Resettling famine displaced IDPs is critical to Somalia’s economic future
By: Abdullahi Nur Osman, CEO Hormuud Salaam Foundation
Somalia is one of the world’s fastest urbanising countries. In the last twenty years of relatively peace, we have made great strides in rebuilding our infrastructure, schools and services. This growth has welcomed home our diaspora and attracted pastoral communities to Somalia’s cities. However, it is crucial that Somalia’s development empowers those most vulnerable. No one should be left behind.
Somalia is in an emergency. We need to immediately help those who are fleeing famine. We are grateful that the international community has heeded our call and stepped up, and aid is flowing in. Just last 2 weeks, I had the honour of discussing the famine response with Samantha Power, USAID’s administrator, who has donated $1.3billion to relief efforts in the Horn of Africa.
I was able to share the on the ground realities of how the drought has affected our cities. Every day I see proof that Somalia’s urban IDP population has doubled in the past year. In a country of just 15 million, the impact of 2.9 million displaced people is a big challenge. Our cities are swelling, and we need to ensure that they can absorb the immediate strain.
When IDPs arrive in a city, they are often confronted with make-shift camps, with no access to water and sanitation services. Their basic needs are simply not met. In some parts of Mogadishu, you could be enjoying a Shaah Cadays, and across the road stand IDP tents, buzzing with signs of a young family.
Yet, through direct digital cash-aid we are extending a welcoming hand. Purchasing power empowers them with choice, flexibility, and dignity, when they have been forced to leave their homes and way of life behind. By purchasing the basic goods, they need, migrants can begin to feel included and participate in our city.
However, immediate relief is only the first step of this journey. We need durable solutions so that as our country grows and develops, every Somali is empowered to participate in its success.
Housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable, with prices in Mogadishu increasing by 30% this year alone. When IDPs arrive in our cities, they often arrive with just the clothes on their backs and are faced with unfordable house prices and skills mismatched for urban economies. This inhibits their integration into urban life.
Longer-term investment in social and physical infrastructure will allow us to not only absorb this mass movement of people but realise their potential to contribute to Somalia’s development. As the Chair of the private sector committee on famine response, I know that Somalis hold the key to solutions: jobs, skills training, housing, and schools. We simply need a financial boost to similarly empower our new neighbours.
Looking further ahead, our country will continue to be vulnerable to climate change, as our agrarian industries are under threat. We must build an inclusive, resilient economy, and look beyond moving from one crisis to the next. Our work at HSF will play an important role in this. We strive to equip the next generation, both rural and urban, with the tools they need to build new areas of knowledge and skills through our scholarship initiatives and technical school.
Sadly, the drought we have been combatting has reached the deadly level of a famine. We need to respond fast to save lives, including supporting IDPs and helping them to shape and contribute to urban life. If Somalis are left behind in Somalia’s development, we will never achieve our true potential.
