Using cash transfer conditions to the benchmark the assessment of social assistance as a poverty reduction strategy: Case of Mogadishu IDPs inhabitants

Almost 1.1M Somalis internally displaced and other 1M crossed the border to the neighbor countries, while around 3.2M declared severely foodinsecurity because of droughts in 2017. These droughts however, originally caused by natural climate change as well as political and security instability in the country for the last three decades. In that response, there were $3M budget allocated by US and other international partners through international NGOs, for crises response as well as mitigating and alleviating the risk of vulnerability in the country. Nonetheless, in an attempt to identify the extent of solutions done, this study tends to assess the manner in which those social assistances could be evaluated as poverty alleviation strategy in Somalia. Furthermore, the study by focusing on some concepts regarding the poverty and its determinants thereof addressed social assistance as a tool of mitigating the vulnerability in the country through using transfer conditions. On the other hand semi-structured interview tool which is open and allowing new ideas to be brought by the interviewees were used throughout the investigations; thus, throughout this study qualitative research method in which is based on 25 semi-structured interviews with Mogadishu IDPs inhabitant beneficiaries and 15 in-depth interviews with social safety nets staffs was used. However, unconditional cash transfers and vouchers are mostly used by the Non-state social assistance providers such as the NGOs in Somalia as strategy of poverty alleviation. Despite it is being essential for poverty alleviations in the country, but on the other hand, according to the participants' perceptions, it was widely agreed and underlined that these kinds of social assistances creates economic and social disadvantage including laziness, culture of dependency as well as stress and conflict among the households. Keywords: Cash transfers, Poverty alleviation, resilience, social safety nets, welfare state.