Conflict-Sensitive Social Protection: Somalia Country Report

Abstract

This is one of three country case studies (the others being of Kenya and Sudan) that explore the interaction between social protection and conflict in the Horn of Africa. In a context of weak central political authority and persistent conflict, Somalia’s fledgling social protection sector continues to lean heavily on humanitarian actors for its delivery. It is also largely externally driven and financed, with consequences for the calibre of sector coherence. Social protection policy documents and programmes incorporate some measures to manage conflict-related risks, but the extent to which these impinge on the fundamental drivers of conflict in Somalia, such as the structural exclusion of minorities and the country’s deep governance deficit, is less clear.