World Bank Assists Somalia Emergency Drought Response and Recovery, including Somaliland
Published on by Faisal Hashi, Consultant at Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR)
The Horn of Africa is experiencing some of the worst droughts in decades. The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank approved back in May of 2017 US $ 50 million emergency support - Somalia Emergency Drought Response and Recovery project (SEDP).
Somaliland is located in the Horn of Africa with a population of 3.5 million and has climatic characteristics of hot summers, relatively cold winters and bimodal rainfall with two wet seasons locally known as Gu (April to June) and the Deyr (September to November).
The country experiences droughts and their occurrences are becoming more frequent, a phenomenon attributable to climate change as a result of global warming. Droughts have negative effects on Somali pastoral communities. Somaliland is experiencing regional droughts that have severe impact on pastoral, and agro pastoral communities. The Somaliland’s economy relies on livestock and its products directly or indirectly account for more than 65% of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
The approved grant from the World Bank will complement existing and on the ground drought projects in Somaliland including the ‘ Water Infrastructure Development for Resilience Program’ financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and implemented by CARE International. Equally important, the African Water Facility through the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) grant of € 3.0 million for the Government of Somaliland (GoSL), is seeking to mitigate the water stress situation and plan the long term water resources development plan. The consulting firms NIRAS and We Consult are commissioned to undertake technical studies and come up with bankable investment projects. NIRAS has completed phase two and convened the second Steering Committee Meeting on October 18th, 2017.
MoWR is an executing agency and the custodian of the recently launched ‘ Water Infrastructure Development for Resilience in Somaliland Program (WIDRP)’ funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) for a duration of three years. The overall objective of the program is to contribute to a resilient and sustainable water and sanitation sector.
Finally, the hope is the World Bank grant will be an injection to the Somaliland economy and will contribute to the drought mitigation of Somaliland. World Bank and AfDB grants will complement each other and add to the National Development Plan II of Somaliland. The WID program is specifically designed to support in particular, the Hawd & Sool Plateau regions. Both projects will address the drought mitigation aspect and will assist the MoWR in reaching Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) of 2030, which coincides the Somaliland Vision of 2030. Recently, AfDB has committed to invest in Somaliland nearly $25 million in total in the next three years. This is the first time AfDB has identified investment priorities & opportunities in Somaliland due to its stability and economic growth. Please see the link below for further details.
Faisal Hashi, MBA, is an independent consultant who writes on issues about development, Water, Hygiene & Sanitation (WASH) and is the founder and managing director of Adam Financial Consulting Services and is currently based in Hargeisa, Somaliland. He has worked for National City Bank, Bank One, J.P, Morgan Chase & City of Toronto as financial analyst in the US & Canada.
Hargeisa, Somaliland
He can be reached at: Hashi44@hotmail.com
www.somwash.com