Refugee self reliance

The project is closely allied with a forestry project (6490122) and will be supported in part by Food for Work contracts. The GOS National Refugee Commission (NRC), the GOS Ministry of Planning, and U.S. and/or Somali PVO"s will implement the project. To improve the capacity of the NCR to perform its new duties as coordinator rather than implementor of refugee self-reliance activities, the project will provide critical managerial assistance. NRC personnel will be helped to develop systems that will enable GOS line agencies to plan and manage disaster relief projects; emphasis will be on ensuring that donor resources are equitably distributed. A data collection, storage, and retrieval system; a standardized system for evaluating refugee camp activities; and a foundation for inter-entity cooperation of Somalia"s refugee development needs will be established. To provide GOS agencies with a sound background for planning refugee self-reliance activities, the project will fund a coordinated research program; 4-7 socioeconomic and technical studies of issues related to long-range, self-reliant refugee development will be conducted. The bulk of the project funding will be devoted to specific refugee self-reliance interventions. In four regions, land for irrigated farming (1,300 ha) and for rainfed agriculture (700 ha) will be developed and individual family plots assigned. Three skills training and production centers for refugee women will be established; 25 km of access roads will be constructed and 50 km will be improved; 20 water crossings will be built. Somalis living near refugee camps will be encouraged to participate in these activities; 5,000 refugees/Somalis will be trained to farm and another 5,000 refugees will learn other skills. In conjunction with these interventions, training in project management/evaluation will be provided to GOS personnel. Finally, the project will provide for the remaining costs of refugee activity monitoring and program management which began following issuance of the Dewey Report. Refugee project assistants will collect data on and monitor the the refugee situation, including population status, commodity management, and GOS, other donor, and PV0 activities.