SOMALIA

subsidies. In addition, access constraints across the
country make the implementation of CLTS activities
difficult. At an advocacy workshop facilitated by
the CLTS foundation held in September, NGO and
government partners learned how Zambia and
Kenya achieved sustainable ODF communities. In
2016, the objective is to achieve one ODF village in
each zone. Once this is achieved it is anticipated that
replication and scale-up will be possible.
Water for schools
In 2015, UNICEF continued to work with government
counterparts and partners to ensure access to safe
drinking water in schools and health facilities.
During the year a total of 316,000 people obtained
access to treated water through the development or
rehabilitation of sustainable water supply systems.
To ensure sustainability, management committees
were trained in the operation and maintenance
of facilities in the communities. The construction,
rehabilitation and/or upgrading of water supply
systems benefited 24,289 children in 64 schools,
and 39,967 people who utilize 41 MCHs.
Security constraints
The volatile security situation is making the delivery
of assistance to people in need extremely difficult
and dangerous. Access to many areas remains
severely constrained. Implementation of WASH
projects in these locations is ongoing, but is often
delayed. The lack of technically qualified partners
has also affected the speed of project delivery.
Disaster relief
The humanitarian crisis in Somalia is among the
most complex protracted emergencies in the
world. Since the beginning of the Deyr rainy season
in October, flooding affected 145,000 people and
nearly 60,000 were displaced. This comes amid
an already fragile humanitarian situation, with an
estimated 4.9 million people in need of assistance,
of which 1,014,000 people are in crisis. Acute watery
diarrhoea (AWD) and measles continue to threaten
the lives of Somalis. Over 1.1 million internally
displaced people in overcrowded settlements have
limited access to basic services and are at high risk
of diseases.
Some 71 per cent (30 out of 42) of the emergencies
were responded to within the first 96 hours. More
than 464,000 affected people accessed safe water
through temporary means, including chlorination
of unprotected shallow wells, and support for the
operation and maintenance of water systems.
Another 127,542 people gained access to sanitation
facilities through UNICEF support.
The pre-positioning of WASH emergency supplies
enabled a timely response to the disaster. In South
Central Somalia, UNICEF used the decentralized,
partner-managed Regional Supply Hub mechanism
to deliver to 356,934 people, as at end of October,
the means to practice good hygiene and household
water treatment and storage (through provision
of soap, buckets, jerry cans and water purification
chemicals).
Policy development
To promote an enabling environment for sustained
use of WASH services and discourage harmful
sanitation and hygiene behaviours, UNICEF
continues to provide support to government
counterparts for policy and regulatory framework
development. Technical and financial assistance
was provided to government line ministries for
policy development and development of the Inter-
Ministerial WASH Steering Committee (IMWSC) in
all three zones.
UNICEF also continues to support sector
coordination and capacity building of government
counterparts and implementing partners as well as
strengthening strategic partnerships and linkages
between the public and private sectors. This has led
to the formation of 12 public-private partnerships
and training of 126 community water management
committees.
19