Research as a critical path for resilience in Somalia
An interview for World Humanitarian Day 2022
As the global community continues to grapple with COVID-19, climate change, and conflict – and the knock-on effect of each – we’ve seen the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance increase significantly. In 2022, 303million people worldwide require humanitarian assistance.
In the face of this reality, there is urgent need to generate evidence on the best ways to meet the needs of people affected by these diverse humanitarian crises.
Despite recognition of the value of research in humanitarian contexts, the challenges of designing and implementing studies in these settings has made it difficult to fill knowledge gaps. Even still, researchers working in these settings put themselves at risk every day as they search for solutions that will improve health outcomes for the most vulnerable.
As the global community pauses on August 19 to recognize World Humanitarian Day, it is important to also highlight the urgent need to invest in research in humanitarian settings and to support the researchers who have committed their lives to this field.
Dr. Abdi Dalmar, President and Chief Executive Officer of Somali Research and Development Institute (SORDI) helps to shed light on this important topic below.
Question 1: How did you first become interested in the research field?
Dr. Abdi Dalmar: I was always involved and loved to do research, even when I was a student. I liked statistics, community work, and problem-based learning. As a medical doctor, I realized that working in a hospital wasn’t going to solve the need. Solving the need would require going out and getting to know not only the diseases but also the different factors that affect them – things like climate, migration, conflict, social economic status, water and sanitation, and more. I knew that to grasp all of that, and to come up with innovations, you need research.
Question 2: 10 years ago, you founded the Somali Disaster Resilience Institute – now called SORDI. What led you to establish this institute?
Dr. Abdi Dalmar: I was working at the largest medical university in Somalia with more than 2000 medical students. We were leading academic and clinical teaching, and research was missing. So, I came together with a few other scholars and we established a new institute that could help address the most pressing issue at the time – disaster, which in Somalia includes both natural and manmade crises. We were seeing that when there was a drought, famine, or war, the international community intervened with life-saving emergency support, but it became cyclical. We felt if we could use research and find ways to build resilience within our communities and help people to withstand and recover from disasters. In time, we expanded our remit and changed our name to Somali Research and Development Institute.
Question 3: What is the investment case for investing in more research and innovation in these settings as opposed to focusing on service delivery and programing?
Dr. Abdi Dalmar: Over the last ten years, we have demonstrated that research and contextual analysis can lead to better preparedness, disaster resilience, and programming. We’ve seen that when programs are designed by people sitting in a capital somewhere else in the world, they don’t often involve the people affected by the disaster and don’t have a full understanding of how to support them. Effective research and programming require strong community ownership and buy-in because there are so many unique factors and cultural issues to consider. There is no one size fits all approach in humanitarian settings, so you need to involve the community from the beginning and ask them what the needs are. And when you are designing the program, you need to have evidence to back it up – that means programs based on a needs assessment and not just visibility. I’d also argue you need research to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian programs, so you have robust evidence and learning for future interventions. There is a lot of value for money in this approach.
Question 4: In your experience, how interested are donors in investing in research in complex, humanitarian settings?
Dr. Abdi Dalmar: 30 years ago, donors were quick to respond and pledge funds when a crisis hit a country. Now, even donor countries in North America and Western Europe are being affected by crises like climate change and they’ve become more risk adverse. Because of this, I think they want programs to be evidence-based. There’s already a lot of evidence showing the need to use research in any programming, especially in complex emergencies and humanitarian settings like Somalia. Now, I’ve seen donors moving away from quick reaction donations to really investing to gather the evidence and target programs based on need. In recent years, we’ve seen big donors like USAID and FCDO make several multi-year investments in Somalia that include research and evidence generation alongside programs. It’s often called MEAL – Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning.
Question 5: What are the unique challenges researchers face when working in a humanitarian context like Somalia?
Dr. Abdi Dalmar: There are a lot of challenges researchers in humanitarian settings face including security, accessibility, and even acceptance from communities and community leaders. People living in humanitarian settings are used to aid agencies coming in to deliver food, water, and cash for example – the concept of someone coming to just collect data is new. It requires the researcher to provide context, explain the benefits of the research, assure them that the information collected will be confidential and that the results will be shared. Often, people are part of a study yet never see the researchers again. This is one of the reasons it is so important to work with local researchers who understand the context, speak the local language, and live among the people participating in the study. If you train local researchers, there is greater trust already established. The Humanitarian Summit in 2016 featured commitments to localization and I believe it’s important for this to include not just programming but also research.
Question 6: You have empathized the importance of training local researchers. What advice would you give to young researchers or students who are interested in doing research in Somalia or in other humanitarian settings?
Dr. Abdi Dalmar: I would advise them that they need to be flexible and open to learning. Quick money and income are not guaranteed in research – but knowledge and experience is. Young researchers need to be committed to understanding and respecting the culture and communities they are working in. If you are committed, disciplined and understand these things, you can be successful in research.
Question 7: In line with commitments to localization, what are the most important factors to establishing and maintaining a more equitable partnership with local research institutions like SORDI?
Dr. Abdi Dalmar: Involving and empowering researchers from the global south through sustained knowledge transfer is key. Especially when working with early career researchers, helping to increase their knowledge around different aspects of research from design and data collection to analysis. Once they become more established and experienced in different aspects of research, they are more empowered to be involved in decision making. It’s also important for global north institutions to think about things like language – with young local researchers, English may not be their first, second, or even third language, so there isn’t a lot of literature for them to read. It takes sustained commitment to support them. These are the things that I think are most key in the long term for establishing equitable, long-term research partnerships.
Question 8: EQUAL is focused on generating evidence around maternal and newborn health (MNH) in conflict-affected settings. Why is it so important to have research on MNH in a context like Somalia?
Dr. Abdi Dalmar: Maternal and newborn health is a big public health priority in Somalia because we know Somalia suffers from very high rates of maternal and neonatal mortality. We know these are the most vulnerable groups of people and for the future and sustainability of the Somali population, the problem must be addressed to minimize the loss of life. Despite the prevalence and magnitude of maternal and neonatal mortality in Somalia, we’ve seen that with the investment in research and programming, big achievements can be made because solutions exist. When we look at other countries with similar socioeconomic status that invested heavily in MNH over the last 10-20 years, they’ve achieved a lot. It’s not like cancer or degenerative disease because there are solutions available now. So I think the burden but also the possibility of progress should drive a lot of commitment and interest in MNH research in Somalia.
Question 9: Every year World Humanitarian Day focuses on bringing together partners across the system to advocate for survival and well being but also the safety of aid workers themselves. How does this concept apply to researchers working in humanitarian contexts and why does it need to be part of World Humanitarian Day discussions?
Dr. Abdi Dalmar: We need to look at humanitarian settings more holistically. Traditionally, you picture people affected by drought, conflict, or migration – for example – and then picture the big aid agencies providing support. In reality, it is more complex and there are many different factors that drive these crises including the many underlying and root causes. We need to look beyond traditional aid and see how investing in research can help address some of the major drivers of crisis. And we have to think about how all of us in the humanitarian sector can coordinate - Involving researchers, involving practitioners, politicians, and community leaders all together in discussing how address the biggest issues will be more effective.
For more information about SORDI, visit here.
Learn more about Dr. Dalmar’s work here and follow his expertise on Twitter via @rdalmar