Design & Implementation of Multi-Hazard Early Warning System(MHEWS) – New Concept
Developed by Z M Sajjadul Islam, Coordinator Early Warning for All (EW4ALL) – UNDRR
Executive Summary
The proposed Early Warning for All(EW4ALL) implementation strategy considers Somalia’s existing disaster/climate risk, fragility, conflict, and vulnerability (FCV) context. A robust implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for multi-hazard/disaster risk management governance systems is considered the most appropriate solution to the governance paradox. It concurrently leverages how to overcome governance fragility challenges and bridge the gaps among last-mile non-state development actors, the private sector, and central-level federal and state actors (government) in the disaster risk management governance system. The most considerable imperative is that the Somali mobile penetration reaches 80% of the country’s population, laying the groundwork for an ICT-driven, agile online system structured as an open-ended system to facilitate the implementation of the EW4ALL pillar actions for Somalia.
The proposed ICT tools-driven online system of the national multi-hazard early warning system (NMHEWS) underscores the technical nexus of fostering potential digital partnerships among all actors through the implementation of ICT tools-based informed multi-hazard risk governance management and the overall improvement of hydrometeorological services and Early Warning Systems. More specifically, the purpose of this report is to provide valuable insights into the nuances of ICT-driven early warning systems (EWS) implementation within affected contexts against growing natural hazards, offering technical risk-governance and identifying entry points where an ICT tools supported mechanism to link climate frontline stakeholders, community and smallholder entrepreneurs as last-mile key informant and to be interacting them with the EW4ALL system, enhancing last-mile stakeholder digital coordination, optimizing multi-hazard risk-informed and climate proof local development planning, resource allocation, and fostering community readiness to better preparedness for, respond to and resilience-building to any impending hazardous multi-hazards.
Contents
1.1 Objective of the Assessment and Full-scale EW4ALL Implementation Strategy Development: 9
2.0 Challenges of Multi-hazard Risk Management Governance in the Somalin FCV context 13
2.2 Objective of the Interoperable NMHEWS for Somalia: 20
2.3 Urgency of Implementation of ICT-based Multi-Hazard Risk Management Governance: 21
2.4 Key indicators of ICT-driven EW4ALL action priorities for Somalia in FCV context. 22
3.0 Pillar 1 Implementation Strategy (Improving Disaster Risk Knowledge): 24
3.1 The ongoing SoDMA Structure : 24
3.2 The NMHEWC ongoing operational structure : 25
3.3 Proposed Interoperable NMHEWS : 27
3.3.1 Establish a digital partnership among the stakeholders and prime actors: 27
3.3.2 Design and implementation of an Interoperability Online geospatial system: 30
3.6 Implementation of Geospatial Platform ( Open-Source/ ESRI Licensed ) : 33
3.6.1 Component of Open-Source Geospatial Platform: 34
3.6.2 Installation of Geoserver : 35
3.6.5 Deploying Web based data sharing platform with apps : 38
3.6.6 Implementing Web converting common alerting protocol (CAP )apps : 38
3.8 Improving Risk Knowledge of stakeholders. 42
Options to bridge last-mile multi-hazard risk knowledge gaps. 42
3.9 Improving Risk Knowledge of Sector Value Chain Operators: 42
3.10 The following are the recommendations for Disaster Risk Knowledge Management Governance. 43
3.11 Review Stakeholder Partnership & Coordination Mechanism.. 47
3.12 Partnership for Data Coordination and Exchange Mechanism.. 48
3.13 Upgrade and Activation of an Interoperable Situation Room and NMHEWS at SoDMA–NMHEWC (): 50
3.14 NMHEWS service deliverability for improving risk knowledge: 53
3.14.1 Understanding Disaster Risk of the Locality. 53
3.14.2 Frontline community needs to understand Disaster Risk in their Locality : 54
3.14.3 Enhancing the risk knowledge of Smallholder crop farmers: 54
3.14.4 Climate Vulnerable Productive Sector Departments: 61
3.14.6 Improving risk knowledge of Humanitarian actors: 70
3.14.7 Improving risk knowledge of entrepreneurs & Value Chain Operators. 72
4.0 Pillar 2 : Improving surface observation, Monitoring, and Forecasting. 74
4.1 Current forecasting mechanism of Somalia : 75
4.2 Indicative challenges in national forecasting service delivery : 75
4.3 Recommendations on improving the national forecasting service delivery: 76
