United States, through the U.S. The Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing an additional $476 million in critical humanitarian and development assistance to the people of Somalia as a historically unprecedented drought pushes more than 7 million people to the brink of starvation.
With this announcement, the United States has provided nearly $707 million in humanitarian assistance to the people of Somalia in FY 2022. It is critical that Somalia’s partners in the international community join the United States in increasing their contributions to the Somali people to avoid significant losses. of life amid successive failed rainy seasons and skyrocketing food and fuel prices due to Russia’s war on Ukraine.
USAID’s critical assistance comes as Somalia experiences four back-to-back drought seasons, and more than 200,000 people currently face an imminent risk of famine. A confluence of crises, including COVID-19, desert locusts, and continued recovery from previous droughts have eroded people’s livelihoods across the country. Meanwhile, climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of droughts globally.
Today’s announcement includes $461 million in humanitarian assistance that will allow USAID partners to rapidly scale up assistance to millions of people across Somalia. This includes:
Today’s funding also includes $15 million in development assistance, subject to congressional approval, in development assistance in Somalia to help farmers stay productive by equipping them with vouchers to obtain seeds and tools, maintain and expand canals so they can irrigate their crops , and provide community grants to improve and build storage and processing facilities.
Part of today’s funding for Somalia is included in the additional Ukraine supplement and is part of the $2.76 billion USAID aid announced by President Joe Biden on June 27, 2022. It is immediately programmed to deal with the most serious impacts of the global food security crisis and historic drought in countries with high levels of acute food insecurity, dependence on Russian and Ukrainian imports, and vulnerability to price shocks.
