Famine Situation in Somalia: How to help?

The drought that is affecting East Africa has its roots in a combination of diverse factors. The sparse rain fallings for the past few years has caused crops to fail, food prices have skyrocketed everywhere and chronic insecurity has exacerbated the situation. Many places in southern Somalia are under the control of Al-Shabaab, a terrorist group that has imposed a ban on aid agencies.

This food crisis is described as the worst one witnessed in decades. An estimated 3.7 million Somalis are in need of immediate food aid and across the Horn of Africa, there are12 million people at risk of famine ”as reported recently by the UN.

Yet with all the news coverage and media attention, the situation is not getting better. Here at GreatNonprofits, we feel the following questions will help better assess the situation for donors in order provide the necessary help:

1. What are the immediate needs?
2. Which active nonprofits are on the ground?
3. Which of these nonprofits are helping?   How are they helping?   Do you see results?
4. Which of these nonprofits can do better?

How can we get this information in a timely way?   Please post your ideas here.