Distribution of WASH Non-Food Items in Beled-Hawa, Gedo region

We believed that WASH Non-food items play an important role in supporting the well-being and basic needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in a variety of ways including access to access to clean water and basic hygiene and sanitation at household level by supporting them with water storage containers and hygiene and sanitation kits thus reducing propagation of illness or epidemic.

We observed that; that non-food items can greatly benefit internally displaced persons (IDPs) and play a crucial role in improving their living conditions and supporting their recovery. However, the high influx of IDPs in the camps from the drought affected areas/pastoralists has put caused the high need for WASH non-food items in the camps compare to the reached participants and well putting pressure on the existing services.

From that we learned that The WASH non-food items provided reduce the community stress and met the needs but the items were not sufficient and cannot cover all the non-food items for the community. We have also learnt the importance of cultural sensitivity for some items during the distribution including tooth paste and tooth brush as there are not preferred. We also learnt some items including mosquito net, plastic sheet, sleeping mat, Utensil/ Kitchen sets and blankets are the most preferred items by the community based on our PDM report (Jan-23).

Therefore, we will recommend continues distribution and scaling up the WASH non-food items to reach more drought affected population and provide complimentary assistance including provision of shelter and psychosocial support for the youth. We will also recommend provision of protection non-food items for the newly displaced person in the camps.