The IFRC Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF) has approved a total of CHF 492,619 for the implementation of the Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS) drought EAP.
The approved amount consists of an allocation of CHF 157,431 for preparedness and pre-positioning and CHF 373,102 for the implementation of early measures once the defined triggers are met.
Allocations are made from the anticipatory pillar of the DREF under the DREF appeal code MDR00001.
To ensure that sufficient resources are available for the development of the Early Action Protocols, non-earmarked contributions to the DREF are encouraged.
Over the past twenty years, Somalia has experienced unprecedented shocks, namely droughts, floods, cyclones, locust plagues and conflict. Among these shocks, drought is the natural hazard with the greatest impact in terms of the number of people affected. Recurrent droughts have become the new norm and occur in succession, with devastating impacts on human life. Drought further exacerbates the already existing fragile situation by leading to food insecurity, livelihood losses and large-scale internal displacement. The country has experienced several severe droughts since 1965, with the most recent drought (in 2022) affecting 5.6 million people. The impact of drought in the country is exacerbated by conflict and insecurity facing large parts of the country. The level of poverty and vulnerability in the country, as well as the frequency of droughts and other natural and man-made shocks, require approaches that predict and address shocks before they negatively impact vulnerable populations.
The SRCS implemented a consultative and participatory process that included community consultations and stakeholder engagement in the development of the Drought EAP. Stakeholders came from both the subnational and national levels and contributed to the overall development of the EAP. In addition to the workshops with external stakeholders, internal workshops were also held with the SRCS branches and senior management to ensure ownership of the process. The Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate Centre (RCCC), the Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology (HeiGIT) and the German Red Cross provided technical support related to drought risk assessment, trigger development, assessment/evaluation of forecasting capabilities and data and information management capability of the SRCS.
The objective of this EAP is to mitigate the cascading impacts of droughts (water scarcity and food insecurity) by providing early warning information and cash to vulnerable people and by rehabilitating key water infrastructure. The target groups are pastoralists (host communities) and internally displaced people.
The drought triggering mechanism will be based on two datasets, namely the combined SPI-12 forecast from ICPAC and the food insecurity forecast from FEWSNET. The SPI-12 will be used to capture hazard forecasts, while the food insecurity forecast will capture dynamic hazard. This way, impending drought events (SPI) that are most likely to lead to food insecurity (IPC) will be captured.
Technical and financial support for the development of this EAP was provided by the German Red Cross within the Forecast-based Financing (FbF) project.
