Protect and  Restore  Livelihoods of  Cyclone -Affected communities in  Awdal Region , Somaliland Poor rains  compounded with floods, internal conflicts over multiple seasons and recent Cyclone, Sagaar  have had a major impact on rural livelihoods and food security pushing people in Somalia, to the brink of famine. As a result most pastoralists and agro-pastoralists have lost 70% of their livestock herd which are the sources of income and food for the households .This has followed the crisis of 2011 that claimed  lives of over quarter of a million people. In spite of improved  food security and livelihoods situation due to good  2017 Gu rains, an estimated 1.5 million people in Somalia are expected to be in crises (IPC phase 3) or worse through December 2018(FSNAU July,2018). Forecast of average to above-average Dyer(October-December 2018) rains and favorable market conditions may further improve food security conditions in some areas  through December 2018. However, acute food insecurity remains prevalent among pastoral populations who lost most of their livestock and became destitute during 2016/2017 cyclone Sagar riverine populations affected by flooding in April/May 2018 and others who experienced large scale, protracted displacement due to conflicts and natural hazards. These groups are facing  food consumption gaps or engage in unsustainable coping strategies to meet their basic  food needs and humanitarian assistance is require to prevent further deterioration of their food security and nutrition situation.
The people affected by Cyclone in Awdal region are particularly in need of humanitarian assistance. Considering afore-mentioned situation, this project is planned to intervene and implement integrated food security and livelihoods activities  in two district (Lughaye and Baki ) in Awdal region of North Eastern part of Somaliland  . VSF-Germany has designed this humanitarian response action in order to improve immediate food access,  restore and prevent further deterioration of food security and livelihoods of vulnerable households in the Cyclone and conflicts stricken regions of Somaliland . This will significantly contribute towards improving food access and availability, livelihoods restoration, livestock productivity and animal health which in turn will enable beneficiary households to get access to milk, income, food and enhance nutritional status of their families including children. VSF Germany will closely work with other humanitarian actors in the areas so as to avoid duplication of efforts through regular coordination and monitoring of  similar activities at field level. The project is expected to benefit a total of 2000 households (12,000 individuals) in the two target  districts. In a bid to improve immediate food access ,protect and restore livelihoods, the project will provide unconditional cash transfer,animal health services  and livestock (re-stocking ) for asset building.Thus, implementation of these key interventions in the target areas would yield multiple benefits 1) prevent vulnerable households from negative coping strategies and restore the livelihoods, 2) improve meat/milk production due to provision of  animal treatment and livestock feed(blocks or concentrate ), and 3) prevent loss of key household assets and thus build resilience of target community . The target households will also be linked with local veterinary drug shops and Community Animal Health Workers (CAHW) in order to get required animal health treatment/services.The Action is aligned with the  standard allocation strategies  and food security cluster objective 1 to improve the immediate access to food objective 2, to protect and restore livelihoods related to food and income sources and objective 3, to support resilience of vulnerable populations against shocks.