PMFORUM Breaking News

The World Bank has approved a grant of US$7.0 million to support Somalia's urgent need to increase crop and livestock production in rural areas adversely affected by the drought and the current global food crisis. The emergency grant for the Somalia Rapid Response Rehabilitation of Rural Livelihoods Project will be funded under the Bank's recently launched Global Food Crisis Response Program.

"Somalia is one of the countries most affected by the global food price crisis and has a dire humanitarian situation affecting over 3.2 million Somalis," says James Christopher Lovelace, the Bank's Country Manager for Somalia.

The project addresses the immediacy of the situation by:

1. responding to the urgent need for financial assistance arising from the impact of the current food crisis in Somalia, and


2. establishing inputs and infrastructure for the short run that will serve to improve food production.

Activities under the project will build on several ongoing projects in Somalia to assist in addressing the crisis with increased attention to crops and livestock productivity, particularly in mainstreaming nutrition and gender concerns in the interventions.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Emergency Operations unit for Somalia based in Nairobi will manage the grant. It will also implement and monitor the project through partnerships with international and local non-governmental organizations with a strong operational presence in project areas. Other partners, if necessary, will also be involved.

"We are responding collectively with the World Bank and other agencies to avert a crisis that continues to deteriorate at a rate and severity that we have not seen in over fifteen years," says Graham Farmer, Officer in Charge of FAO Somalia. "This important and crucial grant will enable Somali people to avoid stripping of productive assets and protect their livelihoods," adds Farmer.

In its 26 August, 2008 report, the FAO Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) warned of the devastating impact of sky rocketing food prices on the poor and vulnerable people of Somalia. The situation has been aggravated by the extreme devaluation of the Somali Shilling, deepening drought following an abnormally harsh dry season, delayed and poor start of the mid-April to June rains and prolonged civil conflict.

The grant, which was endorsed by the World Bank Board of Directors, will address the urgent need for financial support to finance gaps in existing programs being implemented by international, national and non-governmental institutions. Somalia remains a fragile state and a high risk country.

For more information about the World Bank and Somalia, please visit www.worldbank.org/somalia.

Source: Daily World Bank Alert, 10 September 2008