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Urge Inside Health Desk | East Africa. Urge- DevWire

Somalia: AfDB, WFP, and UNOPS Launch 11.8 Million Dollar Agricultural Resilience Initiative for Drought-Affected Communities

MOGADISHU — 8 June 2026

The Federal Government of Somalia, the African Development Bank Group, the UN Office for Project Services, and the World Food Programme launched an 11.8 million dollar three-year initiative on 8 June 2026 to strengthen agricultural and pastoral systems in drought-affected states. The programme, titled Activating Climate-Resilient Agricultural Livelihoods in Somalia, known as ACALS, is financed by the African Development Fund and implemented by WFP and UNOPS. It will support 180,000 people, comprising 30,000 families, in the states of Hirshabelle and Puntland.

The initiative targets climate resilience, sustainable land and water management, higher agricultural productivity, improved market access, and stronger disaster preparedness. ACALS contributes directly to Somalia's National Transformation Plan 2025 to 2029 by strengthening institutional capacity at federal and state levels. Somalia continues to face one of its most severe humanitarian crises in recent years, with 6.5 million people, approximately one in three Somalis, facing crisis-level hunger or worse under the IPC scale. Nearly 1.84 million children under five are projected to face acute malnutrition in 2026, including almost half a million who are likely to be severely malnourished. WFP provided emergency cash-based transfers to more than 380,000 people at the onset of worsening drought conditions in 2026 through government-led systems. Pascal Sanginga, the East Africa Regional Manager for Agriculture and Agro-Industry at the Bank Group, noted that as of May 2026 the Bank's active portfolio in Somalia comprises 24 operations, with agriculture representing approximately 12.2 percent, signalling a shift from emergency to long-term food security investment.

Source: African Development Bank Group and WFP joint press release, 8 June 2026