4.4 Recommendations on improving the sector-specific national forecasting service delivery : 77
4.5 Recommendations on improving hydrometeorological services: 79
5.0 Pillar 3 Implementation Strategy ( Warning dissemination and communication) 101
5.1 Indicative Challenges of Warning Dissemination and Communication. 102
5.2 Developing a Common Alerting Protocol(CAP) : 106
5.4 Develop and disseminate a common alerting protocol (CAP) on imminent hazards, weather : 110
5.5 Improving terrestrial Broadcasting. 112
5.7 NCA Mandates National Broadcasters, News Outlets for dissemination. 116
5.8 UN Clusters data contribution for impact forecasting. 117
6.0 Pillar 4 : Improving Preparedness and Response Capabilities. 121
6.1 Central Objectives for Improving Preparedness and Response Capabilities. 121
6.2 Recommendations on a Coherent Sector-Level Actionable Policy Framework. 121
6.3 Improving Forecast-based Anticipatory Action Planning Capacity: 121
6.5 Hazard risk-informed Humanitarian actions. 123
6.7 Improving Last-Mile Disaster Preparedness Capacity. 125
6.8 Improving Community-based Early Warning Capacity. 127
6.9 How to develop the Anticipatory Action (AA) Framework. 128
6.10 Improve the disaster risk financing system: 135
6.11 Supporting the implementation of risk-informed DRM and DRR. 136
6.12 Improve DRM Planning at the local level : 136
6.13 Gender responsive DRR framework : 137
Acronym
AA Anticipatory Action
AM Amplitude Modulation
AMM Africa Media Monitor
APIs Application programming interfaces
ARC African Risk Capacity
AWD Acute Watery Diarrhea
AWS automated weather station
BCPs Business Continuity Plans
CAP Common Alerting Protocol
CB Cell-Broadcast
CBDRM Community Based Disaster Risk Management
CBO Community-based organization
CBS Central Bank of Somalia
CCA Climate Change Adaptation
CCM Convention on Cluster Munitions
CIMA International Centre for Environmental Monitoring
CPC Civil protection committee
CREWS Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems
CRVA Climate risk and vulnerability assessments
CSO Civil Services Organization
DDMT Disaster Management Team
DFID Department for International Development Government of the United Kingdom
DINA Drought Impact and Needs Assessment
DM Disaster Management
DMA Disaster Management Agency
DMC Disaster Management Committee
DRM Disaster Risk Management
DRMCG Disaster Risk Management Coordination Group
DRR Disaster Risk Reduction
DTM Displacement Tracking Matrix
DTS Disaster Tracking System
EOC Emergency Operation Centre
ETT Emergency Tracking Tools
EW Early Warning
EW4ALL Early warning for all
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization
FBF
FEWSNET Famine Early Warning Systems Network
FGS Federal Government of Somalia
FM Frequency Modulation
FSNAU Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit
GDP Gross domestic product
GIS geographic information system
GMAS Global Multi-hazard Alert System
GPS The Global Positioning System
GSM Global System Mobile
GTOS Global Terrestrial Observing System
HC Humanitarian Coordinator
HCT Humanitarian Country Team
HPC High-performance Computer
IBF Impact-based Forecast
ICPAC IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre
ICS Incident Command System
ICT Information and Communications Technology
IDP Internally Displaced Person
IDRR International Day for Disaster Reduction
IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development
IFRC International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
IGAD Intergovernmental Authority on Development
IGADD Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development
LITK local, indigenous and traditional knowledge
ILK Indigenous and local knowledge
INGO International Non Government Organization
IOM International Organization for Migration
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
ITCZ Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone
ITU International Telecommunication Union
IRV Interactive Voice Response
L & D Loss and Damage
LB-SMS Location-based SMS
LCG-DER local coordination group on disaster emergency response
LNHAs Local National Humanitarian Actors
LNNGOs Local and National NGOs
MoAI Ministry for Agriculture and Irrigation
MoFBE Ministry of Fisheries and Blue Economy
MOLFR Ministry of Livestock, Forestry And Range
MoPIED Ministry of Planning, Investment and Economic Development
MoEWR Ministry of Energy & Water Resources
MoHADM Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management
MTR Mid Term Review
NAPA National Adaptation Plan of Action
NCA National Community Authority
NDMF National Disaster Management Fund
