The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has awarded US $1 million emergency relief assistance to Somalia where over one million people affected by drought and famine are in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

The Emergency Humanitarian Relief Assistance to Victims of Drought in the country approved by the AfDB Board of Directors will support the efforts being made by the Federal Government of Somalia in conjunction with the United Nations to provide urgent food aid distributions and food deliveries to drought-affected families in several parts of the country.

The grant has been mobilised from the Bank’s Special Relief Fund (SRF) and will be used to purchase food items, finance costs of transportation and distribution of food rations to the beneficiaries as well as administrative charges.

The assistance will be channeled through targeted food distribution to households affected by the drought, mainly vulnerable groups (like widows, orphans, female- and elderly-headed households) without alternative means of survival.

Due to the imminent shortfalls, local and regional purchases, which have the added benefit of supporting the national and regional agricultural economies, will be made.

The humanitarian request from the Federal Government of Somalia fulfills three criteria required to qualify for Bank Group assistance:

• the emergency situation is of a scale, which is clearly beyond the capacity of the Somali Government to handle alone
• the proposed activities can be carried out expeditiously and effectively within the required time frame
• the emergency relief assistance aims at restoring a degree of normalcy in both the social and economic life of the affected populations as quickly as possible.