UNDP and the Training Research Group (TRG), a local NGO in Somaliland, have launched a project to improve the livelihoods of displaced women, with the support of the Government of Norway.

Below is an article published by All Africa:

Mohammed Moge camp is one of three Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland. Originally set up in 1997 as a temporary shelter for 500 families fleeing Mogadishu, the camp hosts around 50,000 people today and has morphed into a permanent settlement.

Rahma, a single mother of four, arrived in the camp in 2004. She was given 10 chicks in October 2009 as part of a project launched by UNDP and the Training Research Group (TRG), a local NGO, with funding from the Government of Norway. The project targets single women, who are the most vulnerable: they been displaced on multiple occasions over the years, and struggle to run their household alone.

On top of the chicks, Rahma received a cage to keep them, and a short training on chicken raising, for a total amount of 75US$. Now she has 27 chickens and sells some of the eggs on the local market. With the 2 US$ income she makes on a good day, she has started another small business and hopes to get a micro grant to open a shop.

Outbe is the only woman in the camp who had been raising chicken before and she has trained the other beneficiaries of the project. From the 10 chicks she received last year she now has 32 and with the money she is making, she can afford to send her four school-aged children to school.

Shukri is a widow who has been displaced twice in her life and arrived at the camp four years ago with her nine children, seven of them still at home. With the money she is making from her chicken business, she managed to build a house and can feed her family. She hopes to expand her business.