Understanding Communities' Coping Strategies: Insights from Somalia
As recurrent shocks of droughts and now the looming threat of flooding continue to threaten the lives and livelihoods of millions of pastoralists and farmers in Somalia, communities and households are employing a wide range of resilience capacities to respond. Conversations with global and local aid actors, community leaders, and program participants in Somalia helped to identify vital short-term strategies that can address the immediate impacts of the drought, as well as long term programming to strengthen household resilience.
Join PRO-WASH & SCALE to hear the latest findings and data from two resilience learning activities in Somalia: the Mercy Corps-led Somalia Resilience Population Measurement (RPM) Activity and the Somali Resilience Program (SomRep), led by a consortium of organizations and members including founding member World Vision. Participants will also have the opportunity to learn more about the factors that contribute to positive deviance in some households’ ability to cope with shocks and engage in a discussion about what this means for the way we plan and implement programs.
Speakers
Geoffrey Alala is the Director of Research for the Somalia Resilience Population Measurement Activity (RPM) at Mercy Corps based in Mogadishu, Somalia. Geoffrey has 12 years of experience in research and monitoring and evaluation with diverse programs including resilience programming and private sector development in Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan. In his current role, he leads the design and implementation of resilience measurement initiatives aimed at generating actionable evidence and learning to inform investments in resilience capacities that are most crucial for populations in the CDCS focal zone.
Jerome Galagade is the Head of Quality Assurance, Knowledge Management, and Monitoring and Evaluation for the Somalia Resilience Program (SomRep). Jerome has over a decade of experience in low-resource and fragile environments, particularly in Southern and Eastern Africa. He has lead collaborations with the government to refine the program's Annual Resilience Measurement (ARM) methodology and conduct seasonal assessment reviews, which gauge the impact, progress, and effectiveness of SomRep's interventions and provide insights into the most effective resilience approaches.