NDRMC National Disaster Risk Management Council
NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
NMHEWC National Multi-hazard Early Warning Center
NMHEWS National Multi-hazard Early Warning System(Online)
MHEWS Multi-hazard Early Warning System(Online)
NGO Non-Government Organization
NMHSs National Meteorological and Hydrological Services
NSO National Statistical Office
OCHA Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
OI Officer In-charge
OPM Office of the Prime Minister
PDNA Post-disaster loss, damage, and needs assessment
Q&A Questions and answers
RPDNA Rapid Post-Disaster Needs Assessment
RVAC Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Committee
RS Remote Sensing
RMC Regional Meteorological Center
RSMCs Regional Specialist Meteorological Center
SADD sex, age, disability disaggregated data
SDG Sustainable Development Goals
SDRMCG Somalia Disaster Risk Management Coordination Group
SFDRR Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction
SMS Short Message Service
SNDMP Somalia National Disaster Management Policy
SNDP Somalia National Development Plan
SoDMA Somalia Disaster Management Agency
SoD Standing orders in Disaster
SoP Standard Operating Procedure
SRCS Somalia Red Crescent Society
SWALIM Somalia Water and Land Information Management
SWALIM Somalia Water and Land Information Management
TWG Technical Working Group
UAV Unmanned aerial vehicle
UHF Ultra-high frequency
UN United Nations
UNCCA United Nations Convention against Corruption
UNCDF UN Capital Development Fund
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNDRR United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
UNFPA United Nations Population Fund
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNICEF United nations international children’s emergency fund
UNRCO United Nations Resident Coordinator Office
UNV UN Volunteers
VAC Vulnerability Assessment Committee
WASH Water, sanitation, and hygiene
WFP UN World Food Programme
WHO World Health Organization
WMO World Meteorological Organization
1.0 Introduction
Somalia faces persistent and severe climate-related risks including recurrent droughts, floods, cyclones, and other extreme weather events which are exacerbated by its broader Fragility, Conflict, and Vulnerability (FCV) landscape. These overlapping pressures undermine the coping capacity of communities and institutions, highlighting the urgent need for a modern, coordinated, and ICT-enabled National Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (NMHEWS). Such a system would enhance Somalia’s ability to detect, forecast, communicate, and respond to hazards in a timely, impact-informed, and coordinated manner.
To support this need, a comprehensive institutional and technical assessment was undertaken as part of a field mission informed by stakeholder consultations under the global Early Warning for All (EW4ALL) initiative. The mission aimed to evaluate Somalia’s operational readiness to implement EW4ALL across all four pillars: risk knowledge, monitoring and forecasting, warning dissemination and communication, and preparedness and response. The assessment also sought to verify whether Somalia’s governance, institutional architecture, and ICT systems are capable of hosting an integrated online platform for multi-hazard early warning.
A central component of the assessment focused on reviewing the current operational status and capabilities of the Somalia Disaster Management Agency (SoDMA), particularly its National Multi-Hazard Early Warning Center (NMHEWC). This included a detailed analysis of the center’s ICT infrastructure databases, hardware, servers, software applications, modeling tools, network topology, data connectivity, and internet backbone as well as the technical skills and human resource capacity required to manage and disseminate disaster risk information effectively. The mission examined the center’s ability to conduct hazard monitoring, forecast production, impact analysis, and streamlined risk communication to various sectors and last-mile communities.
Beyond SoDMA, the assessment extended to Somalia’s climate-vulnerable sector ministries, whose participation is essential for an interoperable and functioning NMHEWS. The mission evaluated each ministry’s existing institutional structure, data-handling capability, tools, and preparedness to operationalize EW4ALL activities. Stakeholder interviews and system reviews revealed varying levels of readiness, with significant challenges in data sharing, technical infrastructure, coordination mechanisms, and sector-specific hazard application frameworks.
