The long-lasting civil war has been Somalia’s downfall. Now the Somalian state is being built again brick by brick. One collapsed infrastructure is the electrical network. Without electricity it is difficult to achieve efficiency in everyday life, workplaces and industry.

The Somalia Development and Reconstruction Facility (SDRF), administered by the World Bank, aims to improve electricity generation in Somalia. Finland supports the work. Energy is scare, it is extremely expensive, and only a fraction of people have access to a working electrical network. People use expensive and polluting diesel generators, if they are available. Things might be different in the future. A survey showed that Somalia has excellent possibilities to produce especially wind power. Once the project is concluded, Somalia will have a world-class wind chart and a database that will help it plan energy solutions. In the future, solar and wind power can generate electricity and create new jobs in a country recovering from a conflict.

SDRF will help build Somalia on a broad scale in 2014–2023. Its funding is used to reinforce the central government, its key institutions and the national financial administration. Legislation to develop private sector activities is also created with the help of SDRF.

Photo: Jean-Pierre Larroque, graphics: Juho Hiilivirta