Somalia Q&A 
Somalia is once again hitting the headlines with stories of increased levels of violence and unprecedented numbers of displaced people, as families flee the country’s capital city. Here IR’s Shihab Babikr (Acting Country Director, Somalia) reveals what IR is doing to help.
What are the main problems facing the people of Somalia?
The main problem in Somalia is the large numbers of IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons). They come from many different parts of the country and the vulnerable ones have no means to go any further.
What is IR doing to help?
There are around 27 camps of IDPs and IR is providing emergency assistance at around 10 camps. This assistance includes: food, water and emergency education.
We have water and sanitation projects; drilling bore holes in marginalized areas, which target needy communities as well as IDPs. We are also raising awareness in terms of sanitation. We distribute sanitation materials to the camps.
We have two health centres, which were established in areas where there were none. Previously people were forced to travel long distances for treatment. We provide drugs and medicines to other hospitals as well.
We have education projects, where we have intervened in maintaining schools and providing them with equipment and materials. We are carrying out teacher training and also building a secondary school in the Mugud Region.
There is a small orphan’s project, which started recently and currently has about 350 children enrolled.
In addition we carry out emergency food and non-food distribution with UNICEF and UNHCR.
Are there any particular cases that stand out in your memory during your time working for IR in Somalia?
We were in southern Somalia distributing food to those affected by floods and we were transporting food by boats and it shocked me that the children were playing with guns made from banana sticks. We tried to sit with them and discuss what their favorite games were, but there were no other type of games. They just play with guns. They didn’t go to school and had no ambition other than to be a soldier and have a gun.
What would you say to potential donors regarding the situation in Somalia?
Somalia is affected by many disaster situations, from conflicts, to droughts to floods. There are still people suffering from these factors and large sections of the population living in very poor conditions in IDP camps. Even those who live in towns and villages are living at a very poor level and suffering a lot. To contribute positively we need to tackle both types of problem; development and emergency. That would add much. The Somali people are creative. They know how to work and to develop businesses. We need to continue live-saving activities and providing support and coping mechanisms, not only working in emergencies supplying food.
What are the main challenges you face in carrying out IR’s work in Somalia?
Concerns over funding are the main challenge. In southern Somalia there is not really an issue, because we work with institutional investors such as ECHO etc. In northern Somalia we are working purely with IR money and there are concerns over continued funding. The people in this area need support. We cannot handover the projects to the communities just yet.
