Food security relates to initiatives that enhance the capacity of the poor to ensure that their families have enough to eat; and have enough barter or cash capacity to pay for basic healthcare, education and the like.

SAACID has always been involved in food security initiatives since its inception in 1990. Overall, the majority of SAACID's financial effort in the past decade has gone to developing better food security for the poor in Somalia - with a special focus on Somali women and children.

Somali women have historically had no access to education or economic opportunity. Yet, they are responsible for raising the children (including education and healthcare) and ensuring that food is provided for the household. Somalia is now in its 17th year without any form of government. In most of the country there is no infrastructure of any sort. The conflicts that have prevailed in the country have killed an untold number; so much so that there are estimates that at least 65% of all current households are headed by Somali women - who don't have the economic skills to provide adequately for their families.

The rural areas of Somalia have always been systemically underdeveloped - even under previous governmental administrations most of the wealth was redistributed to urban areas. Rural Somali women have, and do, suffer an even greater burden. SAACID has concentrated on core programming to enhance the lives of all the poor - putting special emphasis on women and children wherever it can.

Major donor interest has come in the form of canal rehabilitation around the Shabelle and Jubba Rivers. These two river systems are the 'bread-basket' of Somalia, which is otherwise dominated by a semi-arid or arid landscape. Donors have tried to focus on rehabilitating the largely silted up canal systems that feed off the rivers in the hope of greatly expanding the capacity of the local food supply - that can then be sold throughout the rest of the country - thus mitigating the need for costly emergency food assistance from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the like.

In this regard, SAACID has partnered Netherlands Organisation for Community Development (Oxfam Novib), Oxfam America and WFP in rehabilitating canal systems along the Shabelle River; and developing local water management committees that provide a conflict resolution mechanism for water resource conflict; and also provide rural Somali women a genuine say in how water is managed and allocated.

The work SAACID has completed in partnership with Oxfam Novib, Oxfam America and WFP over the past decade has directly benefited more than 86,000 Somalis. The indirect benefits of an expanded locally available food supply have not been calculated.

Within that paradigm, SAACID has focussed upon developing village-level women's cooperatives. SAACID has provided those cooperatives with land, seed and mechanised ploughing to till the land. Further, SAACID has provided the women with numeracy, literacy, business principles and agricultural education. By integrating women's issues into the overall programmes, SAACID has been able to genuinely empower rural women into the most important resource in Somalia - water.

SAACID has also concentrated on farm extension training for rural poor; and has been implementing such training programmes in rural areas since 2001.

SAACID is extremely proud of its achievements in its Food Security sector. As usual, the financial resources necessary to intervene in the sector are always scarce, but we are also very proud that Oxfam Novib, Oxfam America and WFP have had the vision to commit resources to build Somalia from the bottom up.

If you would like to know more about our food security programming, or like to contribute to future programming, please feel free to contact us at the link below.