How coordinated support from the UN and World Bank can assist Somalia in the face of multiple crises
Somalia is facing multiple compounding crises: a pandemic, its worst drought in 40 years, coupled with a massive locust invasion, impacting more than seven million people, which, together with instability and violence, has increased humanitarian needs, pushing more vulnerable people into forced displacement and/or competition over scarce resources.
© WFP/Kevin Ouma
In the face of these challenges, PBSO’s Humanitarian-Development-Peacebuilding and Partnership Facility (“HDP Partnership Facility”) has played a significant role in strengthening the strategic and operational collaboration between the World Bank and the United Nations in Somalia since 2020. This has been done through a dedicated coordination capacity to maximize new partnership opportunities, given Somalia’s re-engagement of the International Development Association (IDA) in Somalia, and World Bank’s increased portfolio by over 1,000% between 2017 and 2022.
The HDP Partnership Facility has co-financed a UN-World Bank Liaison Officer together with the World Bank to augment synergies, alignment, and operational partnership between the two institutions. This capacity has facilitated the strategic coordination of around $334 million under the World Bank’s drought response operation, further contributing to the development of three new World Bank-funded projects being implemented by UN providing food security response to 27,000 families, urban IDP response for over 222,000 people, and shock-responsive safety nets to benefit over 2 million people in Somalia.