Another major thrust of the assessment was analyzing the systemic structure and interoperability of EW4ALL implementation across institutions. This included reviewing partnerships, inter-agency coordination frameworks, existing protocols for hazard detection and response, and operational workflows essential for producing and disseminating multi-hazard early warning products. The evaluation highlighted that Somalia’s current systems remain fragmented, with limited centralized integration and insufficient capacity for real-time information exchange across sectors.
As part of ongoing support, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has developed a comprehensive Roadmap of Action Plans to strengthen Somalia’s disaster risk management governance and early warning systems. The Roadmap outlines targeted actions necessary to implement all EW4ALL pillars, improve institutional capacity, upgrade technical systems, and develop a fully interoperable, impact-based early warning and alerting mechanism tailored to Somalia’s FCV context. The assessment aligned its findings with this Roadmap, ensuring that Somalia’s NMHEWS development follows global best practices while remaining contextually appropriate for African multi-hazard early warning system frameworks.
In summary, the assessment provides a multi-layered understanding of Somalia’s existing capabilities, operational gaps, and systemic challenges in building an ICT-driven NMHEWS. It underscores the need for strengthened governance, enhanced ICT infrastructure, improved forecasting and analytical tools, skilled human resources, and robust coordination mechanisms across national and sub-national levels. The findings lay the foundation for designing and implementing a fully integrated NMHEWS that enables risk-informed planning, timely hazard alerts, and improved preparedness and response, ultimately supporting Somalia’s resilience against increasing climate and disaster risks.
1.1 Objective of the Assessment and Full-scale EW4ALL Implementation Strategy Development:
The field mission aims to evaluate Somalia’s institutional capacity to strengthen multi-hazard risk knowledge, enhance preparedness for multi-hazard early warning, and improve the country’s ability to disseminate timely and actionable warnings. The mission focuses on conducting a thorough diagnosis of the existing multi-hazard early warning system (MHEWS) to identify operational bottlenecks, systemic gaps, and barriers within the broader risk governance framework.
Through extensive stakeholder consultations, the mission assesses current practices and capacities for risk knowledge management, hazard monitoring and detection, and the generation of precision-level early warnings. The evaluation also examines gaps in multi-hazard risk communication, with the aim of making targeted recommendations to enhance system-wide effectiveness and interoperability.
The assessment further investigates the institutional mechanisms that support early warning operations, including partnerships, coordination structures, and preparedness and response management capacities across national and sectoral agencies. By analyzing these dimensions, the mission seeks to uncover underlying institutional, technical, and operational gaps and propose concrete, context-specific recommendations.
Ultimately, the mission will contribute to developing a strategic implementation roadmap tailored to Somalia’s fragility, conflict, and vulnerability (FCV) context. This strategy will outline actionable steps to build a more robust, inclusive, and interoperable multi-hazard early warning and disaster risk management system in Somalia.
1.2 Assessment Methodology
The assessment employed a multi-layered methodological approach that integrated field-based observations, stakeholder engagement, and analytical review. Conducted extensive stakeholder consultations through Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with key actors, including sector ministries, government departments, and UN agencies. These consultations aimed to assess institutional capacity to implement the EW4ALL pillar actions and interventions and to understand existing strengths, gaps, and operational challenges.
A series of assessments was conducted to assess the operational readiness of the National Multi-Hazard Early Warning Center (NMHEWC). These visits focused on reviewing the center’s technical infrastructure, covering hardware, software systems, communication tools, databases, servers, data storage, internet connectivity, and the extent of digital partnerships with other institutions. This hands-on inspection provided critical insights into the technological and operational capabilities required for a fully functional multi-hazard early warning system.
In parallel, the assessment conducted comprehensive desk reviews, including analysis of institutional websites, information disclosure policies, strategies, and NMHEWC’s products and services intended for end users. This review helped evaluate transparency, accessibility, and the maturity of existing early warning services.
The methodology also included an evaluation of the current stakeholder coordination mechanisms, examining how institutions collaborate in delivering multi-hazard early warning services and how they engage last-mile stakeholders within the broader Disaster Risk Management (DRM) ecosystem. This component assessed the interoperability, communication flow, and effectiveness of partnerships across all EW4ALL pillars.
