Strengthening  Capacity of Nexus Members Somalia, a fragile State that is emerging from decades of civil war, is currently experiencing an unprecedented situation mainly caused by climate change, Covid-19 and locust infestation, which exacerbated the long-term existed challenges within the country including widespread vulnerability and marginalization, insecurity and government with poor institutional capacity to deliver and advocate for basic humanitarian needs of local communities, combination of the above mentioned challenges contributed to negative socio-economic impact on Somali communities and resulted in the displacement of affected populations (mainly rural) and formation of IDP sites alongside main towns.
Other challenges encountered by Somalia and Somaliland communities include lack of coping capacity to climate change and widespread dependency created by Humanitarian Aid due to the absence of government’s role that affects the livelihood of entire communities rather than building their long-term resilience. It's evident that the Humanitarian Aid Dependency has largely affected the productivity of the Somali population. However, there's need to exhaust to what extent these will be addressed by our research questions for the Participatory Action Research (PAR) on Aid Humanitarian Aid dependency.
In 2019, nine Somali NGOs founded the Nexus platform that aims to shape the future in Somalia and Somaliland, by creating an enabling environment for Somali NGOs to have a leading role in the humanitarian system that puts the agency and self-reliance of communities at the center, through delivering a combination of Humanitarian Aid, Development, and Peace interventions. The Nexus coalition is led by nine Somali NGOs – African Development Solutions (ADESO), Centre for Peace and Democracy (CPD), Gargaar Relief and Development Organization (GREDO), Horn of Africa Voluntary Youth Committee (HAVOYOCO), KAALO, Save Somali Women and Children (SSWC), Social-Life and Agriculture Development Organisation (SADO), Taakulo Somaliland Community (TASCO), and WASDA. Two INGOs – Oxfam and Save the Children International were invited to join as international partners to support with critical investments.
So far the platform developed and applied its strategy andtheory of change whilst Humanitarian actions are the platform’s immediate priority in its current scope of work, Somalia Nexus consortium aims to focus interventions that are in line with its pillars, including Community-driven and working across the Triple Nexusof Development, Humanitarian Aid, Peace-building and conflict-resolution, as well as strengthening the capacity of Somali Civil Society <(>&<)> Government institutions. In addition, special considerations will be given concerning practicality and implementation methodology including presence, scaleof the need, duration and coordination with other stakeholders.
The day-to-day activities of theplatform are performed by the Secretariat supported by the Steering committee who are also responsible for resource mobilization, organizing coordination meetings, fund management and drafting policies and guidelines
In 2021, the Nexus platform aims to implement efforts to support its members and government institutions in both Somalia and Somaliland, through development of Community-driven Development manuals, conducting Participatory Action Research that finds durable solutions on climate related challenges in both pastoral and agro-pastoral communities, conducting PAR that aims to address the level and scope of dependency created by Unconditional Cash disbursement to local rural communities as well as supporting Somalia and Somaliland governments to develop standardized Cash Transfer model with clear guidelines.
Social inclusion, protection and Covid-19 protocols will be maintained and mainstreamed in project interventions.