Building pathways out of poverty in Baidoa, Somalia: Qualitative evidence around resilience in the context of flood shocks

Magan, Mohamed; Hassan, Hashi; Leight, Jessica; Hirvonen, Kalle; Karachiwalla, Naureen; and Rakshit, Deboleena. 2024. Building pathways out of poverty in Baidoa, Somalia: Qualitative evidence around resilience in the context of flood shocks. Learning Brief April 2024. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141613

Somalia is among the most impoverished nations globally, grappling with severe poverty, persistent armed conflicts, and recurrent droughts and floods, leading to a humanitarian crisis marked by substantial internal displacement. The site of this evaluation, Baidoa, has 517 sites for internally displaced persons (IDPs), housing nearly 600,000 households. Notably, 64% of the residents in these sites are women and girls. The 2nd Somali High-Frequency Survey revealed that poverty is particularly pronounced in IDP settlements, compounded by high unemployment rates and a lack of income-generating opportunities, thereby exacerbating the challenging circumstances in this area.

This brief reports findings from a qualitative assessment conducted in January 2024 exploring the effects of severe floods in Baidoa and the role of the Ultra-Poor Graduation (UPG) intervention in protecting households from these shocks.