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GAROWE – The Puntland administration has discussed with Save the Children ways to strengthen cooperation in humanitarian and development areas, with a focus on child protection, support for vulnerable families, and improving essential health services, as part of efforts to develop existing programmes and expand their impact on local communities. The discussions come at a time when the needs of vulnerable groups, particularly children and families with limited access to basic services, remain among the key priorities requiring sustained coordination between government institutions and humanitarian and development organizations.
Puntland’s Deputy Leader, Elias Osman Lugator, received on Saturday a delegation from Save the Children led by the organization’s Country Director for Somalia, Mohamed Mahmoud Hassan, together with several officials from its Puntland office. The meeting focused on ways to develop relations between the two sides, strengthen institutional coordination, and accelerate programmes and projects implemented by the organization across Puntland, with the aim of directing interventions toward the most urgent needs and achieving a broader impact among beneficiary communities.
The two sides gave particular attention to child protection, discussing ways to support children’s rights and strengthen advocacy for their protection, alongside developing programmes and services targeting children and vulnerable families. The discussions emphasized the importance of ensuring that humanitarian interventions take into account the risks facing children in communities affected by crises and difficult living conditions, while helping provide a safer environment capable of meeting their basic needs and strengthening the role of local institutions in monitoring and responding to protection concerns.
The meeting also addressed ways to improve essential healthcare services and expand access to them, with an emphasis on enhancing service quality and ensuring that residents, particularly children and the most vulnerable families, can benefit from them. The two sides stressed the importance of continued cooperation between the Puntland administration and humanitarian and development partners to improve health and social services and strengthen coordination in identifying local priorities, helping direct resources and interventions toward areas and groups facing the greatest challenges.
Puntland’s Deputy Leader welcomed the efforts and programmes of Save the Children in the region, stressing the importance of maintaining and developing the partnership in line with the needs of local communities. The organization’s delegation, for its part, discussed programme priorities in Puntland and ways to strengthen coordination with government institutions. Available information did not indicate the announcement of specific new projects or additional funding, leaving the meeting focused on developing cooperation, accelerating existing programmes, and maximizing their humanitarian and development impact.
The discussions come amid a continuing need to strengthen social and health services and child protection across Somalia, where children’s well-being is closely linked to families’ ability to access healthcare, education, protection, and essential services. In Puntland, partnerships between government institutions and specialized organizations remain important for supporting responses to local needs. Sustaining the impact of these efforts, however, requires a gradual shift from short-term interventions toward programmes more closely linked to strengthening local institutions and services, thereby improving communities’ capacity to withstand crises while enhancing child protection and support for the most vulnerable families over the long term.
