Somalia: UN, Government join forces to increase national drought response capacity

4 August 2017 – In the wake of a severe drought in Somalia that has displaced more than 800,000 people, the United Nations migration and development entities are helping the Horn of Africa country enhance its national drought response capacity.

As part of such efforts, the Government, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) co-organized a four-day training session, which ended 4 August, to build displacement management capacity, focusing on Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM), improved humanitarian coordination and information management, and early recovery.

This was the first-ever CCCM training in Somalia, run by the CCCM Cluster, which was activated in May 2017 to respond to growing displacement in Somalia.

&#8220CCCM Cluster is new in Somalia and I am excited to work with the Government, and other partners working in displacement sites, so that we can improve living conditions and ensure access to services for displaced individuals,&#8221 said Kathryn Ziga, IOM Somalia’s CCCM Cluster Coordinator.

&#8220CCCM activities help ensure that communities have the space to voice their opinions, participate in service delivery and give feedback to humanitarian organizations.&#8221

UNDP is engaged in building a resilient society in Somalia by minimizing human, economic and environmental losses from disasters and humanitarian crises, and by helping the sustainable recovery of people affected by crisis, including those displaced.

This requires mitigating both natural and human-induced hazards, reducing the exposure and vulnerability of at-risk communities, and building the capacity of government and other stakeholders including those from civil society, media, academia, private sector and communities.

The training started with the introduction of key CCCM concepts, the roles and responsibilities of various actors, and community participation and engagement. Participants were trained on engagement with informal settlement managers, communication with communities, plus early recovery and disaster management approaches.