A Fresh Analysis of the Humanitarian System in Somaliland, Puntland, and South Central Somalia

Oxfam International’s strategic plan states that, “National state institutions and civil society in the most crisis prone/affected countries, supported by the international community, are able to deliver high quality, impartial and independent assistance to those in need, and resilience to increasingly frequent natural disasters and conflict is strengthened through improved preparedness and risk reduction”.

This report’s main focus is on an analysis of humanitarian capacities of Somali territories (Puntland, Somaliland, and South-Central Somalia) government structures, and civil society organisations.

It should be noted that the change goal statement “National state institutions” has to be understood contextually. In this case, as the report will explain there are different power holding authorities controlling different regions and governing different groups of people with different levels of recognition or acceptance nationally and internationally. This report does not take a stance on the validity or otherwise of different claims of statehood, rather it focuses on the capacities of the main institutions and actors in each sector.

Production of this report was in three phases: documentary review, field visits, and interviews and workshops with stakeholders. However this report covers only phases 1 and 2. This report avoids repetition of elements already well captured in other Oxfam documents and focuses on a fresh analysis with proposals to increase the Humanitarian capacities in the Somali Territories.