefited from the project in the 11 targeted localities, but many more have benefited indirectly through word-of-mouth mechanisms and community education, calling the project a necessary and timely intervention.

 

Community management to address water scarcity

In terms of climate change, rural Somali communities faced significant challenges three years ago, as a devastating and prolonged drought led many to abandon their livelihood activities, mainly concerning livestock, while many others were displaced. Ibrahim Hassan Afdeer village chief of Bulla Kerow, recounts:

"12 representatives from our village participated in a training on the Community Action Adaptation Plan (CAAP), wanted by the government, to help us better cope with drought in the future.  The project also enabled the construction of a small artificial basin, which we will use to collect water, and a reservoir, in case the pond runs dry."

A problem that is plaguing the Country and consequent to the effects of drought is also the community conflicts over access to reduced natural resources. Though, thanks to the project, the natural resource management committee formed by COOPI in 2016 was reactivated and trained in conflict management. This, as pointed out by Hasan Tuke Abdi, a member of the committee, enabled the creation of a peaceful environment of natural ecosystem management, the perception of conflicts as an obstacle to sustainability, and the creation of pathways for peace-building and biodiversity conservation:

"The training included pathways on issues such as conflict resolution in water supply areas and mapping farm sizes by establishing boundary lines. Thanks to these trainings we can now resolve our disagreements on our own and prevent clashes from occurring."

Specific training in civic education, organizational management, leadership, and conflict resolution aimed to equip Somalis who participated with local development planning and participatory resource management skills.

 

Revolving credit and associations to sell livestock

Five groups, consisting of 75 internal displaced persons (IDPs), were then trained on community savings associations to improve their chances of accessing credit measures and encourage investment in income-generating activities. For example, Maryam Isaaq Ibrahim tells the positive impact on her life:

"We received training from COOPI, created an association and started taking small loans from the group. This is why I was able to start my own business. I then used the profits to pay for my children's schools and to reinvest in my store."

Indeed, the credit has enabled the beneficiaries to resume what is the Country's main productive activity and the one that is suffering repeated setbacks because of recurring climate shocks, namely raising and selling livestock. Fatima Ibrahim Ali, who has always worked in the sector, highlights the results of the project as follows:

"Fortunately, COOPI came to our aid in a time of severe crisis. We underwent training to upgrade our business skills; after only eight days we formed the Livelistock Market Association (VLA) for the purpose of supporting each other, and now we work together as a team. We used to sell only three or four livestock and had debts with schools and the madrasa, but after receiving funds from the revolving loan, we exported the animals for sale to Mogadishu as well, and thanks to the entrepreneurial skills and loans, we can pay off debts and buy new clothes for our children."

In addition to fighting for the determination of a fixed price, thus avoiding hours of bargaining and the phenomena of profiteering on the sale, the sixteen members of the association, mainly vulnerable end poor, widows or orphaned children, have in fact contributed their own money to the creation of an aid fund, which was supplemented by an already repaid loan, provided by the project.

 

Agricultural and vocational training

1,200 farmers from eight villages have been trained to enhance their agricultural knowledge and pastoral skills, and 413 of them have been provided with seeds of sorghum, peas and green peas, crops that are well tolerant of drought, in order to increase their food production. Micalin Hassan Yusuf, a farmer, relates:

"Previously, I had no skills in soil preparation, plant spacing, field crop harvesting, and protection from diseases and pests, but COOPI, the SomRep consortium, and BMZ supported our activities through training tracks and cash-for-work activities."

The project, however, not only encouraged agricultural training, but 40 young people, identified and selected from eight rural villages, were trained within educational tracks dedicated to tailoring, beauty, cell phone repair or in tie-making and carpentry. The aim was to improve their chances of finding a job or engaging independently in activities that were found to be in high demand in the country. Upon completion of their respective courses, the graduates then received equipment and materials to start their businesses. Abdurrahim Mohammed Abukar, a student, is grateful for the training he received:

"We took a training course on cell phone repair at the modern management company MMC. I thank Allah for introducing me to COOPI and these initiatives, because before I had no idea how to repair a phone and I couldn't even distinguish between tools, but now I am skilled in cell phone repair and can work on my own to provide for the family."

 

Institutional governance partnerships and attention to vulnerabilities

To support ministries that play key roles in building a resilient system to shocks, especially in the livestock sector, the project envisioned the establishment of a livestock technical officer within the ministry who could act as a bridge between the SomRep consortium, COOPI and BMZ, and the Ministry itself. His mandate was precisely to support the latter in natural resource management, certify and monitor the health of animals and animal products, and establish a shock response tool, IBLI, Index Based Livestock Insurance.

Equipment for establishing an ad hoc office was then provided to the ministry, represented in the SOMREP consortium by the person of Ibrahim Adan All, Minister of Trade and Industry, who said:

"We thank All for the effort in eradicating hunger and promoting Somali small businesses. This project has achieved tangible results because instead of just receiving money, people have been trained with entrepreneurial skills and linked to microfinance institutions so that the businesses can be sustainable."

Special attention has also been paid to devising and implementing activities for vulnerable Somalis who are in situations of disability and find it difficult to gain economic independence. For example, Isho Mohammed Nor, a person with a disability, tells how being allowed to purchase a wheelchair through the growth of her income changed her life:

"Before I received the wheelchair, I used to crawl with the support of trees and sticks and was constantly being stung by thorns and scratched by stones on the ground."

Isho is among the 25 people with disabilities who needed enabling technologies or facilities to participate in livelihood activities designed under the consortium and they were provided with $ 600 worth of grants to start their own businesses.

Present in Somalia since the mid-1980s, COOPI is specialized in projects like this one, dedicated to building the resilience of vulnerable communities, which it carries out through collaboration with local institutions and consortia, including SomRep itself.