Drought Assessment for Gedo Region, Jubaland Federal State of Somalia

DROUGHT ASSESSMENT FOR GEDO REGION, JUBALAND FEDERAL STATE OF SOMALIA

Facilitated by:

Dr. Mohamed Abdi Farah

Independent consultant

Email:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS 11

INTRODUCTION 12

15

FINDINGS 17

a) Background information of the respondents 17

b) Findings by Cluster 18

1. Food Security and Livelihood 18

2. Nutrition 20

3. Health 21

4. Education 23

5. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (Wash) 24

6. Shelter and NFIs 27

7. Social Protection 29

a) Child Stressors and Sexual Violence 30

b) Services and Facilities 32

c) Children recruitment into armed forces and existence of explosives 33

d) Community Structures and Awareness Creation 34

8. Priority Needs 35

CONCLUSION 36

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The consultant would like to this opportunity to thank all the people and organizations that have immensely contributed to the production of this report. Special thanks goes to Jubaland Federal state of Somalia, particularly ministry of interior and drought committee. The assessment would not have been possible without the generous financial support of Dalbile program.

We would also like to thank Gedo administration particularly the District commissioners of the four districts we assessed, it was their support in terms of security and movement that made it possible to visit all the sites we planned. The consultant would also like to thank UNOCHA Gedo region for their support in assessment tools and selection for the sites for the assessment.

Last but not the least, we would like to than the data collection team comprising of the enumerators and members of the drought committee of Jubaland for their efforts in making the assessment a smooth process.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Jubaland member state of Federal Government of Somalia, with the technical support of IOM and partners carried out this assessment, which was aimed at documenting the impact of drought in Gedo region and to identify key priorities areas of need and programmatic intervention. The scope of assessment included four districts of Gedo region (Doloow, Belet Xaawo, Luuq, and Garbaharey). Two days training was conducted in Kismayo with 12 enumerators and 8 members of the drought committee. Structured guide for Key informants (KI) was used to capture the data from selected villages in the four districts. The study methodology involved inception meetings with all the participating agencies and field interview of selected KI. The data was collected and recorded using interview questionnaires which were used for data cleaning and analysis. This report is based on data extracted during the field work. The assessment was undertaken from to 8th to 16th June. A total of 120 randomly selected Key informants were interviewed on the impact of the drought on the region and perceived needs of the population.

Key Findings by cluster

Food Security and Livelihood

·  More than 80% of the respondents acknowledged decrease in amount and quality of food. 53% of the respondents reported increase in food expenses in which most households reported spending $10 and above on food in the last 30 days. As a result of the drought, households spent an average of 5.5 days in the past one month without food. In the last 30 days, children were reported to have spent about 5 days searching for food on their own. Available food stock was estimated to last for 6.25 days. The main food security problem was lack of money and food market products.

·  At least 97% of the households were reported to have lost at least ten (10) head of livestock. An average of 90 livestock heads per household (range of 0-800) was estimated to have been lost. As a result of the emergency, an average of 8 hectares per household was estimated to have damaged. A total of 61% reported to have started reclaiming damaged land (cultivation).

Nutrition

·  About 60% of the households didn’t receive any infant supplement mainly in Doloow and Belet Xaawo. Lack of supplements was linked to increasing cases of malnutrition and other nutritional related childhood sicknesses.

·  86% of the respondents reported decrease in access to nutritional services as a result of emergency. Resultantly, 78% reported observing serious changes in children/babies which were prevalently acknowledged across the four districts especially childhood illnesses like diarrhea, stunted growth and malnutrition

Health

·  There is gross lack of well-equipped and adequately staffed health facilities to provide essential and basic services to IDPs and communities such as child care, nutritional and health care services. The few facilities are mainly located far from the community/settlement which limits access especially for the poor majority.

·  There are few and limited mobile/outreach clinics provided to complement the few services. Mobile clinics are mainly provided at least once a week (41%) and every two weeks (33%). The coverage of the services is limited compared to the vast population.

·  The main health problems reported were diarrhea (33%) and suspected malaria (25%)

·  The emergency was reported to increase difficulty in access to health services (69%) mainly in Garbaharey and Belet Xawo.

·  The emergency was reported to result into significant increase in health expenses. Most households reported expenses of $10 and above especially in Doloow and Luuq

Education

·  76% acknowledged increase in number of children not attending schools (drop out) as a result of the emergency. The highest cases of school drop-out were in Garbaharey, Doloow and Luuq districts.

·  The main cause of drop out/nonattendance was lack of food, population displacement and lack of fees.

Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH)

·  82% of the respondents acknowledged access of population including IDPs to available water sources which were perceived to be relatively safe (90%). However, only 54% of IDPs households in Belet Xaawo were reported to access water sources.

·  The main reason for poor access to water source was location far away from settlement and poor water quality. The main cause of unsafe water was poor quality of water sources.

·  75% of respondents reported households to have water containers. Households have an average of 5 water containers, three of which are in poor conditions, with average capacity of 80 litres per household. The containers were perceived to be inadequate considering the long distance between households and water sources.

·  46% of the respondents reported households to have no latrines. Majority of households (79.6%) were reported not to use soap in hands washing due to lack of hygiene items

Shelter and NFIs

·  65% of the respondents were reported to live in Buuls expect for Garbaharey, in which the main shelters were emergency and temporary shelter. Shelters had an average of 18 months (temporary). Temporal shelters with limited lifespan were linked to lack of proper tenure systems and land use rights for long-term planning and use

·  71% of the respondents acknowledged shelter damages which were mainly roof and structural material damages. Temporary/emergency shelters were the main shelters damaged.

·  Over 90% acknowledged lack of night lights in their community.

