Understanding the magnitude and
importance of income shocks, such as drought or conflict, in
causing and perpetuating poverty is critical to designing
policies aimed at building resilience and contributing
toward the goal of ending poverty. This paper uses
micro-data from two waves of the Somali High Frequency
Survey to assess the impact of the severe drought that
Somalia experienced in 2016/17 on poverty, hunger, and
consumption. The analysis uses a regression framework to
quantify the effects of the drought, relying on spatial
variation in drought exposure and the timing of data
collection, which took place before and during the drought,
for identification. The drought is found to have a sizable
effect on poverty, consumption, and hunger in rural areas,
where agricultural households and those lacking access to
infrastructure and basic services are most severely
affected. A renewed drought shock could lead to an increase
in poverty of 9 percentage points. The findings underscore
the importance of investing in rural resilience, especially
among agricultural households.