Somalia—Technical Assistance Facility

Somalia shows signs of slow recovery from 25 years of state collapse, civil war, and political unrest. The country remains highly exposed to poverty, vulnerability, and food insecurity, however. Humanitarian crises have been particularly severe in 2008, 2011, and 2017, with a major famine taking place in 2011, another narrowly averted in 2017. Following the 2017 droughts, 3 million people received direct humanitarian assistance for their survival and international donors began to review their approaches in a new perspective, aiming to transition from humanitarian aid to long-term development approaches.

The Technical Assistance Facility supported the development and implementation of a long-term strategy to build up a sustainable national system of social protection in Somalia.

The project was a component of the wider European Union’s Inclusive Local Economic Development programme that promotes stability in the country by “extending state authority and services, promoting local reconciliation and peacebuilding, creating inclusive economic opportunities, and protecting the most vulnerable.”

The Technical Assistance Facility supported the Donor Working Group and facilitated policy dialogue between donors and Somali institutions. It furthermore supported the government of Somalia in its efforts to set up and implement its Social Protection Policy.

Sample Activities

• Advise on institutional systems, policies, and overarching principles international aid for social assistance, promoting a transition towards a government-led social assistance approach.
• Maintain and deepen inter-donor and donor-government institutional relationships.
• Facilitate and identify policy options on a further range of topics, including: vulnerability; poverty; early warning systems and response triggers; integrated programming; community perceptions; monitoring; public financial management; and governance.
• Commission and advise on research and policy support.
• Conduct consultation, communications, events, and seminars.
• Harness and enable collaboration of financial and intellectual resources from a range of stakeholders.
• Assess pilot projects and other donor-funded initiatives.
• Identify fiscal space for identified options of social transfer models.
• Develop a shared learning agenda, including data requirements and knowledge gaps.

Select Results

• Advised the Donor Working Group on social protection and facilitated policy coordination.
• Analysed financial flows targeting social protection programmes in Somalia, and recommended improvements.
• Mapped capacities and needs in key Somali agencies.
• Proposed a comprehensive approach to building a nationally owned social protection system in the short to long term.
• Contributed to ongoing discussions on the operationalisation of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus.