Skip to Main Content

RTI uses cookies to offer you the best experience online. By and clicking “accept” on this website, you opt in and you agree to the use of cookies. If you would like to know more about how RTI uses cookies and how to manage them please view our Privacy Policy here. You can “opt out” or change your mind by visiting: http://optout.aboutads.info/. Click “accept” to agree.

Accept
RTI International
  • About
    • Office Locations
    • Executive Leadership
    • Corporate Governance
    • Partner with Us
      • U.S. Government
      • Clients and Funding Agencies
      • Industry and Commercial Clients
      • Foundations and Associations
      • Bilateral Agencies and Multilateral Banks
      • Universities and Academic Research Institutions
      • Suppliers and Small Businesses
    • Commitment to Quality
      • RTI's Client Listening Program
    • Ethics and Human Research Protection
    • Living Our Mission
    • Open Science Initiative
    • Veteran Opportunities at RTI

    About

  • Practice Areas
    • Health
      • Public Health and Well-Being
      • Health Care Transformation
      • Behavioral Health
      • Health Behavior Change
      • Precision Medicine
      • RTI Health Solutions (RTI-HS)
      • RTI Center for Community Health Evaluation and Economics Research
      • Health Equity
      • RTI Health Advance
    • Transformative Research Unit for Equity​
      • Equity Capacity Building Hub
      • Social and Economic Justice Research Collaborative
      • Narrative Research and Community Engagement Lab
    • Education and Workforce Development
      • Early Childhood
      • K-12 Education
      • Postsecondary Education
      • Career and Adult Education and Workforce Development
      • Education Policy, Systems, and Governance
      • Education Research Methodologies
      • Education Technologies
    • International Development
      • Energy for Development
      • Environment
      • Global Food Security, Agriculture, and Nutrition
      • Global Health
      • International Education
      • Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning, and Adapting (MERLA)
      • Youth and Economic Opportunity
      • Building Resilience Against COVID-19 in Developing Countries
      • Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)
      • RTI Center for Governance
    • Climate Change
      • Clean Energy Technology and Renewables
      • Climate Finance
      • Climate Justice and Equity
      • Climate Planning, Preparedness and Resilience
      • Climate Policy
      • Climate Vulnerability, Adaptation, and Mitigation
      • Economic Impacts of Climate Change
    • Water
      • Food-Energy-Water Nexus
      • Water Quality
      • WASH (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene)
      • Water Resources Management
    • Energy Research
      • Carbon Capture and Utilization
      • Biomass Conversion
      • Natural Gas
      • Energy Efficiency
      • Industrial Water
      • Syngas Processing
    • Environmental Sciences
      • Air Quality
      • RTI Center for Water Resources
      • Urban Sustainability
      • Toxics
      • Building Resiliency in the FEW Nexus
      • Climate Change Sciences and Analysis
      • Environmental Policy
      • Environmental Justice
      • Sustainable Materials & Waste Management Solutions
    • Justice Research and Policy
      • RTI Center for Community Safety and Crime Prevention
      • RTI Center for Policing Research and Investigative Science
      • Child Well-Being and Family Strengthening
      • RTI Center for Forensic Sciences
      • Evidence-Based Strategies to Reduce Firearm Violence
    • Food Security and Agriculture
      • Market Systems Strengthening
      • Food Safety
      • Food and Nutrition
      • Global Food Security, Agriculture, and Nutrition
      • Climate-Smart Agriculture
      • Agricultural Innovation
      • Obesity Prevention
    • Innovation Ecosystems
      • Innovation Advising
      • Innovation for Economic Growth
      • Innovation for Emerging and Developing Economies
      • Innovation for Organizations
      • Research, Technology, and Innovation Policy
      • Technology Acceleration
    • Military Support
      • Military Behavioral Health
      • Military Health and Human Performance
      • Military Sexual Assault, Harassment, and Domestic Violence Prevention
      • Wearable Sensor Technologies
      • Military Health System Transformation
      • North Carolina Center for Optimizing Military Performance

