In an effort to provide sustainable opportunities for vulnerable households and to build resilience of communities in Lower Juba (Afmadow, Dhobley and Kismayo), the European Union and the Federal Government of Somalia are investing 10 million Euros into the Somalia Resilience Action Consortium (STREAM) comprised of ACTED, SADO and ADESO.

“The EU is supporting resilience building from a development approach. The impact of the current severe drought affecting Somalia highlights how important it is to sustainably address underlying causes of the vulnerabilities of Somali society and economy. While climate shocks and risks will not go away, their negative social and economic impacts can be drastically reduced. Resilience requires specific interventions but also to be mainstreamed. Solutions are embedded in equitable development and inclusive growth,” the EU Ambassador to Somalia, Veronique Lorenzo, said.

In order to ensure the adequacy of the intervention, four comprehensive assessments have been undertaken in 2016, namely: Household Economic Analysis to better understand how people makes end and survival strategies; Disaster Risk Reduction Assessment to outline a baseline of risks and mitigation measures against disasters and shocks; five Value Chains Assessment to inform interventions on strengthening of livelihoods; and a Baseline Survey to better monitor progress towards communities priorities.

“The comprehensive assessments were conducted to ensure the right targeting of beneficiaries of safety nets, adjust the intervention to the priority needs and opportunities, ensure that the vulnerable households will benefit from increased livelihoods opportunities, while most effective and efficient ways of building Lower Juba region communities resilience to hazards are preferred. This is timely information for all actors operating or intending to operate in the region,” said Charles Maumo, STREAM M&E Coordinator.

Finally, it is important to note, that, thanks to the early systems put in place, the project has been able to timely scale-up the support to vulnerable households through additional cash transfer, contributing to the drought response in the region.