Woman in IDP camp

UNDP Somalia

In action

Highlights

World Environment Day
Turning the Tide: UNDP and Somali Youth Advocate for a Plastic-Free Future on World Environment Day

Plastic pollution poses a major global problem, with 400 million tons of plastic produced annually. Each day, over 2,000 garbage trucks deposit plastic waste into our oceans, rivers, and lakes, yet only a third of it undergoes recycling.

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Media
Somalia’s women journalists fight for human rights

Bilan Media – Somalia’s only all-women news team – uses its hard-won freedom of expression to highlight rights abuses and achievements

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Blog
It’s dangerous being a female journalist in Somalia. But, one year on, we are still shining our light

Since Bilan, the country’s only all-women media house, was born last April, we’ve covered everything from HIV to opioids. Now we want to go global

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PRESS RELEASE
Somalia’s first all-women media team hits first-year anniversary

Somalia’s groundbreaking all-women media team, Bilan, today celebrates a year of smashing taboos and blazing a trail for women journalists in a country ranked as one of the most dangerous places to report the news.

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Media
Can one woman with a phone and a laptop change society?

The Chief Editor of Somalia’s only all-women media team believes she can by using mobile journalism to break down barriers and open up new ground for women in the media

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Gender
Women get a seat at the peacebuilding table

Joint UN initiative supports women to influence and improve efforts to bring an end to long-standing conflicts around Somalia

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Press Release
Hope for better jobs eclipses religious ideology as main driver of recruitment to violent extremist groups in Sub-Saharan Africa

New UN Development Programme report findings challenge traditional assumptions about what drives people to violent extremism, and highlight urgent need to move away from security-driven responses to development-based approaches focused on prevention

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Media
Lyse Doucet masterclass caps 6 amazing months for Bilan

Bilan advisor, Mary Harper, reflects on the stellar rise of Somalia’s first all-women media team

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Climate
New perspectives on forced displacement

In a new report, Turning the tide on internal displacement: A development approach to solutions, UNDP offers a blueprint to help millions of people who have been forced from home by conflict or disaster.

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Gender
Somali Women Media Project (Bilan)

Somalia’s first all-women media team, Bilan Media, puts women journalists in control of the news agenda

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SDG VNR report cover horizontal
SDGs
Somalia's first SDG Voluntary National Review launched

New report gathers latest data and analysis of Somalia's progress on all 17 SGDs.

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Climate
Drought-proofing Somalia's rangelands

New infrastructure from UNDP and the GEF helps herders survive even when the rains fail

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Media
NEXT GENERATION OF SOMALI WOMEN JOURNALISTS

Internship programme starts at Bilan, Somalia's first all-women media team

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Stories

Climate change

Facing hunger

Long-term development is key to fighting drought and saving lives. UNDP's projects on climate change, water management, disaster risk reduction and economic development all work together to help Somalia and its rural communities withstand natural disasters

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Somali pastoralists wash clothes in arid area

Our mission

UNDP is the leading UN organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality and climate change in Somalia. 

Our programmes help the Somali government and people access the skills, technology and funding they need to drive their own development in areas including climate adaptation and mitigation, gender empowerment, the rule of law, national and local governance, job creation and skill development, innovation, peacebuilding and more.

Stories

Conflict mediation

Local voices: Dealing with domestic violence in a Somali town

Khowla is the coordinator of Baidoa's Dispute Resolution Centre, which is run with the support of UNDP to provide counselling and mediation services to people from the town itself and also nearby districts.

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Somali woman

Recent news

Blog
Turning the Tide: UNDP and Somali Youth Advocate for a Plastic-Free Future on World Environment Day

Read more

See All Stories

Key stats

16

Million

Total population

70

Percent

Population using safely managed drinking water services

49

Percent

Population with access to electricity

80

Percent

Population working in agriculture

35

Percent

Proportion of women married before age 18

692

Women

Maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 live births