Food Security Cluster Augmentation in Response to the continued Humanitarian Situation in Somalia

This operation has been modified as per budget revision 3. (see below)

Over the past 8 years, the humanitarian community in Somalia has responded to three major crises (2005-2006, 2008-2009 and 2011) with the most severe emergency leading to the declaration of Famine in July 2011. However, over the past 10 years, the pastoral, agro-pastoral and agricultural livelihoods within Somalia have fluctuated between  Famine/Emergency/Crisis and  Food Secure/Stressed. As a result of a combination of shocks such as poor rainfall, global price fluctuations and eruption of resourced-based or regional inter-state conflict, between 3.4 and 6.5 million Somalis have, to some degree, lost their assets and remained food-insecure.

With the support of the global Food Security Cluster the existing Somalia Food Assistance Cluster and Somalia Agricultural Livelihoods Cluster under the leadership

of WFP and FAO (respectively) merged to form a single Somalia Food Security Cluster in March 2012. The overall goal of the Somalia FSC is to be the primary source of information on the ongoing humanitarian response addressing food insecurity and facilitate the development of a strategic vision and guidance for its members in their food security responses to the acute and underlying causes of the recurrent crisis in Somalia. This challenges the Food Security Cluster to look at providing guidance to its membership from a multi-year perspective on how member responses must address the acute seasonal needs for improved access to food as well as address livelihood vulnerability through activities that build resilience and provision of regular and dependable safety nets to begin to arrest the seasonal changes between Famine/Emergency/Crisis and Stressed. This Special Operation is to provide the Food Security Cluster with the resources to assume the leadership around the coordination and information management of food security related activities to strengthen partners’ responses within Somalia.

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Budget revision 3 to SO 200440 extends the operation for a period of six months until 30 June 2016. This will allow FAO and WFP sufficient time to mainstream food security cluster coordination costs into their respective regular projects.