Throughout the mission, the assessment team engaged with stakeholders using a structured set of questionnaires designed to identify indicative gaps in institutional capacity, technical systems, coordination practices, and end-to-end early warning delivery. These diagnostic tools enabled a consistent and evidence-based evaluation of operational realities across the national early warning landscape.
Figure 1: Institutional Assessment Methodology( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam )
Assessment Queries
NMHEWC operations and EW4ALL alignment
- What operational structure and service delivery capacity gaps exist at the NMHEWC in relation to the EW4ALL Roadmap, and what are the indicative challenges/barriers?
- To what extent do NMHEWC mandates, SOPs, workflows, and products support end-to-end delivery (detection > forecasting > communication > response)?
- ICT systems infrastructure, IT Applications & ICT Governance and human resources ( MoEWR , SoDMA, NCA, and sector institutions)
- What is the current status of ICT systems across MoEWR-hydrmet services, SoDMA, NCA, and key sector departments , challenges, barriers (Hardware, High Computing System, software, Optical Fiber connectivity, cybersecurity, interoperability, and IT-capable human resources)?
- What are the principal constraints affecting service delivery (systems reliability, hosting, data management, maintenance, staffing, and sustainability)?
- Level of Geospatial Services, GIS-based mapping, remote sensing analytics, and geospatial field data acquisition and processing systems
- What is the current functional capacity of the GIS & Remote Sensing unit (hardware/software, staffing, workflows, field-level GIS data collection, sectoral elements level data collation, and sector level GIS map production)?
- What tools and processes exist to support geospatial data-driven decision-making (e.g., hazard/risk maps, atlases, dashboards, reporting products), and what are the gaps?
Risk Knowledge, Data Systems, and Assessment Capacity – Key Questions
- NHMS/EWS minimum capabilities: What is the current status of minimum NHMS/EWS capacity for hazard and risk data collection, risk data management, and development/maintenance of national and sectoral risk data repositories?
- Loss and Damage and post-disaster assessments: What mechanisms exist for Loss and Damage (L&D) data collection and reporting, and what is the institutional capacity to conduct PDNA/RPDNA (including coordination arrangements, methodologies, tools, staffing, and data availability)?
- Sector capacity for climate and multi-hazard risk assessments: What is the existing capacity of climate-vulnerable sector ministries/departments to undertake climate and multi-hazard risk assessments (methodologies, guidelines, tools, data inputs, workflows, and quality assurance), and what are the priority gaps and recommendations?
- CRVA and sectoral risk datasets: What is the capacity for sector-level Climate and Risk/Vulnerability Assessment (CRVA), including:
- collection and management of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability data;
- availability and quality of statistical datasets on built infrastructure and basic services (asset registries and service-attribute databases);
- systems for collecting, storing, and using socio-economic and demographic datasets, including age-, sex-, and disability-disaggregated data (SADD);
- existence and functionality of databases/archives and repositories; and
- capability to produce decision-support products (e.g., maps, atlases, profiles, dashboards, and analytical reports).
- District/field-level risk knowledge management: What is the status and effectiveness of risk knowledge management systems operated by sector extension departments at district and field levels, including community-level understanding of multi-hazard and climate risks affecting livelihoods and livelihood assets?
- Indigenous knowledge and local coping mechanisms: To what extent are local and indigenous coping knowledge systems documented and mainstreamed into risk-informed community-level DRM/DRR/CCA planning and implementation (including participatory processes, inclusion and safeguarding measures, and feedback loops)?
Hydrometeorological services and observation networks
- What is the current level of national hydrometeorological service capacity, including the status of observation stations(Automated weather station, Manual station, weather observer level data collection, crowdsourced data collection, overall data transmission, collation, quality control, and processing mechanisms?
- What is the functional capacity for forecasting (deterministic/probabilistic), impact-based forecasting, bulletin preparation, and forecast verification?
Weather and multi-hazard impact Forecasting systems, transboundary information/data exchange, and operational protocols
- What data-sharing and information-exchange mechanisms exist with upper-riparian/transboundary countries (e.g., Ethiopia, Kenya) for flood, flash-flooding, and heavy-rainfall forecasting?
- What is the level of hydromet data sharing protocol from the hydromet stations of transboundary countries
- What is the current status of inland flood forecasting, heavy rainfall outlook systems, operational forecasting systems, impact forecasting systems, and overall forecasting capability?
