Welcome to the United Nations
The Federal Republic of Somalia’s VNR Main message
The Federal Republic of Somalia (FGS) is honoured to present its first Voluntary National Review report on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Over the last decade, Somalia has made significant progress towards implementing institutional reforms as demonstrated by the country’s sustained economic growth and significant political developments. Somalia’s Ninth National Development Plan aligns and mainstreams the Sustainable Development Goals across the Government's agenda. The National Bureau of Statistics has developed an online data visualising dashboard and an online goal tracker to monitor the performance of the SDGs. Wide-ranging consultations have been undertaken with civil society, Government and the private sector as well as a dedicated session with Somalia’s youth who comprise over 70% of the population. Somalia is committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals despite the many challenges beyond its control.
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative
During the last five years, Somalia has dedicated intense efforts to improving macroeconomic stability through a comprehensive set of reforms including financial governance and debt management, adopting a poverty reduction strategy and supporting inclusive growth. In March 2020, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank's International Development Association determined that Somalia had met the conditions to begin receiving debt relief under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative which would see Somalia's debt reduced from $5.2billion to £557million once it reaches the HIPC Completion point. For Somalia, debt relief and regaining access to financial resources would mean lasting change by strengthening and diversifying the economy and introducing sustainable job creation as well as developing infrastructure; all of which shall raise millions of Somalis out of poverty.
Poverty
Nearly seven out of 10 Somalis live in poverty, the sixth-highest rate in the region. Poverty averages at 69 percent among nomadic pastoralists, agro pastoralists and IDPs; by contrast poverty in urban areas is lower at 60 percent. The Federal Republic of Somalia has prioritized poverty reduction and promoting inclusive growth in its 'Ninth National Development Plan'. In implementing poverty reduction, the Somali Government has launched the ‘National Social Protection Policy’ through which the “Baxnaano” programme was introduced in 2019 to support 188,677 households through nutrition linked cash transfers. This programme reached over a million of the poorest and most vulnerable Somalis.
Education
The right to education is a fundamental human right as is recognised by article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; however, only 53 percent of children and 55 percent of youth attend school in Somalia. The education sector is highly privatized. Access to education is mostly limited to households with financial means and those without are deprived of basic education. However, despite these challenges, in 2017 the Federal Government approved the national curriculum and curriculum resources were distributed to all primary and secondary schools. Furthermore, the Somali Government has, in collaboration with Partners, supported 377,213 children to attend school and trained 2,217 teachers to enhance capacity.
Access to Information and Mobile Money
Somalia made substantial progress on access to 3G mobile data with an increase from 38.7% in 2016 to 65.2% of the population in 2017. In mobile money use, Somalia is a leader with over 70% of the adult population using this service regularly.
Health
Somalia has reduced maternal mortality from 732 in 2015 to 692 per 100,000 live births. Considerable effort has been expended to increase access to health services through increasing fixed and mobile health clinics, increasing vaccinations as well as training health workers. The Somali Government together with its Partners provided essential health services to 488,745 outpatient department consultations including the immunization of 76,238 children; Further, it provided 87,564 antenatal care visits, 5,958 facility-based deliveries and 516,334 health promotions.
Climate-related shocks
Somalia is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate-related shocks. The last two years have been an exceptionally difficult period exacerbated by persistent drought, floods, locust swarms, and Covid19. For Somalia, the impact of climate change has meant the loss of livelihood for pastoral and agricultural communities, increased conflict over resource scarcity and widespread displacement as well as food shortages. The Government developed the National Water Resource Strategy for the period 2021-2025 which provides actions to safeguard Somalia’s water resources.
