Somalia
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Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps
Our strategy
Respond to emergency needs rising from the Horn of Africa hunger crisis, while continuing work to build more peaceful, productive communities in Puntland, Somaliland and the Central region.
The context
Despite the country’s notorious instability, the northern parts of Somalia are relatively calm and functioning. Still, more than two decades of civil strife and extremism have resulted in a long-lasting class of displaced people dependent on government and humanitarian interventions. The worst drought in 60 years fueled a desperate food crisis throughout the Horn of Africa and created even more urgent needs in and around Mogadishu's displacement camps.
Our work
- Emergency response: Providing food and clean water to families displaced by famine
- Conflict & Governance: Forming peace committees to help communities resolve clan disputes and provide mediation services
- Environment: Engaging local groups in environmental initiatives such as rehabilitating garbage pits, planting tree nurseries and launching a “reduce, reuse and recycle” campaign to promote climate-friendly economic development
- Children & Youth: Increase education, economic and civic participation opportunities for Somali youth to reduce instability
All stories about Somalia
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Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya: The purple dots represent hope August 25, 2011
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Somalia: Families seeking help at a Mogadishu hospital August 25, 2011
Banadir Hospital, the government hospital in Mogadishu, is providing medical assistance to malnourished and sick people. The hospital is flooded with mothers and children, and there is a long line of people waiting to be admitted.
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Somalia: Overwhelming needs in Mogadishu August 25, 2011
I just got off a Horn of Africa emergency response team phone conference involving dozens of colleagues in at least five different countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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Somalia: Heartbreaking visit to Mogadishu hospital August 23, 2011
I visited a Mogadishu hospital last week and found overcrowded conditions, children with measles and cholera — but also some signs of hope.
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Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia: Horn of Africa disaster didn't happen overnight August 23, 2011
Photos and stories from the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa — a region that includes Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia — have brought to light suffering on an almost unimaginable scale.
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Somalia: Benti and her family in a Mogadishu displacement camp August 19, 2011
Benti and her family walked for more than 30 days to reach the displacement camp in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, where they now live in this makeshift shelter alongside thousands of others.
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Somalia: Walking for weeks to reach Mogadishu's sprawling camps August 19, 2011
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Somalia: In Mogadishu's overcrowded hospitals August 17, 2011
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Somalia: An unimaginable situation August 15, 2011
Yesterday my colleague Cassandra Nelson, on the ground in Somalia, sent in several photographs of what she was seeing in Mogadishu, the country's crisis-ravaged capital to which our emergency response team has deployed.
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Somalia: A family torn to pieces August 11, 2011
Disasters take so many things from people; health, prosperity and hope can all fall victim. But no one can know what life has in store for them, and all we can do is carry on — just as women like Nadifo, who has struggled with some of the worst possible circumstances, has had to do.