Approximately half of all households in Somalia are headed by women, and women are disproportionately suffering from the country’s compounding challenges of climate change, conflict and food shortages.
Agriculture and livestock provide a livelihood for vast numbers of Somalis, including many women. Yet for many pastoralists (sheep and cattle farmers) the recent failed rainy seasons have decimated their sole source of income.
Ibada, a 54-year-old mother of 7 children, lives in the Sharaf-weyn village of Awdal region in western Somaliland. Ibada had been responsible for 100 goats, enabling her to earn a secure living, but Somalia’s prolonged drought meant she became unable to feed or provide water for her goats.
Ibada watched helplessly in distress as, 1 by 1, her goats died. Without them, she had no means to provide for her family.
Increasing resilience through climate-smart agriculture
Islamic Relief’s Strengthening Agricultural Resilience (SARIA) project aims to increase resilience among livestock farmers. The project is designed to address the challenges of recurring drought and food insecurity in Somalia by supplying farmers with productive livestock and implementing climate-smart agriculture techniques to better protect them against the impacts of climate change.
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