Faced by growing insecurity for staff and the need to cut out delays in food distribution to affected communities, aid agencies have increasingly been opting for direct cash transfers. But this relatively new model of humanitarian assistance is being questioned by authorities and local economists in Somaliland. Since 2013, cash assistance programmes for people affected by war and drought-induced crisis have become a preferred option, with thousands of recipients now receiving monthly cash through their mobile phones. The agencies argue that mobile money transfers enhance accountability, sidestep security challenges and enable recipients to get help quickly and easily.
Abdiaziz Ali Adani, head of communication in Somaliland for the international NGO Oxfam, told Radio Ergo that aid agencies adopted cash assistance programmes for affected people to enhance accountability and to give hope to the beneficiaries. He said Oxfam’s cash assistance was supporting thousands of people in 95 villages in Togdher, Sool and Sanag regions. “The programme focuses on the most vulnerable individuals including aged people, orphans and sick people, through committees in the camps,” Abdiaziz said, adding: “Each beneficiary gets $85 per month.”
However, the extensive use of cash is facing opposition from local authorities and professionals, who claim the programmes make people more dependent and deny them the chance to rebuild their lives. Abdikarim Ahmed Hinif, the chairperson of Somaliland Refugees and IDP Committee, estimated the amount spent annually on cash transfers to $6,507, 840. This could have been invested in projects supporting durable and sustainable solutions for the displaced: “In three months, over $1 million is reportedly spent on the [cash assistance] programme targeting 6,779 families in Somaliland. With over $6,000,000 annually, such money could have been used to buy about 216,900 head of goats. On average, every family would get about 46 goats and that would be a life-changing progress,”Hinif argued.
Hinif said Somaliland authorities will be meeting with aid agencies operating in the region next month to address these issues and find sustainable solutions to internal displacement. Abdikadir Mohamud Yonis, an economist based in Hargeisa town, shared a similar view: “The agencies should be kept accountable. They should focus on where the problems lie. This programme is just like distributing food and should be stopped. We need a plan to support these people to return to their previous livelihood.”
Despite such criticism, however, the delivery of cash seems to be a popular approach among the recipients. Shamis Elmi Mohamed, a mother of nine, fled a rural area on the outskirts of Erigavo after she lost 500 goats in 2016 to the drought. After resettling in Gar-Adag village, 187km from Erigavo town, the aid agencies registered her as one of the beneficiaries of the cash assistance programme. Although she still faces some challenges including lack of access to education for her children, Shamis receives $85 per month that she uses to support her family.