25 March to 15 April 2026
The Matan Somali Development Organization (Matan) is actively conducting critical, life-saving emergency water trucking operations across villages and rural locations under the Dhusamareeb district to mitigate the catastrophic impacts of the ongoing 2026 Somalia drought.
Context of the 2026 Crisis
Following multiple consecutive failed rainy seasons and an exceptionally harsh dry season, traditional water reservoirs (berkads) and surface catchments across the Galgaduud region have completely dried up. This has resulted in severe acute water shortages, massive livestock depletion, and localized population displacements.
Matan’s Emergency WASH Intervention
As a key local NGO operating on the ground, Matan Somali Development Organization (Matan)’s intervention focuses on keeping vulnerable agro-pastoral and internally displaced families alive through targeted water distribution:
- Target Locations: Remote villages, pastoralist settlements, and informal IDP camps situated in the periphery of Dhusamareeb town that lack deep boreholes.
- Primary Objective: Delivering clean, chlorinated water directly via commercial water tankers to stabilize escalating water prices and prevent outbreaks of waterborne illnesses like Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) and cholera.
- Integrated Care: Matan links its water delivery services with its broader humanitarian programs, including Health and Nutrition Support to monitor and treat children suffering from severe acute malnutrition brought on by the crisis.
Operational Bottlenecks
While water trucking serves as an indispensable short-term survival mechanism, operations across the district face severe funding shortfalls. The overarching 2026 Somalia Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan remains critically underfunded, heavily restricting local organizations’ abilities to scale these costly logistical operations to match the full breadth of the crisis
