Reports & Assessments
Lifeline Gedo generates its own field evidence. Our teams live in the communities we serve, which means we can reach villages that outside agencies cannot — and we publish what we find. Every assessment below was collected by Somali enumerators in Gedo region.
Bardheere District Rapid Needs Assessment — Flood Exposure, El Niño Outlook and Response Gaps Ahead of the 2026 Deyr Season
Bardheere is heading into the 2026 Deyr rains with a wet forecast, a broken river crossing and almost no community preparedness. Our teams assessed LLG's 14 target locations on 25 September 2026 through key informant interviews and focus group discussions split by sex, age and displacement status, and read the findings against Bardheere Area Based Coordination records and SoDMA, FAO SWALIM, FEWS NET, ICPAC and IPC data. Local rain has already damaged shelters, latrines and wells — before the river has risen.
- The flood risk is still ahead. The Juba at Luuq stood at 2.28 m on 29 September, far below its 5.50 m moderate-risk threshold — but the river here rises with upstream rain, so it can rise while Bardheere stays dry.
- Bardheere meets the rains without its bridge. The 1978 crossing collapsed in the November 2023 floods; people now cross the Juba by small boat, and fares rise whenever it rains.
- Heavy local rain has already done damage. Roughly a third to a half of shelters in the IDP sites visited leaked or partly collapsed, and pit latrines flooded or collapsed in a third to two-thirds of those sites. Shallow wells in riverine villages turned brown and were abandoned.
- Fear is widespread. Seven to nine in ten focus group participants said they were afraid of the next rain or a river rise. “We sleep with our shoes on,” said a woman in an IDP focus group.
- Warning systems are thin: only 24.2% of sites have a working early warning mechanism and 9.1% an active community disaster committee. Women, older people and persons with disabilities are the least able to move.
- What is in place: WFP has approved LLG's anticipatory cash transfers of USD 100 for 10,667 households in Bardheere; group cash of USD 116,000 for 16 communities is validated with transfers pending; two health facilities and six ICCM+ sites are running; and AARAN flood works are under way at Mardha, Suuqyare, Kurman and Arjino.
- What is not yet funded: water and sanitation at the 14 locations, shelter and NFI kits for IDP sites, multipurpose cash after impact, health outreach and disease supplies, a three-month nutrition buffer, and early warning and evacuation readiness.
Conducted by Lifeline Gedo. Assessment date 25 September 2026; external data current to 29 September 2026, before the Deyr rains. Locations covered: Bandar, Habal Adey, Bulo Garas Northwest, Bulo Asharaf–Mardha, Barwaaqo, Horseed, Bulo Adey, Shimbirole East, Kulan, Liban, Kulmiye, Iftin, Hurena and Baygaljecel.
Impact of the Ongoing Drought on Vulnerable Communities in Gedo Region, Somalia
Gedo region is facing a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis driven by prolonged drought, consecutive failed rainy seasons, conflict-related displacement, and collapsing livelihood productivity. Following the failure of the Deyr 2025 rains, our teams assessed eighteen locations across six districts using key informant interviews, focus group discussions and direct observation, triangulated against FSNAU and FAO seasonal data. The findings describe a population running out of coping strategies.
- Cereal production in the Deyr 2025 season reached roughly 1,000 metric tonnes — about 21% of the long-term average and 54% of the five-year average.
- Around 75% of villages visited had no functional health facility, forcing families to travel more than five kilometres for basic care.
- Roughly 70% of villages depended on rainwater catchments as their main perennial water source; these dried up about four months before the assessment.
- Water prices more than doubled — a 20-litre jerrycan rose from USD 0.15 to USD 0.40, and a 200-litre drum reached USD 8 in Ceel Waaq district.
- Staple prices rose sharply: maize and sorghum climbed from USD 1.20 to USD 2.00 per kilogram, a 67% increase, while 73% of households reported spending only about USD 1 a day on food.
- Protection risks intensified, particularly for women and girls collecting water over long distances, and for displaced households arriving in urban centres with no assets.
Conducted by Lifeline Gedo with technical support from Concern Worldwide, in collaboration with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management of Jubbaland State of Somalia. Districts covered include Baardheere, Luuq, Doolow, Ceel Waaq, Belet Xaawo, Garbahaarey and Buurdhuubo.
Rapid Nutrition Assessment — Elwak, Gedo Region
A rapid MUAC assessment of children under five in Elwak, carried out to give an up-to-date picture of the nutrition situation in a district where the absence of a stabilisation centre and supplementary feeding programme was forcing families to seek treatment across the Kenyan border — with cross-border permit delays costing lives.
- Illness among screened children was dominated by fever (33%), diarrhoea (12%) and cough (10%).
- 56% of children aged 6–59 months had not received vitamin A supplementation, and 53.6% had no measles vaccination — leaving the population exposed to a measles outbreak.
- 81% of children under five had been given powdered or animal milk alongside breastfeeding during their first six months, against exclusive breastfeeding guidance.
- The assessment recommended establishing outpatient and inpatient therapeutic care within the district rather than relying on cross-border referral.
Conducted by the Lifeline Gedo nutrition team with technical support from Action Against Hunger. Fieldwork 10–13 April 2021.
Multi-Sectoral Needs Assessment — Elwak District, Gedo Region
A household-level assessment across eight villages in Elwak district, designed to identify WASH, food security, health and nutrition gaps, to measure the scale of vulnerability among the population in need, and to map which agencies were working where so that gaps in assistance could be identified and closed.
- 73% of households included elderly persons, 15% a person living with a disability, 7% a person with chronic illness and 4% a person living with mental illness.
- 77% of respondents named lack of money to buy food as the main barrier to food access; the average coping strategy index reached 10.5, indicating heavy reliance on harmful coping.
- 34% drew water from an unprotected well, and 72% reported that their main water source tasted bad. Children were the household members most often sent to collect water, according to 47% of respondents.
- Only 26% of children were exclusively breastfed, 58% had been de-wormed and 43% had been vaccinated.
- Drought was the leading cause of displacement, and the relationship between displaced families and host communities was reported as good.
Conducted by Lifeline Gedo with technical support from Action Against Hunger. Fieldwork 11–19 November 2020 in Bulo-Adey, Bulo-Garas, Dharkeyn-dhoqa, Dheeka, Dul-cad, Howlwadaag, Oktobar and Qansaxley. Compiled by Osman Mohamed, Programmes Director.
Assessments That Lead to Response
We do not assess for the sake of assessing. Each of these reports was written to move resources — to show clusters, donors and consortium partners exactly where the gaps sit, and to shape the interventions that follow. Our recommendations are costed, sequenced by urgency, and aligned to the Somalia Humanitarian Response Plan and cluster strategic objectives.
Locally collected
Our enumerators are from Gedo. They speak the language, know the villages, and can reach locations that remain inaccessible to international staff — which is why partners commission assessments through us.
Triangulated
Field data is cross-checked against FSNAU, FAO and cluster datasets before publication, so the figures stand up to donor scrutiny.
Protection-sensitive
Focus group discussions are gender-segregated and group-specific, so women, youth, elders, pastoralists and displaced families can speak openly about issues they would not raise in a mixed setting.
Openly shared
We publish our assessments in full. Partners, government counterparts and other agencies are welcome to use them for their own planning and proposals.
For raw datasets, sector-specific breakdowns, or an assessment in a district not covered here, contact info@lifelineorganisation.org.
The Needs Are Documented. The Response Is Underfunded.
Every figure in these reports represents families waiting for assistance that has not arrived.