Posted in February 2013

The assistance for drought victims and IDPs continues in Garowe, Somalia

Somalia, one of the JCCP project sites, sustained great damage by the drought that hit East Africa in 2010 – 2011. That damage became serious enough to be declared a famine in 6 regions of the South Central by the UN. This humanitarian crisis was also caused by the fact that Somalia didn’t have appropriate measures against a drought and effective local mechanism of humanitarian assistance because of long-term anarchy. At the same time, the fighting became more intensified in the South Central.

Many people crossed the borders between the neighbouring countries and became “refugees” to escape from the conflict and the drought in the South Central of Somalia. JCCP has provided support for these IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) in Puntland, northern Somalia, since February last year.

About 2,850 households (about 10,000 people) live in the 14 IDP camps in Garowe, the capital of Puntland, but they are in a harsh environment with a lack of water and sanitation problems. It has also been reported that there are some conflicts and violence among IDP camp residents. Women in the IDP camps are very vulnerable to Gender Based Violence. Many women have been the survivors of such violence not only in the IDP camp but also in flight . However, it is very difficult for them to talk about these cases even to their family, so that a lot of cases have yet to emerge..




IDP camp in the suburbs of Garowe. The simple residence made by cloth or plastic sheet.JCCP has shifted its primary target from Bosaso in Puntland – where JCCP had started the assistance since February last year – to Garowe since August last year. JCCP has been working to provide the assistance for the IDPs suffering from a variety of conflicts with neighbors and host communities, Gender Based Violence, and psychological trauma. Currently, JCCP provides some Non-Food Items to improve their living conditions and sanitation, and also teach how to use these sanitary items as well as emphasize the importance of the sanitation. Additionally, we have been working to strengthen a mechanism to prevent Gender Based Violence and protect the GBV survivors.

For the improvement of their living conditions and sanitation

JCCP provides aDignity Kit – that is one bucket, food, clothes, sanitary napkins, and sanitary supplies – to women who are the survuvors of Gender Based Violence to improve their living and sanitation. 260 sets of this Dignity Kit were provided in January 2013. These Dignity Kits are distributed at the safe place such as the outside of the IDP camp. It is very important to respect their privacy and pay attention to their safety because the people JCCP support can be subject to prejudice from their neighbors .

According to the post-distribution monitoring, it is evident that the beneficiaries use the items included in the Dignity Kit on a daily basis. It is very important to conduct a post-distribution monitoring because people sometimes sell the items at the nearest market or simply abandon the items. The result of post-distribution monitoring shows that underwear, soap, and buckets are the most useful. Some women say that they have never gotten hold of underwear since they started living in the IDP camp. They mention that they couldn’t afford to buy underwear as they had to secure water and food first.

It is also important to build the capacity of the local NGOs and the local government for sustainability of project. In January this year, Representative for JCCP Kenya and Somalia, Ms. Yukiko Ishii, and Project Officer, Ms Alice Ngari, visited Garowe to organize Monitoring and Evaluation training for Focal Points, women’s committee members, and officers from the local government.

More than half of the participants answered at the beginning of the training that they had never been involved in or never heard of Monitoring and Evaluation. But, through the training, they realized that they had practiced some sort of Monitoring and Evaluation before in their lives. Impressed with the quality of JCCP’s training on Monitoring and Evaluation, the officer from the Ministry of Interior and Rural Development who participated in this training requested for another training program exclusively for their senior officers. JCCP continues to implement the project with an emphasis on capacity building of the local people and institutions.

*This project is supported by precious contributions from JCCP supporters and grant from Japan Platform (JPF).