- What is the status of Forecast-based Early Action protocols, triggers, and SOPs (including roles, thresholds, and decision-making processes)?
Risk communication and dissemination systems (national to last-mile)
- What is the current national risk communication framework (roadmap, structures, processes, and responsibilities), and what gaps constrain performance?
- What is the current risk dissemination framework channels, workflows, and governance and how effective is it in reaching last-mile stakeholders?
- What is the status of collaboration with national media outlets (radio/TV), including mandates, MoUs, airtime arrangements, and accountability mechanisms for broadcasting routine forecasts and emergency bulletins?
- How do last-mile communities in off-grid, remote, or hard-to-reach areas receive warnings, and what barriers affect accessibility and timeliness?
- What are the key dissemination bottlenecks (technical, institutional, linguistic, trust-related, security/access constraints), and what measures could address them?
- To what extent are warnings understandable and actionable for frontline communities (language, format, lead time, relevance, and feedback loops)?
Partnerships, coordination, and governance (national to local)
- What stakeholder partnership and coordination framework currently exists, challenges/barriers for DRM governance, risk/vulnerability assessment, and risk-informed sector planning?
- How can national structures be effectively partnered with CERWS GHA and EW4ALL for full-scale implementation (roles, data exchange, coordination protocols, and governance arrangements)?
- What is the level of ICT/GIS and remote sensing capacity within FAO-SWALIM / MoEWR, including map production systems and data services, and how can it integrate with NMHEWS?
- Local governance, DRM structures, and community-based mechanisms
- What is the current DRM structure and risk governance mechanism at national and local levels, including the functional status, challenges of Civil Protection Committees (CPC) / Disaster Management Committees (DMC)?
- What is the status and quality of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery planning processes, including local-level DRM plans (district/village)?
- How effective is the Disaster Emergency Declaration process, including UN/INGO-led cluster coordination, response mobilization, and humanitarian action linkages?
How are sector-level DRR actions coordinated at local level, and how do state and non-state actors engage in gender-inclusive, participatory local/clan-level development planning and gender-inclusive DRR planning?
1.3 Consultation Process:
As part of the assessment methodology, a series of structured meetings and consultations were conducted with key institutions and technical actors involved in multi-hazard risk management and early warning service delivery. These engagements aimed to gather insights on institutional capacity, coordination mechanisms, operational workflows, and existing challenges across the early warning value chain.
1. Meetings with SoDMA and NMHEWC Teams
Engagements were held with multiple departments within the Somalia Disaster Management Agency (SoDMA) and the National Multi-Hazard Early Warning Center (NMHEWC), including:
ICT Department
Hazard Risk Analysis Team
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Department
Humanitarian Affairs Department
Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Department
Other relevant SoDMA officials and technical staff
These consultations focused on reviewing institutional roles, technical functions, operational challenges, and the level of readiness to implement EW4ALL pillar actions.
2. Consultation with Sectoral Ministries
Discussions were conducted with climate-vulnerable sector departments to understand sector-specific needs and integration pathways for multi-hazard early warning information:
Livestock Department
Agriculture Department
Water Resources Department
These consultations helped identify sectoral data requirements, existing gaps, and opportunities for strengthening end-user-focused warning services.
3. Engagement with UN Agencies
Meetings were held with key UN agencies supporting disaster risk governance and hydrometeorological services in Somalia:
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
World Food Programme (WFP)
These sessions focused on ongoing initiatives, technical assistance mechanisms, institutional support opportunities, and partnerships relevant to EW4ALL.
4. Consultation with National Hydromet Technical Working Group
The mission engaged with the technical working group responsible for national hydrometeorological services under the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources (MoEWR), including the Somalia Water Sources Information Management System.
Topics discussed included:Hydromet data generation and management
Monitoring infrastructure and technical tools
Institutional roles in forecasting and hazard detection
Interagency data-sharing mechanisms
5. Meeting with the National Communications Authority (NCA) and Broadcasters
Dedicated discussions were held with NCA and national broadcasters to explore:
Challenges in weather forecasting dissemination
Constraints in preparing weather bulletins
Communication flow between hydromet agencies and media
Opportunities for strengthening last-mile communication channels
These engagements provided critical insights into the dissemination landscape and highlighted gaps and opportunities for improving public communication during hazard events.