    Practice Areas

  • Services + Capabilities
    • Surveys and Data Collection
      • Survey Design
      • Instrument Development
      • Survey Methodologies
      • Data Collection
      • Establishment Surveys
      • Health Registries
      • Data Analysis and Reporting
      • Research Operations Center
    • Statistics and Data Science
      • Survey Statistics
      • Environmental Statistics
      • Coordinating Centers for Multisite Studies
      • Analysis and Design of Complex Data
      • Biostatistics
      • RTI Center for Data Science
    • Evaluation, Assessment and Analysis
      • Evaluation Design and Execution
      • Advanced Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods
      • Evaluation, Monitoring, and Assessment
      • Economic Analysis
      • Evaluating Communication Interventions and Campaigns
      • Evidence Synthesis for Policy and Practice
      • Risk Assessment and Prediction
    • Program Design and Implementation
      • Systems Strengthening and Scaling
      • Capacity Assessment and Building
      • Policy Reform Support
      • Curriculum and Teacher Professional Development
      • Interventions and Prevention Programs
      • Implementation Science
    • Digital Solutions for Social Impact
      • Human-Centered Design of Digital Solutions
      • Digital Product Development
      • Digital Communication Campaigns
      • Digital Data Analytics
    • Research Technologies
      • Survey Technologies
      • Data Management and Decision Support Systems
      • Geospatial Science, Technology, and Visualization
      • ICT for Limited-Resource Settings
      • Mobile Applications
      • Web Applications
      • Bioinformatics
      • Interactive Computing
    • Drug Discovery and Development
      • Medicinal Chemistry
      • Molecular Design and Cheminformatics
      • Behavioral Pharmacology
      • Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK)
      • In Vitro Pharmacology, Bioassay Development, and High-Throughput Screening (HTS)
      • Isotope Labeling
      • Regulatory Consulting and Support for Medical Products
    • Analytical Laboratory Sciences
      • Bioanalytical and Toxicology Research
      • Forensic Sciences
      • Physicochemical Characterizations
      • Metabolomics
      • Proficiency Testing and Reference Materials
      • Microbiology
      • Analytical Chemistry and Pharmaceutics
    • Engineering & Technology R&D
      • Biomedical Technologies
      • Decarbonization Sciences
      • Environmental Exposure & Protection
      • Materials & Environment
      • Sustainable Energy Solutions

    Services + Capabilities

  • Impact
    • Newsroom
    • Insights Blog
    • Events
    • Publications
    • RTI Press
      • About the RTI Press
      • Instructions for Authors
      • RTI Press Collections
    • Projects
    • Global Reach
      • Asia
      • Eastern Europe and Central Asia
      • RTI International India
      • Africa
      • Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
      • Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

    Impact

  • Experts
    • Our Experts
    • In-Depth With Our Experts
    • Related News
    • Experts In the Media
    • RTI Fellow Program

    Experts

  • Emerging Issues
    • COVID-19 Research
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Global Health Security
    • Cannabis Research
    • Opioid Research
      • Interventions for Opioid Use Disorders
      • Preventing Opioid Misuse and Overdose
      • Treating Opioid Use Disorders
    • Policing Research and Investigative Science
    • Drone Research and Application
    • E-cigarette Research
    • Zika Virus Research
    • Integrated Governance

    Emerging Issues

  • COVID-19 Research + Response
  • Global Reach
  • Insights Blog
  • Newsroom
  • RTI Press
  • Publications
  • Partner With Us
  • Careers
  • Facebook IconTwitter IconInstagram IconYouTube IconLinkedin Icon
Impact

Propelling An Economic Ecosystem in Somalia

  • Home
  • Impact
  • Propelling An Economic Ecosystem in Somalia

A private sector-led approach improves value chains, livelihoods and resilience

Project Summary

Objective

To promote inclusive economic growth in Somalia.

Approach

Working through private sector businesses to support strategic growth that has positive ripple effects in target economic sectors and builds resilience among the communities that comprise them, especially women and youth.

