DRC opened its first office in the region in Somaliland in 1998 to support the sustainable return and integration of refugees and internally displaced people (IDP). Most of the refugee population has now returned and activities mostly target the host community and internally displaced people.
The Somaliland programme aims at supporting durable solutions through livelihood interventions, reconstruction and rehabilitation of infrastructure and protection, advocacy and capacity building activities. However, the organization also undertakes life-saving activities such as water trucking, health and sanitation and the distribution of basic household items when required.
In the development and infrastructure sector, DRC has so far rehabilitated and constructed 397 schools and 957 water points across Somaliland.
In 2008, DRC drilled four boreholes in Laas Anood. The boreholes serve the whole population in the area. Besides infrastructure, DRC supports the agricultural sector by providing farmers with the appropriate tools and trainings. More than 430 farmers were trained on soil moisture conservation in Awdal, Togdheer and Hargeysa regions in 2008 alone.
There are about 80,000 IDPs in Somaliland comprising of returnees and a significant number of people originally from South Central Somalia. Somaliland is considered to be a transit point for many Somalis, Ethiopian and Eritreans migrating to Yemen through the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
Somaliland declared its “independence” from Somalia in 1991 but has not been fully recognized by the international community. Somaliland has an estimated population of 3 million with an average population growth rate of 3.1 percent. Fifty five percent of Somaliland’s population is either nomadic or semi-nomadic, while the other 45 percent is in urban or rural centres.
Somaliland has maintained relative peace and stability over the past 15 years. The presence of effective administration and the security conditions allow a large number of aid organizations both local and international to provide humanitarian assistance when required and undertake recovery and development programmes in a coordinated manner. Somaliland is currently on the track to economic and social recovery and reconstruction.
Donor and partners: DANIDA, ECHO, EU, EC, UNHCR, UNOCHA, WFP
