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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Somalia: Bringing youth together on and off the pitch June 10, 2013
Last month, I stood on the sidelines of a field that felt all too familiar, yet worlds apart. I was in Garowe, Somalia — more than 8,000 miles from home in Portland, Oregon — celebrating Somali Youth Day with a 10-day youth football tournament.
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Somalia: Water provides new freedom for displaced women August 2, 2012
“Not only do we now have clean water to drink and cook with, we actually have more time to take care of our kids and perform other household chores,” says Dofo.
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Somalia: Children and mothers in Mogadishu January 26, 2012
Children and mothers in Mogadishu, Somalia. Thousands of families are still living in emergency camps in Somalia's capital, driven from their homes by drought, hunger and conflict.
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Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia: Horn of Africa crisis update January 26, 2012
Mercy Corps teams in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia have already helped more than 1.5 million people caught in the grip of drought and hunger. But six months after this emergency first hit international headlines, there’s still much more to do.
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Somalia: Families still fleeing to Mogadishu seeking food September 27, 2011
Our staff in Mogadishu registered 25 newly arrived households families who had walked for more than three weeks to reach Mogadishu, with the hope that they will get something to eat and live on.
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Somalia: Update from Mogadishu September 8, 2011
I just returned from Mogadishu, where we're trucking clean water to three tent camps in Mogadishu, reaching more than 13,000 people every day.
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Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya: Water delivery starts in Mogadishu September 2, 2011
Although the crisis in Africa's Horn has fallen off the front pages, the situation "continues to deteriorate," according to the latest UN report. Cholera, measles and malaria are on the rise. Food prices have shot up, livestock are withering, and water is scarce.
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Somalia: Mogadishu: Conditions in camps August 30, 2011
There are over half a million people living in displacement camps in Mogadishu as a result of the famine and years of civil war. Most do not have access to clean water and basic sanitation services.
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Somalia: The water problem in Mogadishu August 29, 2011
Mogadishu is home to one of the worse humanitarian emergencies I've seen, from a medical standpoint — at least since the famine in South Sudan in 1998.
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Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya: The purple dots represent hope August 25, 2011