Somalia’s Aid Economy Is Facing a Bigger Question: Can the Country Shift From Survival to Production? | Dawan Africa

August 27 ,2026 – Somalia’s aid system has played an important role in keeping people alive through war, drought, famine and the collapse of state institutions.

But after more than three decades, a different question is becoming harder to avoid: what happens when an emergency system remains in place long after the original emergency?

The question is not whether Somalia needs the United Nations, NGOs or humanitarian professionals. It does.

The question is whether a system built to respond to crisis can also provide the foundations for a…