Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to assist local NGOs in Somalia to access (a) UK and (b) UN funding for humanitarian and peacebuilding projects.

Local Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) play an important role in delivering UK-funded humanitarian and peacebuilding support. The UK-funded Building Resilient Communities in Somalia consortium comprises both Somali and international NGOs working together to deliver life-saving famine prevention and resilience-building interventions. The UK is also a major supporter of the Somalia Humanitarian Fund, which in 2022 delivered 61 per cent of its funding (a total of $43 million) through national NGOs. The Start Network, of which the UK is the largest supporter, are establishing a Somali Humanitarian Hub to help increase local organisations' access to finance from the Network. In addition, the Somalia Stability Fund (SSF) in its third phase will offer a number of opportunities for local NGOs to support the implementation of SSF peacebuilding and reconciliation projects.