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 Protection Cluster Narrative

  • People in need
    3.8 million
  • People targeted
    643 thousand
  • Financial requirements (US$)
    24 million
  • Number of partners
    115

Contact persons (email):

aristing@unhcr.org

zahra.adan@drc.ngo

arungap@unhcr.org

1. Trends in Sectoral Needs

The protection response plan for 2024 is anchored on four strategic pillars: protection of civilians, response prioritization, integrated approaches across sectors, and operationalization of frontline protection responses. With each of these pillars, the protection clusters seek to not end up in a siloed response but to represent an added value to the inter-sectoral coordination and response and, thus, to the centrality of protection across the humanitarian response in Somalia.

Protection is prioritizing responses to these two shocks:

  • Climate change-related disasters: The current response to ‘El Niño’ flooding is already showing the focus of the Protection Cluster in carrying out integrated approaches with sectors such as food security, shelter, and CCCM on ensuring the inclusion of persons with specific needs (PSN) among displaced populations, notably persons with disabilities, older people, minorities, and marginalized groups.
  • Conflict: The risk of armed conflict—either non-international or intra-clan—ranks the highest in terms of likelihood and impact for 2024 in Somalia. The operationalization of a frontline response in conflict-affected areas has been discussed and agreed upon with a range of protection partners, covering protection analysis to specialized protection agencies, and considers an early action response package for newly displaced and civilian populations in hard-to-reach areas and the strengthening of the capacity of affected communities as first-line responders.

2. Response Scope and Priorities

2.1 Response Focus

Following the joint global methodology, the Protection Cluster and Areas of Responsibilities (AoRs) in Somalia have defined an overarching protection severity targeting priority districts, of which Severity Levels 5 and 19 are categorized as Severity Levels. These 29 districts are primary conflict-affected districts where the population is facing a higher level of protection risks, and the clusters identified bigger protection response gaps. Protection Cluster and partners will be systematically prioritizing districts to carry out each of the four pillars of the response strategy: protection of civilians through integrated approaches across sectors, and operationalization of frontline protection responses.

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

Core response priorities for the Protection Cluster will include, among others:

Protection Integrated Approaches:

  • Ensure a core protection response across the 29 prioritized districts with the four active areas of responsibility in the country.
  • Support and take the lead of the protection sector and partners to foster any initiative or strategy promoting a more integrated inter-sectoral response (IRF, RRM, etc.).
  • Continue to develop an integrated protection response with CCCM and Shelter as part of UNHCR’s Clusters Tri-Cluster initiative.
  • Continue to develop and expand the joint Food Security, CCCM, and Protection Fast-Track referral mechanism.
  • Continue and expand the current close collaboration with UNOCHA HACU’s working groups (Access and CM) as part of the joint UNOCHA and Global Protection Cluster Agenda for Change: Access that Protects.

Protection response priorities:

  • Ensure timely and evidence-based protection analysis, focusing on the risks to civilians in hard-to-reach and conflict-affected areas.
  • Ensure a timely conflict-related frontline protection response for newly displaced and civilian populations in hard-to-reach areas.
  • Strengthen communities affected by conflict as first-line protection responders.
  • Continue and expand with other clusters the protection workstream on the inclusion of persons with specific needs (PSN) among the displaced population, notably persons with disabilities, older people, minorities, and marginalized groups at risk of exclusion.

3. Quality and inclusive programming

In 2024, the Protection Cluster will keep supporting any inter-agency effort to strengthen the Accountability to Affected Affected Populations. As an ICCG member, the Cluster has endorsed and will support the establishment of the Inter-Agency Common Feedback Mechanism. Moreover, the cluster is heavily involved in the HCT PDAD Action Plan together with the UNHCR Cluster Lead Agency. For the HCT Action Plan, the Protection Cluster is UNHCR’s focal point for activities #1 (research), #5 (minimum inclusion), #10 (field presence), and chairs together with CEA TF activity #8 (IDP community engagement).

The inclusion of people with special needs (PSN) and marginalized groups, including minorities, is already one of the priority cluster’s workstreams. This workstream is aligned with HCT Centrality of Protection Specific Objective #1 and will continue to be a priority for the cluster in 2024. The Cluster will keep co-chairing together with CCCM, the People with Disabilities WG, and will keep working with the platform of 15 organizations partners of the Cluster specialized on minority inclusion. The protection strategy on inclusion is not based on stand-alone protection responses addressing the needs of PSN and marginalized groups, but on ensuring the inclusion of these groups in the overall inter-sectoral response. Examples of this are the current integrated approach with Shelter for ´El Niño´ response or the joint Food Security, CCCM, and Protection Fast-Track referral mechanism.

4. Cost of response

The total funding requirement for protection stands at $17 million. The request has been reduced from 2023 due to a decrease in the target population to reach. The decrease in the target is primarily attributed to the protection cluster response strategy focusing on the conflict-affected districts.

Conflict, insecurity, and accessibility are significant cost drivers as protection is repositioned to front-line response in the conflict-affected districts in 2024. The protection cluster will use integrated approaches to provide protection solutions to the populations most in need of humanitarian response.

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