Over 70% of Somalis live in poverty, and many more are vulnerable to recurring droughts and violent conflicts. In response to this, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA) rolled out of its first government-led social protection programme, the Shock-responsive Safety Net for Human Capital Project (SNHCP), nationally referred to as the Baxnaano programme, in 2019. One major component of the SNHCP is to provide nutrition-linked unconditional cash transfers to vulnerable households in all states in Somalia and Somaliland. The SNHCP cash transfers were targeted at poor households with at least a child aged under five. Districts and villages were first selected through geographical targeting; households were then selected based on a community-based targeting approach. Each selected household was given USD 20 per month.

This report aims to assess the programme’s targeting accuracy, identify the sources of targeting errors, evaluate the extent of sharing at the community level, and develop recommendations for future programmes.