Transforming Lives of Women in Drought-affected Jubaland with Livelihood Trainings and Opportunities for Women

A farming equipment and seed distribution organized by the Ministry of Women and CARE International with the support of UN Women in Kismayo, Jubaland celebrated women transforming their lives through the LEAP project, funded by the Government of Japan. Women beneficiaries shared the experiences of how their lives have changed in the drought and conflict-affected state.

UN Women Somalia in partnership with the Ministry of Women, Family Affairs and Human Rights (MoWFAHR) of Jubaland State of Somalia and CARE, distributed the farming essentials to one hundred internally displaced (IDPs) and marginalized women at an event held in Kismayo city on February 21, 2022.

This historic event was made possible through generous support from the Government of Japan-funded Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection (LEAP) project, which provides focused support to IDPs women and host communities in Kismayo and Baidoa to sustain livelihoods and resilience.

The UN Women’s LEAP program in Somalia adopted Triple Nexus programming in promoting women’s leadership in humanitarian settings, access to livelihood opportunities, preventing violence against women and girls in target communities and building and sustaining peace through gender-responsive stabilization and recovery of conflict-affected displaced women and men in Kismayo and Baidoa.

“UN Women’s integration of Triple Nexus into the LEAP program helped adopt a holistic approach to economic empowerment through which economic initiatives are paired with enhancing leadership skills for women, village savings and micro loans for establishing micro businesses are impacting women socially and economically and increased their resilience and self-esteem,” said Dr Syed Sadiq, Head of the UN Women Somalia Program.

Hon. Adar Ismail Abdullahi, Minister of Women, Family Affairs and Human Rights (MoWFAHR) delivered the keynote address and also led the distribution.

‘’I hereby confirm that the LEAP project produced fruitful results in promoting the access to livelihood opportunities for women and girls in Kismayo. Around 500 women benefited from the village savings and loans association, 300 women were trained for entrepreneurship and value chain management, 200 women trained on farming skills and 200 trained for climate smart agriculture,’’ said Adar Abdullahi, Minister of Women, Family Affairs and Human Rights.

Hon. Geele Mohamed Adan, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation expressed his gratitude for UN Women and Government of Japan.

‘’I urge UN Women and Government of Japan to continue this important contribution to the livelihoods of Somali women and I thereby recommend expanding this programme as its aligned to our priorities of climate smart agriculture, drought resilience and building sustainable livelihoods for our women and girls,’’ he said.

‘’From this LEAP programme and the small investment mobilized through the support among VSLA groups, enabled me to open my own small kiosk to be run by my family and we started earning daily income, and we also received training on climate smart agriculture and supply chain and post-harvest handling processes and management of community-based storage facilities which transformed our lives and increased our ability to grow resilient crops in a short period of time,’’ said Nadifo Mohamed, a beneficiary of the LEAP program and representative of the group of women who took part in the training.

Nadifo expressed her gratitude to the Ministry of Women, UN Women and Government of Japan and she recommended the continuation of these efforts while they have dire need for water pumping tools.

Two Members of Parliament, Director Generals of the Ministries of Women and Agriculture, senior government officials, traditional leaders and civil society members spoke during the event and conveyed thanks to the Government of Japan and UN Women for the distribution of these farming tools and seeds.

“Today we are going to distribute 14 different types of farming tools and 14 varieties of drought and soil resilient seeds to 100 Somali women through funding from UN Women and the Government of Japan, and It’s our pleasure that the Ministry of Agriculture and irrigation certified the seeds before the distribution,’’ said Abdirahman Ahmed Mohamed, Head of South-Central Office, CARE Somalia. He added that this is a widely admired initiative that will contribute to sustainable livelihoods, women’s economic empowerment and the food security in Jubaland Sate of Somalia.

Hon Minister Adar provided closing remarks and was joined by Dr. Sadiq and Hon Minister Geele, and distributed the items.