FAO Emergency Drought Response in Burao and Laasqoray districts of Somaliland Nearly 4.7 million people – 38 percent of Somalis – are acutely food insecure and need humanitarian assistance through June 2016, according to FSNAU/FEWS NET joint countrywide seasonal assessment data released in February 2016. This includes 22 000 people in emergency (IPC Phase 4), 931 000 people in crisis (IPC Phase 3), and 3 700 000 people classified as stressed (IPC Phase 2). Internally displaced people and rural populations are disproportionately affected. 
In Somaliland, due to the impact of the worsening drought conditions, the projected total number of acutely food insecure people in need (IPC Phases 2, 3 and 4) for February to June 2016 is 1 227 100 out of which 282 100 people are in crisis and emergency (IPC Phases 3 and 4). This represents an increase from the 1 093 400 total number of acutely food insecure people in need (including 236 500 people that were in crisis and emergency) during August to December 2015.
The main contributing factors to high food insecurity levels include the poor rainfall and drought conditions, trade disruption, new and protracted displacement and chronic poverty, among other factors. Acute malnutrition also remains high in many parts of the country, affecting 304 700 children under the age of five. 

In response to the drought, FAO has developed a Drought Response plan which is expected to help 1.3 million people (at least 30% women) in Somaliland and Puntland. It aims at delivering timely livelihood and cash-based support to help pastoral and agropastoral families withstand and recover from drought conditions in Somaliland and Puntland. It helps families to get a quick basic income to cover lifesaving expenditures, to have access to water, to make its livestock survive and to have a successful harvest in July if sufficient Gu rains will be available. These are short-term results that can and need to be achieved for families to survive from the crisis. The project will give opportunity for families to protect and restore their livelihoods before greater losses set in. The activities are time-sensitive – bound to Somalia’s agricultural calendar, the Gu rainy season from March to April and families’ pressing need for cash to afford critical supplies. 
Key activities included in the FAO Drought Emergency Response plan include:
-Cash relief through cash for work to improve purchasing power among severely affected households and increased access to water and soil conservation
-Livestock vaccination, fodder and water storage to protect assets by containing the CCPP further spread and outbreak, reduce livestock losses/distress sales, and improved livestock production and health
-Restore production and improve yields through agricultural input support. 
To kick start the drought response plan, FAO aims to deliver timely livelihood and cash-based support to help pastoral and agro-pastoral families withstand and recover from drought conditions in Laasqoray. At least 700 households (at least 30% Women Headed Households) will receive cash to meet immediate needs and at the same time rehabilitate their productive infrastructures (with a strong focus on water and soil conservation) through cash-for-work. Some 67000 goats are to be treated and vaccinated to contain the current Contagious caprine pleuro pneumonia (CCPP) outbreak, in the hardest hit regions of Somaliland to reduce animal morbidity and mortality, saving the livelihoods of approximately 2 233 households.