Somalia Humanitarian Fund Annual Report 2023

In 2023, Somalia grappled with extreme climatic events, which included the worst drought since 1981 that nearly pushed the country into famine. This was compounded by intense flooding, exacerbated by El Niño and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). More than 2.5 million people were affected, including 1.7 million displaced and 1.5 million hectares of farmland flooded. Conflict-in-duced displacement added to humanitarian challenges, with 653,000 affected and nearly 1,300 civilian casualties reported, causing access constraints, and impacting civilian infrastructure. All of this has increased the cost of humanitarian operations at a time of reduced funding. The 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan secured only 43.5 per cent of required funds. The 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, in an effort to be more practical, intentionally focuses and targets $1.6 billion—40 per cent less than 2023. Moving into 2024, 6.9 million Somalis, or two in five, will require humanitarian assistance. Although this represents a slight improvement from 2022, it must be noted that nearly 4.3 million people are still faced with severe food insecurity, violence and climate shocks.