The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that it has received USD 18.7 million in flexible funding from Belgium, Canada, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, and Switzerland to sustain emergency food assistance in Somalia. This support will allow WFP to continue providing lifesaving food aid to drought-affected communities through July, after previously warning of a serious funding shortfall that could have forced a suspension of operations.
Somalia is facing a deepening humanitarian crisis driven by prolonged drought, insecurity, displacement, and limited humanitarian access. Around 6.5 million people, or roughly one-third of the population, are experiencing crisis-level hunger or worse, including more than 2 million people facing emergency levels of food insecurity. The situation has been further worsened by reduced humanitarian assistance, increasing the risk of widespread hunger.
WFP officials have described the situation as extremely severe, noting that millions of children and mothers are going without sufficient food each day as household food supplies run out. While the new funding provides short-term relief, WFP emphasized that continued assistance depends on urgent additional contributions to prevent a further deterioration of conditions.
Flexible funding enables WFP to allocate resources quickly where needs are most urgent, respond to multiple global hunger crises, and support underfunded emergencies. In Somalia, the current funding will help reach around half a million people in April alone, although this still represents less than 10 percent of those in need of humanitarian support.
Despite the new contributions, WFP has warned that it still requires USD 131 million to sustain emergency food and nutrition assistance for Somalia’s most vulnerable populations through October.
