The Cost of Inaction: Impacts of WFP Assistance Shortfalls on Food Security Outcomes in Somalia

Abstract

Millions of Somalis face hunger and malnutrition due to ongoing conflict and climate disruptions. Somalia’s food systems are strained by a combination of weather shocks, civil conflicts, environmental distress, increasing food costs, and limited infrastructure and investments (WFP Somalia Country Brief 2023). The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has been working extensively in Somalia, expanding its humanitarian activities in recent years in response to the severe drought of 2020-2023. In January 2023 alone, it distributed USD 45 million in cash and 7.1 MT in in-kind food assistance to 4.1 million people in the country, including vulnerable internally displaced persons (IDPs) and resident (non-IDPs) households. The soaring demand for humanitarian assistance is straining an already underfunded WFP. WFP estimated a funding gap of USD 378 million from November 2023 to April 2024, only providing food assistance to less than half of those people most in need (WFP Emergency-Somalia website).