Impact

Somalia’s private sector has been re-connected to the global marketplace, and is adding thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in value to critical sectors including agriculture, livestock, and energy. Participating communities are more resilient to economic and climactic shocks, women and youth have increased opportunities for enterprise, and the financial sector is more robust and inclusive.

After decades of protracted conflict, political fracture, and climate-related hardships, Somalia has significant barriers to private sector growth, from absent physical and financial infrastructure to recurring climate-driven shocks, high production costs, and transportation constraints in insecure zones.

As a result, Somalia has one of the lowest gross domestic products in the world, and unemployment hovers at 75 percent.

Despite Somalis’ persistent entrepreneurial spirit, new businesses are often hamstrung by the lack of components such as cold chain storage, water for irrigation, or reliable transportation. Firms have struggled to produce at a scale that reduce costs, improves quality, and meets demand.

At the same time, the policy and regulatory frameworks that govern and support businesses have been weakened by years of political instability and violence and by a financial infrastructure that lacks formal banking and accessible loans.

The Somalia Growth, Enterprise, Employment and Livelihoods (GEEL) project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), works through Somalia’s private sector to build a robust economic engine that boosts employment, increases incomes, and contributes to stability.

Since 2016, GEEL’s market-driven approach has leveraged over $33.5 million in private capital investments and created more than 7,400 full-time jobs and an estimated 15,700 secondary and part-time jobs, while signaling to the world that Somalia is open for business.


Cover of the impact report on the Somalia GEEL project

Impact Report

The USAID/Somalia GEEL Impact Report highlights results from more than a half-decade of strategic focus on strengthening the self-reliance of Somalia’s private sector. Thanks to the GEEL program, the private sector has become more purposeful, adept, and tech-forward.

Read More

Strategic Business Solutions Have Broad Benefits

GEEL is notable for being among the first economic development projects in Somalia, a nation that has long relied on humanitarian aid. Its success has proven that Somalia is ready for the investments that will solidify its place in global markets.

GEEL’s approach to development and private sector partnership is unique; the project works through private sector partners in various fields including agriculture, livestock, fisheries, and energy. Investments and technical support are tied to partner businesses’ own contributions to their enterprises and the larger value chains they are part of. This incentivizes partners to make strategic choices that benefit the bottom line while also contributing to a healthier, more inclusive, and more resilient economy.

Pivotal to economic growth is access to the finance that makes production and job creation possible. GEEL has transformed Somalia’s investment landscape by attracting the country’s first international private investments and designing new, inclusive financing models. GEEL has made important strides in improving loan quality, and has built the capacity of Somali banks, microfinance institutions, and government institutions responsible for ideals like equity, innovation, and sustainable resource use.

A Stronger Private Sector is Open for Business

USAID’s breadth of impact on target value chains through GEEL has been remarkable. GEEL has leveraged $18 million in investments in agricultural value chains and has supported more than 9,800 small-scale food and dairy farmers with trainings and technical assistance. By introducing new technologies and climate-targeted techniques, GEEL helped farmers boost their production by 32 percent, and increase their domestic sales by 50 percent.

For example, GEEL worked with dairy farmers to make their cows more productive and helped nearby smallholder farmers boost the nutritional value of their fodder. It then linked the two types of businesses, creating a stable, protected supply chain and a new income stream for dozens of rural households.

By linking entrepreneurs to represent Somalia for the first time in almost 30 years at international trade expositions in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and China, the project helped the Somali firms realize a nearly 300 percent increase in export sales—and showed the world that Somalia’s products have the high quality required to compete in a global market.

GEEL’s market-driven approach has also spurred business growth among more than 14,500 microenterprises, many of which are owned by youth, women, and internally displaced persons (IDPs). The project engaged more than 8,500 women and youth with training, investment, or business development services which can help lead to better employment opportunities.

And to ensure that financing for businesses was inclusive, GEEL created innovative loan packages to reduce barriers to loan access for women and other groups who are often sidelined from finance opportunities.