2.0 Challenges of Multi-hazard Risk Management Governance in the Somalin FCV context :
- Political fragility and a centralized governance system for risk-informed development:
Climate/multi-hazard risk management governance processes encompass a concerted approach among sectors and stakeholders that need to address all cross-cutting issues. Systematic and cohesive policy alignments, as well as inclusive & concerted programmatic interventions, are undertaken by the sectors. Inter- and intra-institutional partnership and coordination mechanisms are also in place. However it also requires a holistic sectoral agreed consensus on risk assessment & information sharing, coordination, collaboration, inclusive level of participatory last-mile local climate governance system is in place, local resource mobilization for the climate resilient local development actions, service delivery capacity stakeholders, and inclusive and finally the participatory engagement of last-mile stakeholders and frontline community with the localized risk-informed development initiatives.
In Somalia, federal and state actors-led service deliveries to the last mile are hindered by fragmented and self-proclaimed governance, clan-based fragility, a territorially fragmented governance system, conflicts, and a largely siloed approach to CSO-led local development service deliveries. The diagram below illustrates that Somalia has a limited extent of nexus between the centralized nature of federal, member state governance systems, poorly functioning district local governments, and sector departments, hindering the expansion of risk-informed service delivery at the last mile. On the other hand, the most prominent last-mile development actors are INGO-led CSOs and UN Agencies, which mostly adopt a siloed approach and are less partnered with government actors to bring up an inclusive climate risk governance management system for Somalia.
Figure 2 : Political fragility and a centralized governance system( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam)
In this paradoxical governance context, digitally connecting all relevant stakeholders remotely and in real time and mandating ICT-driven strategic partnerships and coordination mechanisms becomes essential. Such an approach helps overcome the persistent fragility embedded in existing governance structures. By enabling stakeholders to operate through an ICT-enabled, integrated, and inclusive multi-hazard early warning system, Somalia can transition from fragmented institutional arrangements to a virtually centralized yet operationally decentralized digital risk governance platform. This transformation supports risk-informed local development and ensures more coherent, synchronized decision-making across sectors and administrative levels.
The objective is to break through the entrenched governance paradoxes and replace them with a digitally functional, level playing field where all stakeholders sectoral ministries, government entities, civil society organizations, and frontline communities are linked through structured, ICT-driven partnerships. This nexused digital platform fosters accountability to affected populations, enhances transparency, and strengthens collaboration across the entire early warning value chain. Ultimately, it provides a pathway to move beyond the constraints of Somalia’s fragility, conflict, and vulnerability (FCV) environment and enables a more resilient, coordinated, and participatory multi-hazard risk governance system.
a) Current practices of the Silo-approach implementation modality:
Most actors across federal and state levels including sector ministries, sector departments, and district administrations as well as non-state actors such as INGOs and CSOs, continue to adopt a largely siloed approach when implementing risk-informed development activities. These actors typically maintain limited coordination, weak partnerships, and minimal information sharing. Such fragmentation significantly constrains the interactive, collaborative, and participatory actions required under the EW4ALL Pillar framework. The lack of integrated engagement across stakeholders undermines the collective capacity needed for end-to-end multi-hazard early warning and climate risk management.
Yet effective multi-hazard and climate risk governance fundamentally relies on shared commitments to coordination, strategic partnerships, inclusive local governance systems, and resource mobilization for climate-resilient development. It requires strong service-delivery capacities across stakeholders and the meaningful participation of last-mile actors, including frontline communities, in localized risk-informed planning and decision-making.
As illustrated in Figure 2, Somalia’s sector ministries and departments exhibit limited partnership linkages across the centralized federal system, member-state institutions, and the weakly functioning district-level local governments. This constrained nexus hampers the delivery of risk-informed services to the last mile. Meanwhile, UN agencies and INGOs working at regional and local levels often operate through parallel structures, typically following siloed programmatic approaches and relying heavily on CSO networks rather than formalized government coordination mechanisms.