Social Protection

a)  Displacement

·  A total of 206 new households were reported to have arrived in Gedo region in the last one month. An average of 68 households for refugee returnee households were also acknowledged to have arrived in the last one month.

·  45% of the respondents reported arrival of unaccompanied IDP children mainly in Garbaharey and Luuq. The main reasons for unaccompanied IDP children were displaced/migrating children and search for food.

·  82% of the respondents reported integration of some children within the community. However, a substantial proportion of children (21.7%) are not taken care by any one

b)  Children stressors

·  50% of the respondents reported increase in children stress mainly linked to lack of basic services like food and separation with families

c)  Child recruitment in armed forces and sexual violence

·  86% denied observing or knowing any child recruitment to armed forces. Few respondents linked the emergency to the minimal increase in child recruitment (9%) into armed forces

·  Only 7% of respondents linked the emergency to increase in sexual violence. Sexual violence was reported to be perpetrated at homes within the community especially during armed attacks. However, for IDPs, it was linked to arrival in new area.

d)  Community structures

·  82% reported existence of community structures mainly through community elders. The structures were responsible for addressing community issues and priorities such as IDPs, security, peace and conflict resolutions among others.

e)  Emergency awareness campaigns

·  Only 46 % acknowledged lack of any awareness raising campaigns before, during and after the emergency in Gedo region. Lack of awareness was mainly reported in Doloow and Luuq. The limited awareness acknowledged was on access to health and protection services

Community Priorities

·  The main priorities in Gedo region are water, food, healthcare and shelter. Shelter constituted a main priority need among IDPs in Garbaharey and Luuq districts. Greater community sensitization on need for child education especially girls education is required to enhance demand for education through greater school enrollment

Key Recommendations

Food security and livelihood

·  Provide economic empowerment programmes such as capacity building and subsidized or free farm and livestock production inputs and technical assistance to improve households’ economic activities and food security.

·  Implement cash-transfer programmes complemented with clear investment plans to help needy households restore and recover their assets including livestock and crops

Nutrition

·  Design and provide nutritional and child care programmes integrated with formal health care services and feeding programmes in educational facilities

·  Provide nutritional education and sensitization to households especially those with young infants and children to include home management of childhood problems like diarrhea and malnutrition

·  Strengthen community based referral systems of serious health problems such as malnutrition and diarrhea cases for advanced care and treatment. This requires training and deploying skilled community health practitioners or volunteers to the community

Health

·  Construct, in partnership with local community and authorities, well equipped, stocked (with supplies) and staffed health facilities and rehabilitate existing ones to provide quality care and respond to emergency needs. Train and deploy well facilitated, equipped and supervised community health workers to bridge staffing gaps.

·  Provide subsidized health care services to increase demand and access to health services to the community including the displaced populations

·  Complement functional health facilities with use of well-equipped and stocked mobile clinics to complement facility visits and ensure wide within the community in a regular basis. This should incorporate aspects of efficient referral for complex cases such as severe malnutrition.

·  Provide community sensitization of services available to increase demand and coverage especially for childhood vaccinations.

·  Improve disease surveillance and develop local capacity to respond to health problems anticipated by establishing functional health committees with community representation to review and coordinate health community health initiatives in line with health priorities.

Education

·  Implement school feeding programmes to increase enrollment and retention of children in school

·  Government in partnership with donors to provide subsidized or free education for children to reduce financial access barriers

·  Increase community sensitization on importance of education focused on reducing forced marriages, increasing girl child empowerment (school enrollment) as well as reduction of harmful cultural practices which affect school enrollment and attendance

Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)

·  Provide households with hygiene and sanitary items especially soap and other hand-washing facilities

·  Provide community (and households) wide sensitization on good hygiene and sanitation practices with emphasis on good practices tied to benefits to be realized

·  Design and build more protected (safe) wells to communities especially among IDP settlements in Belet Xaawo

·  Design, implement and also educate community on good water harvesting (especially rain water where wells and river are unavailable) and management practices to improve access to water as a resource for both households and economic use

·  Provide households with water containers (in good conditions) of different sizes (for fetching water and storage) to improve availability and access to water for domestic use

·  Provide water treatment facilities such as chemicals to households to enhance safety of water harvested from open and other sources such as well and rivers especially in Garbaharey district. This should be complemented with community education and awareness creation on safe water practices including storage and management practices

·  Plan and coordinate provision of clean water by trucks to communities and settlements located far away from reliable water resources as a short-term measure. Long-term measure should focus on building reliable wells for use by the populations

Shelter and NFI

·  Provide reconstruction assistance to households with poor and damaged shelters to reduce their social, health and economic vulnerability especially those with exposed and vulnerable populations such as children/infants, elderly and sickly people. This requires providing strong and durable shelter materials for IDPs and communities with poor shelters to reduce household asset damages and continued impoverishment

·  Advocate, educate and sensitize the community on proper house construction and related property management with a focus on permanent/semi-permanent houses especially for community residents

·  Advocate for land rights and appropriate tenure systems to facilitate construction long-term shelters which can withstand emergency conditions including wind, heat and rain.

Social Protection

a)  Displacement

¾  Facilitate rehabilitation and re-integration of IDPs and returning refuges with the host community for cohesive coexistence. This will include providing land and housing rights to the returnees to improve their economic and livelihood support system.

¾  Provide community awareness campaigns on need for greater social integration of exposed children

¾  Strengthen drought emergency planning and risk reduction strategies taking into account adaptive livelihood and food security mitigation support strategies adapted to arid and semi-arid areas. These should include agricultural diversification, poverty reduction initiatives, community stabilization and household economic empowerment programmes.

b)  Child Stressors and Sexual Violence