The Somalia Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) cluster brings together a number of local and international NGOs, Government departments and UN agencies who are actively involved in implementation of water, sanitation and hygiene promotion activities in Somalia.

The goal of the Somalia WASH cluster is to ensure effective and sustainable humanitarian action
The objectives of the cluster are to:

1. Ensure that the most vulnerable displaced and disaster-affected women, girls, boys and men have increased, equal and sustained access to safe and appropriate water, sanitation services and hygiene promotion, including complementary activities with Nutrition, Health, Education, Livelihood and Food.
2. Strengthen capacity for emergency preparedness and disaster risk reduction
3. As Somalia is a chronic humanitarian crisis, the WASH cluster strategy focuses on sustained interventions i.e. interventions which continue to provide benefit to the community after the project funding finishes.  However, if temporary interventions are required, such as emergency access to safe water, the cluster recommends water access by voucher as opposed to water trucking.

To guide implementation of WASH activities, the WASH Ccuster has developed a Strategic Operational Framework (SOF) which collates WASH cluster standards and recommended approaches.  These includes Inter-Cluster Matrixes for WASH/Nutrition/Health and WASH/Education, a Gender guide and Do No Harm Guide among others. To assist in identification of gaps and overlaps in WASH response, the Cluster has developed a 4W matrix (who is doing what where and when) which tracks activities implemented by WASH agencies. The matrix is updated monthly and it is one of the platforms for sharing information by cluster. In addition, the cluster develops response maps from the 4W data to support agencies in their programme interventions. To enhance field coordination mechanisms, the cluster has established eleven field based regional clusters. The regional clusters are led by elected focal points that are responsible for chairing regular meetings and facilitating needs assessments whenever required. Additionally over 40 agencies have taken a role of District Focal Points for AWD/Cholera and Flood reporting. The cluster has also established a Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) to guide the direction of the cluster, and a Cluster Review Committee (CRC) to prioritise proposals for CAP and pooled CHF funds.