Multi-million Euro funding to support drought-stricken communities in Somalia

The European Union will provide €9 million in 2025/2026 while SDC will provide an additional €6.1 over a four-year partnership period with the Somali Cash Consortium (SCC). 

Somalia is currently experiencing a severe hunger crisis, with an estimated 6.5 million people food insecure following consecutive seasons of drought. Nearly one-third of the population is experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above), including more than two million people in Emergency conditions (IPC Phase 4).

The SCC, led by Concern worldwide, will provide multi-purpose cash assistance (MCPA) to an estimated 195,000 people to help meet their most urgent basic needs. MPCA remains one of the most viable ways to provide dignified and prompt support, with its ability to reach populations wherever they are and transfer values that are adaptable to the market context. 

“Somalia continues to face a protracted humanitarian crisis, driven by recurring climatic shocks, insecurity, displacement and rising food prices,” SCC Director Faith Tindimwebwa said. “This timely assistance will enable affected families to cover essential needs such as food, water, healthcare and shelter, while supporting local markets.”

The Somali NGO Consortium warned this week: “In displacement sites across Baidoa, families are resorting to extreme coping mechanisms, sharing a single plate of food among multiple households, while children fall into advanced stages of malnutrition. These conditions reflect critical food gaps and alarming levels of acute malnutrition. 

“While rains were recorded in April, they are insufficient to reverse the scale of losses. Harvests have failed, livestock has been decimated, and livelihoods severely eroded. Millions of households will remain highly vulnerable in the months ahead.”

The SCC will prioritise those who are highly food insecure and the most vulnerable in target communities, including female-headed households, minority clans, older people and disability-affected individuals, newly displaced persons, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and malnourished children. They are working across South Central Somalia, Somaliland, and Puntland, with a particular focus on hard‑to‑reach and underserved high‑severity areas.

The EU and SDC support, at a time of significant decline globally in funding for humanitarian assistance, reflects a much-appreciated continued commitment towards principled, timely and people‑centred humanitarian assistance in Somalia, Ms Tindimwebwa said. 
The Somali Cash Consortium is calling on other donors and government authorities to mobilise additional resources to urgently scale up and support lifesaving humanitarian assistance.

For media queries contact Eamon Timmins, Media Relations Manager, Concern Worldwide, at eamon.timmins@concern.net or 00 353 87 9880524

Notes to the Editor

About EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid

The European Union and its Member States are the world's leading donor of humanitarian aid. Relief assistance is an expression of European solidarity with people in need all around the world. It aims to save lives, prevent and alleviate human suffering, and safeguard the integrity and human dignity of populations affected by natural disasters and man-made crises. 

About the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is Switzerland’s international cooperation agency and is responsible for the overall coordination of development and humanitarian assistance. As part of Switzerland’s foreign policy, SDC works to alleviate poverty and suffering, promote peace, strengthen governance, and protect the environment, with a particular focus on fragile and conflict-affected contexts.

About the Somali Cash Consortium 

The Consortium was established in 2018 in response to the need to coordinate and harmonise the ever-growing use of cash transfers in Somalia. Members include Concern Worldwide (Consortium lead), ACTED, Action Against Hunger (ACF), COOPI, Danish Refugee Council, IMPACT, Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children International, Save Somali Women and Children (SSWC), Lifeline Gedo and Gargaar Relief and Development Organisation (GREDO). It carries out emergency responses in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia’s Social Transfer programme SAGAL II which is also funded by the EU.