“We are stuck in a vicious cycle” People in Somalia on resilience, livelihoods, and aid (January 2026)
Executive summary
People across Somalia see their situations becoming more precarious, and the challenges they confront becoming more intractable. To address this people want support which helps them build better futures, not just meet their immediate needs.
Based on a survey of 7,460 people across 11 districts in Somalia, this report shows that communities want support to help meet today’s most urgent needs and to build futures that are less dependent on aid, less exposed to climate shocks, and more economically secure. Instead, many are caught in a cycle of fragile livelihoods, eroding social support, widening inequality, and accelerating climate risks. People are clear about what resilience means to them, and why it feels increasingly out of reach.
This research is based on a participatory co-design process,1 where community members defined their key priorities to direct the research design. Communities we spoke to are clear that their focus is on building more resilient and independent futures. They define resilience as the ability withstand an income shock without losing one’s assets, resources, or livelihoods entirely– in other words, minimising losses during a shock, allowing households to maintain as much of their original level of subjective wellbeingaspossibleastheyemergefromthatshock.2 Usingthisdefinition,thereport introduces a perception-based resilience index spanning the five dimensions people told us were the most important drivers of resilience: access to assets and livelihoods, social capital, climate coping capacity, and access to services and security. Respondents are clear that without reliable livelihoods, access to basic services, and the resources to adapt to climate change, resilience remains out of reach. IDPs, women, people in rural areas, and marginalised groups consistently fare worst across all dimensions of resilience.
Key findings:
1. Communities want support that balances immediate needs and long-term aspiration People want sustainable support that helps them survive today and escape precarity tomorrow. This means life-saving aid and support that leaves lasting improvements to basic services, economies and infrastructure needs to be sequenced and combined. Food insecurity and hunger remain acute, but lack of livelihood opportunities is the single biggest challenge people report. Despite being the main focus of humanitarian assistance, IDPs are the least satisfied with aid, with 68% sharing negative views on its effectiveness.
2. People prioritise secure livelihoods and access to financial resources Livelihoods sit at the centre of how people understand resilience. 53% of the people we spoke to mention lack of livelihood opportunities as the biggest challenge they face in their communities, and almost half of respondents feel pessimistic about the future prospects of their livelihoods. Many people are already making efforts to adapt their livelihoods to the changing climate. Over 85%offarmersandpastoralists said they have considered changing or improving their farming or livestock-keeping practices to maintain production during difficult times, but lack of financial resources is the biggest barrier. Casual labourers– disproportionately IDPs, women, and marginalised groups– face unstable, overcrowded, and low-paid work with the bleakest future outlooks.
3. Community cooperation and social safety nets are under pressure Social capital was named as one of the key drivers of resilience by people we spoke to, yet 71%saytheyhavenoonetoturntoforfinancialhelpinacrisis. 54%believe communities rarely cooperate to solve common problems, mainly due to a lack of resources.
4. Climate impacts are widely felt and coping capacity is low Worsening climate shocks compound people’s existing vulnerabilities, presenting a growing challenge. While their effects are felt in the cities too, IDPs and rural residents feel least able to withstand future shocks. Half of respondents in rural are as said their communities do not cope well with climate hazards(50%) and were not confident in their households’ ability to withstand climate hazards without falling deeper into poverty (47%). Similarly, 56% of IDPs lacked confidence in the ability of their community to cope, and 49% felt the same about their own households. People consistently call for strengthened water infrastructure, flood protection, and safer shelters, tailored to local hazard profiles.
5. Access to basic services and security are preconditions for better futures Basic services and security are foundations of resilience. Access to electricity, healthcare, water, and education are the biggest challenges, particularly for IDPs andrural communities. Despite this, 74% of respondents say they feel safe in daily life, and 57% say communities work together to improve security.
