Somalia

  • Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan
  • From: 01/01/2024 to: 31/12/2024
  • Published: 30/01/2024
  • Coordinated by: OCHA

Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 2024 Housing, Land and Property AoR Narrative

  • People in need
    1.7 million
  • People targeted
    616 thousand
  • Financial requirements (US$)
    5 million
  • Number of partners
    17

Contact persons (e-mail):

osman.ali@nrc.no

mohamed.addum@nrc.no

evelyn.aero@nrc.no

1. Trends in Sectoral Needs

The Housing, Land, and Property (HLP) Area of Responsibility (AoR) has evolved to address the specific needs of different population groups, including newly displaced persons, persons in protracted displacement, rural non-displaced, urban displaced, refugee returnees, and asylum seekers. The linkages between HLP and other sector-specific needs such as protection, GBV, and child protection have been heightened by the change in context. The focus has also shifted towards providing more legal assistance and information, addressing common land issues, and ensuring land tenure security to prevent forced evictions and HLP violations. Additionally, there is an increased emphasis on empowering vulnerable groups such as women, children, old persons, persons with disabilities, minorities, and other vulnerable groups through the provision of information services and legal aid to increase their access to justice. This evolution reflects a more targeted and comprehensive approach to addressing the diverse HLP needs of vulnerable populations, with protection at the center of all interventions.

In 2024, Somalia may face anticipated shocks such as flooding, potential drought, and conflicts, leading to increased displacement and heightened issues related to housing, land, and property (HLP). These include, among others, forced evictions with associated protection risks and threats, the loss of HLP documents, and HLP issues around limited emergency land for displaced individuals. The HLP AoR aims to take the lead in addressing the growing need for HLP support by mapping safe settlement areas, focusing on providing HLP support in flood-affected and drought-prone regions and preventing HLP violations.

Forced evictions pose serious protection threats to newly displaced persons and vulnerable groups, including lack of alternative housing, property destruction, harassment, violence, family separation, and sexual violence. The Housing, Land, and Property (HLP) program will prioritize those affected by conflicts, flooding, or potential drought, as well as vulnerable populations, to ensure access to safe and secure housing, protection from HLP violations, and legal assistance to uphold their rights in the face of anticipated displacement. Others will include rural non-displaced populations and host communities living with displaced populations, who may also be indirectly affected and need assistance in resolving land disputes to protect their property and land rights.

2. Response Scope and Priorities

2.1 Response Focus

The most acute HLP needs are concentrated in areas affected by conflict, and disasters, and locations hosting a large number of IDPs and returnees. The majority of people in need of HLP support are located in Banadir, Lower Juba, Hirshabelle, Galgaduud, Puntland, Somaliland, and the South West regions. These regions recorded the highest number of forced evictions, with over 200,000 individuals evicted in 2023, 60 percent of whom were in Banadir alone.

2.2 Response Priorities and Coordination with other Clusters (Integrated Response)

  1. The core response priorities for the Housing, Land, and Property (HLP) Area of Responsibility include:
  2. Providing legal aid services and supporting referrals to address common land issues for displaced persons, both urban and rural and other vulnerable groups, in collaboration with protection cluster members and local partners.
  3. Implementing preventive engagement and remedial actions to protect vulnerable populations from forced evictions, collecting and updating data on evictions, and providing preventive response services in areas with acute HLP needs.
  4. Ensuring land tenure security and protection from HLP violations through due diligence processes, mapping out secure land for emergency settlements, and conducting advocacy for the enactment and implementation of laws and regulations to protect land tenure security.
  5. Conducting evidence-based research and analyses to understand specific HLP needs and challenges, influencing decision-makers and government stakeholders through evidence-based arguments, and managing real-time data through the Somalia Eviction platform to inform partner, government, and donor decisions.
  6. To strengthen partnerships with relevant clusters and areas of responsibility to implement a multisectoral and integrated approach to HLP support, the HLP AoR will provide capacity-building initiatives, training, and technical support to local actors and institutions.
  7. Undertaking direct implementation and remote programming to ensure comprehensive coverage of HLP support and providing assistance to people at risk of forced eviction through in-kind, cash, or mixed modalities, depending on market functionality.

3. Quality and inclusive programming

The HLP AoR and its partners will continue to monitor the response through monthly 5W data collection, and reporting partners from the national and subnational levels will, on a monthly basis, fill in the 5W matrix and share it for consolidation by the NRC and the PC lead UNHCR.

Ongoing activities such as information, counseling, and legal assistance services, including assistance to those affected by or at risk of forced eviction, provided by the HLP AoR members, will be tracked through regular documentation and reporting by the Monitoring and Learning team of the NRC. Besides, the online eviction portal and other reports will be updated on a monthly basis, and the Protection Cluster’s monitoring initiatives like the Somalia Protection Monitoring System (SPMS) and the Protection and Return Monitoring Network (PRMN) will be updated regularly. These will, among others, support the identification of response gaps, barriers, and evolving needs to inform and adapt the adjustment of the HLP AoR and Protection Cluster responses accordingly.

The HLP AoR, with its members, will, throughout its activities, such as outreach and awareness, as well as the provision of direct assistance, place particular emphasis on ensuring that women’s and other marginalized groups' HLP rights are promoted and protected. This can be done through specialized targeting, collaborating with local community organizations and leaders to ensure that the voices and perspectives of vulnerable and marginalized groups are represented in decision-making processes related to housing, land, and property, providing training and capacity-building for housing, land, and property stakeholders to increase their understanding of the specific needs and challenges faced by vulnerable and marginalized groups, and enhancing their ability to provide inclusive and sensitive programming, etc.

4. Cost of response

To provide adequate HLP support and response to over 1.7 million people in 2023, the HLP AoR requires over $3.41 million. The HLP AoR will use a mix of different response modalities, hence the variations in terms of costs.

To go the the protection cluster overview page, click here.