10 Dec Somaliland-Poverty-Profile (January 2015)
Somaliland-Poverty-Profile.
1. Introduction
1. Somaliland has no survey-based measure of poverty or inequality. As such, very little is known about whether Somaliland’s development in recent years has resulted in broad-based gains or whether the benefits have been shared by a few. This report provides information on levels of poverty and inequality in Somaliland, discusses in more detail the nature of deprivation and the main characteristics of those that are poor. Providing accurate and robust data on poverty and the nature of the income distribution in Somaliland is important both for the Government of Somaliland to be able to set policy priorities and also for the World Bank and other development partners as they seek the best way to engage in Somaliland.
2. Between 2005 and 2012, a number of data collection exercises were done in Somaliland to document access to services and food insecurity. Two rounds of Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) were completed by UNICEF in 2006 and 2012. The MICSreports provide nationally representativestatistics on access to education and health services, and indicators of maternal and child health. The United National Development Programme (UNDP) administered the Participatory Community Census for Poverty Assessment and Mapping in 2006-07. The Community Census was conducted at a regional level and collected qualitative data on the living characteristics and access to services in settlements throughout Somaliland. The community census data is settlement level and documents the availability and usage of various civic services (schools, health facilities, telephones, water) and on perception of poverty. The Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) conducts periodic monitoring of food situation in the greater Somalia region. The FSNAU reports data on availability of food in the country and prices faced by different regions in Somaliland. However, none of these statistical exercises in Somaliland have a monetary indicator of poverty. A monetary aggregate of poverty is necessary to identify the poor, and study the nature and extent of deprivations for the poor and the non-poor.
3. Following a request from the Ministry of Planning and Development, the World Bank carried out a Somaliland Household and Enterprise Survey 2013. The survey included (i) a Household Survey (SLHS) based largely upon the World Bank’s Living Standard Measurement Study survey to enable construction of a monetary measure of poverty and poverty analysis to be conducted along multiple dimensions, and (ii) an Enterprise Survey to enable the characteristics of, and binding constraints upon, the private sector in Somaliland to be identified. The SHES 2013 was implemented by Kimetrica in close partnership with the Ministry of Planning and Development.
4. This note is prepared by the World Bank Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) Africa unit based on the Somaliland Household Survey (SLHS), which was completed in 2013. The note uses the SHS 2013 to construct a consumption based measure of poverty and inequality, and provides a quantitative assessment of demographic and welfare characteristics of the poor. The
10 objective of the note is to increase understanding of the multiple dimensions of poverty in Somaliland, and to understand the key characteristics of the poorest households and the economic activities from which they derive their living. A better understanding of the nature of poverty and the economic characteristics of those in poverty provides an insight into the nature of economic growth that is most likely to benefit poverty reduction.
5. The estimates of economic activity such as income and major sources of livelihood presented in this note are different from the findings of UNDP Community Census (UNDP 2007). The community census was based on perceptions of economic activity and living standards in a settlement. The community survey was done at a settlement level, and not individual / household level. Moreover, the community census included survey of nomadic settlements, which were not included the SLHS. The different survey methodologies employed in the UNDP reports and SLHS are possible sources of difference in estimates. The advantage of SLHS is that it collects individual or household level information on living standard and economic activity, and quantifies information wherever possible. As such, the estimates of this note are generally consistent to MICS (2012), which was also based on a nationally representative household survey and conducted within one year of SLHS.
6. The report follows the following outline. In Section 2, we provide a summary of the poverty and inequality estimates of Somaliland, and an international comparison of key welfare indicators of Somaliland relative to the neighboring countries. Section 3 focuses on the demographic characteristics of poverty followed by a discussion of the economic livelihoods of poor households in Somaliland in Section 4. The report examines other dimensions of deprivation in Section 5. The issue of gender disparity in welfare estimates is addressed in Section 6. The penultimate sectiondiscusses covariates of poverty, and Section 8 concludes.Somaliland-Poverty-Profile.