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: 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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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.
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Somalia: Testifying before the U.S. Senate about the Horn of Africa crisis August 10, 2011
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Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan: Horror in the Horn of Africa: reflections and projections August 2, 2011
I first encountered extreme poverty and hunger in 1972 when I drove through Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia on a church mission trip. It struck me in the heart and I felt helpless.
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Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya: Situation worsens in the Horn of Africa, our response increases July 20, 2011
Today, the United Nations officially declared a famine in parts of Somalia. What does this alarming news mean? Technically, it refers to conditions that include 30 percent acute malnutrition among the population of a specific place.