7,000 Displaced Families in Baidoa Have a New Home
Over the course of the last 8 months, with support from EU and Norway, more than 7,000 displaced families, spread among 54 camps in the southern Somali city of Baidoa, have received plots of land on which to build their own homes, ending years of poor living conditions and anxiety over possible eviction.
Under the leadership of the Government of South West State and the Baidoa Municipality, the EU-funded Enhancing Integration of Displacement Affected Communities in Somalia Consortium (EIDACS) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), with funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have supported the process to ensure that displacement affected families are granted permanent ownership of their land in Baidoa.
Supporting integration of displaced persons in Baidoa
Enhancing Integration of Displacement Affected Communities (EIDACS) is an EUTF-funded Consortium under the RE-INTEG programme, contributing to the creation of a conducive environment for Displacement Affected Communities (DACs), allowing them to reach durable solutions.
The project has so far reached more than 60,000 Somalis who are benefiting from:
- inter-community agreements and restoration of housing, land and property;
- improved standard of living through access to basic services; and
- increased access to realistic livelihoods.
Background
The city of Baidoa hosts the second largest number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Somalia, after Mogadishu: in January 2019, the figures reached 329,191, outnumbering the local resident population. After the 2017 drought, the number of IDP sites in Baidoa increased from 70, reaching 391 in 2019. This has put a heavy strain on the city’s capacity to host and provide services to the newcomers. Numerous households are at risk of eviction.
For More Information
Contacts: Attention: Anders Djurfeldt and Abdikadir Abdi
Email: DELEGATION-SOMALIA@eeas.europa.eu
Beatriz Valbuena
EIDACS Consortium Coordinator Somalia
beatriz.valbuena@concern.net
Geno Teofilo
Regional Head of Communications
Norwegian Refugee Council