GEEL in Pictures

In the energy sector, the GEEL project integrated solar technology across its value chains, supporting more than 50 businesses to reduce energy costs by as much as 90 percent.

In the fisheries sector, GEEL spurred more than 2,400 full-time jobs, increased export sales, boosted domestic fish consumption, and indirectly created as many as 5,500 additional secondary and seasonal jobs in the harvest and service industries.

GEEL partnered with Somali businesses to jump-start the economy, including the recovery of historically productive value chains, like bananas and dairy. GEEL worked with private agriculture companies to bring an estimated 60 tons of high-quality seeds and technical support to 6,000 smallholder farmers. These farmers report a 300 percent increase in yield and a 70 percent reduction in post-harvest loss, bolstering both immediate food security and long-term resilience.

Through the GEEL project, USAID helped re-connect Somali producers to the global market through participation in events such as the Brussels Seafood Expo.

To ensure that GEEL’s efforts were inclusive and sustainable, the project worked to engage women, youth, and internally displaced persons through all aspects of its work.

Harnessing the Market for Climate Resilience

While GEEL works through the private sector to enable broad economic growth, it also works to build resilience among vulnerable farmers. In the Bay and Bakool areas of South West State, agricultural production depends on rainfed farming, and is therefore especially vulnerable to climate-related shocks like drought and erratic rainfall. Farmers also suffer from weak agricultural production due to poor-quality inputs like seeds and fertilizers, outdated skills, and limited infrastructure.

Since 2019, GEEL has applied its market systems development approach to help build climate resilience with a focus on long-term food security. The project harmonized its activities with existing humanitarian efforts and worked through private sector partners like seed producers, distributors, and exporters to strengthen production, storage, and access to finance for 6,000 smallholder farmers. Preliminary data show a 300 percent increase in yield and a 70 percent reduction in post-harvest loss.

Further up the value chain, GEEL linked more than 1,000 smallholder farmers to grain milling companies that purchased their harvests for a fair, negotiated price. These market-oriented activities support food security among farmers and their households.  

GEEL ensured even the most vulnerable farmers have access to high-quality seeds and training by engaging two commercial seed suppliers in the area to implement a seed voucher system and establish distribution shops in vulnerable areas. And GEEL worked with a local telecommunications company to develop a digital farming tool that delivered timely, seasonal messages on best practices to farmers, reinforcing new knowledge.

When the GEEL project concludes later this year, its six-year focus on private sector self-reliance will help ensure that businesses and productive value chains have the resources, technologies, and market relationships they need to create additional growth and continue an upward spiral of resilience.

Share

Clients

  • U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

Our Experts

Mohamed Abdinoor Senior Private Sector and Resilience Advisor
Tania Brunn
Tania Brunn Senior Director, Food Security & Agriculture

Practice Areas

Climate-Smart Agriculture Food Security and Agriculture Market Systems Strengthening Global Food Security, Agriculture, and Nutrition RTI Center for Climate Solutions

Services

Capacity Assessment and Building

Countries

Somalia

Learn More

Impact Report: The USAID/Somalia Growth, Enterprise, Employment & Livelihoods Project

The USAID/Somalia GEEL program's work in the energy sector

Photo Essay: Sustainable economic growth in Somalia’s fisheries

In Somalia, bananas are back

RTI Logo
Partner With Us
  • US Government
  • Commercial
  • Foundations & Associations
  • Multilateral Donors
  • Universities
  • Suppliers
Site
  • Privacy Policy
  • Security Policy
  • Site Map
  • Terms of Use
  • Accessibility
  • Contact Us
Contact Us
Facebook Icon Twitter Icon Instagram Icon YouTube Icon Linkedin Icon
delivering the promise of science
for global good
RTI Health Solutions RTI Innovation Advisors RTI Health Advance

© 2023 RTI International. RTI International is a trade name of Research Triangle Institute. RTI and the RTI logo are U.S. registered trademarks of Research Triangle Institute.