Collectively, these dynamics reinforce systemic fragmentation and reduce the overall effectiveness, sustainability, and inclusivity of multi-hazard early warning and climate risk management efforts in Somalia.
b) Sector level minimal level of data coordination, exchange, and disclosure:
Despite the fact that approximately 80% of Somalia’s population has access to mobile phones, the effective use of ICT systems within climate-vulnerable government sector departments remains very limited. At the central, member state, and district levels, most institutions lack adequate ICT infrastructure including hardware, software, and communication systems necessary for modern climate and disaster risk management. Many departments also do not have functional Management Information Systems (MIS) to systematically inventory, store, and analyze multi-hazard and climate risk information.
Additionally, there is a notable absence of tailored risk information products being disseminated through government websites or digital communication channels. Critical enablers of a functioning digital risk governance system such as data-sharing protocols, Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), or formally mandated procedures for multi-hazard risk assessment are either weak or nonexistent. The lack of centralized and decentralized mandates for developing standardized data repositories, web-based sharing platforms, and structured information disclosure mechanisms further constrains the production of impact-based weather forecasts and hinders informed disaster risk management (DRM) planning at the local level.
Overall, these ICT and governance limitations significantly restrict Somalia’s ability to leverage its high mobile penetration rate for effective early warning dissemination and risk-informed decision-making.
c) Inadequate sector-level risk assessment, systematic risk repository development:
Disaster risk management planning requires tailored, localized risk information for local disaster preparedness, response, and recovery planning. The department needs to access the information for planning purposes. Generally, non-state actors, such as local NGOs, are the primary actors in last-mile development.
d) Inadequate surface weather observation:
Most weather observation stations in Somalia are still manually operated, resulting in irregular and inconsistent time-series data collection. This lack of systematic and continuous data acquisition prevents the generation of reliable point-based nowcasting services and hinders effective forecast verification, both of which are essential for accurate and timely early warning. Due to limited institutional and technical capacity, Somalia currently faces substantial challenges in hydro-meteorological data gathering, monitoring, real-time tracking, and forecasting.
To address these critical gaps, there is an urgent need for support from WMO, UNDP, and UNEP to close the severe climate and weather observation data deficit. Strengthening observation systems is essential for advancing EW4ALL Pillar 2 (Monitoring & Forecasting). Somalia would also greatly benefit from long-term financial and technical assistance through the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF), which is mandated to support countries in generating and sharing foundational weather and climate data in alignment with the Global Basic Observing Network (GBON) standards.
Somalia’s limited GBON-compliant hydrometeorological observation capacity is largely due to the insufficient number of automatic stations, reliance on manual data readings, inconsistent data transmission, and inadequate operational and maintenance support. These constraints significantly restrict the nation’s ability to produce real-time hydrometeorological observations, exchange critical data, and generate reliable forecasts. Consequently, hydrometeorological data and early warning services remain fragmented, with limited capability to support risk-informed decision-making and effective disaster preparedness.
e) Inadequate local-level Disaster Risk Management capacity
The magnitude and trend of climate risks are mounting with the changing climate regime in Somalia. Over the past 48 years, statistics of disaster events show that most of the disaster events are rapid and sudden onset (floods, cyclones, diseases, outbreaks), and simultaneously, slow, protracted droughts are also severe and recurrent, as evidenced by the occurrence of hydrometeorological and agricultural droughts every year. These essentially contributed to the loss and damage of livelihood and productive sectors. Fundamentally, the graph signifies the essentiality of an ICT-driven functional early warning system. Climate change-induced internal and external displacement intensifies demographic and socioeconomic risk factors..
Figure 3: Somalia Disaster events (1975-2024) : Source EM-DAT Apr 2024 ( 48 years Disaster incidence dataset for Somalia)
Figure 4: ICT-based Risk Governance to bridge the last-mile climate risk management( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam)
Figure 5: Key indicators of ICT-driven EW4ALL action priorities ( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam)
a) Please download the full EW4ALL Implementation Strategy document ( revised & New Version 2025) in PDF Format
2) Please download the full EW4ALL implementation Strategy document in Word Format
Please send your comments and queries to zmsajjad@yahoo.com
4 Responses
Please share your comments / advise
Good job
cBr SyYNE ATU bsiO kPAU UUeWuRfK tCdfMAGd
Good work