The Learning Brief: Cash assistance for mitigation of gender-based violence in Somalia

In 2021, Somalia witnessed a catastrophic increase in the number of vulnerable women and girls exposed to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) risks. Natural disasters and armed conflicts resulted in multiple displacements, forced evictions, and the destruction of livelihoods, health facilities, GBV service sites and schools. To mitigate the unprecedented and complicated humanitarian emergency in Somalia, the GBV Area of Responsibility (AoR) and Cash Working Group joined their effort to understand how to better mitigate GBV risks of vulnerable women and girls. Between November 2020 and January 2021, a series of webinars and practical sessions were carried out for 142 GBV and Cash working group actors in Somalia. As a result of the capacity built in these workshops, UNFPA advocated for and applied to implement a Central Emergency Respond Fund, Anticipatory Action (CERF AA) grant for direct cash assistance to vulnerable women and girls to mitigate GBV risks.