Introduction to the Special Issue: Giving in Somali Diaspora Humanitarianism in Africa

Introduction to the Special Issue: Giving in Somali Diaspora Humanitarianism in Africa

In times of conflict and socio-natural disasters, giving to family, community, and compatriots is a long-established means of solidarity and emergency assistance in African societies. Such crisis relief spans wide ranges of geographic distances and time – from within affected communities to assistance organised by diaspora networks, reflecting patterns of care, reciprocity, and religious practice. At a time of dramatic decline in international humanitarian aid, diaspora humanitarian engagement has become even more pertinent for crisis-affected populations everywhere. While diaspora humanitarianism organised outside the African continent has received some scholarly and policy interest, emergency assistance from diaspora communities within Africa is largely overlooked in the literature.

Diaspora Humanitarianism Reflects Mutual Support Systems

This special issue sheds much needed empirical light and theoretical perspectives on diaspora humanitarianism on the continent and its ambivalences through rich analysis of the dynamics of mobilising and organising resources. As a key contribution, they demonstrate that diaspora-led emergency assistance within Africa is a widespread phenomenon, embedded in long-established practices of solidarity and a mutual support system that has developed over time and across geographical distances (cf. Musa and Kleist, 2022). Yet, historically and today, much literature on Somali – and indeed other cases of – diaspora humanitarianism has primarily focused on the involvement of the ‘far’ diaspora in Western countries through remittances and/or contributions to development or disaster relief (e.g., Hassan and Liberatore, 2016; Kleist, 2008; Lindley, 2010), rather than south–south assistance and solidarity (cf. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh and Carpi, 2024).

This bias is rectified in the special issue articles that demonstrate the multifarious practices and actors engaged in Somali diaspora humanitarianism on the continent, whether taking place between neighbouring countries, within the East African region or beyond, sometimes involving the global Somali diaspora as well. Much of this support is directed towards kin and clan members, as in the case of kinship-based associations or WhatsApp emergency groups that may include kin members around the world (Mohamed et al.), but the articles also demonstrate that Islam and Somaliness – Soomaaliniimo – constitute shared affiliations that inform giving patterns and recipients. The latter is salient for the emergency assistance organised by religious institutions, such as mosques in Nairobi (Edle et al.) and women-led initiatives in the Kisenyi neighbourhood in Kampala (Abdullahi).

To some degree, these observations complicate neat distinctions between ‘pure’ and ‘partisan’ humanitarian actors that continue to dominate much humanitarian discourse (Ho et al., 2015) and, by implication, norms of humanitarian ‘donors’ saving distant strangers (Brković, 2023; Brun and Horst, 2023; Moore, 2013). As diaspora humanitarianism by definition involves some kind of shared affiliation or solidarity, it is sometimes criticised for not adhering to the humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality (Gamlen and Chakma, 2025) that are cornerstones in the conventional humanitarian system.

Yet, the examples in the special issue show that social proximity to the crisis-affected communities can generate rapid responses, enable needs assessment, and nurture trust in the assistance provided. Likewise, the connection and interdependence can reverse the role of helper and helped (cf. Fernandez et al., 2025; Musa and Kleist, 2022). Rather than saving strangers, emergency assistance is motivated by compassion, religious duty and solidarity. As Edle et al. put formulate it in this issue in relation to kinship associations, it is ‘socially expected … [constituting] a reaffirmation of mutual obligations and trust’ (2026). Such emphasis on obligations and reciprocity is reflected across the articles where several authors (Abdullahi; Chonka; Edle et al.) engage with the concept of moral economy (Thompson, 1971) to illuminate how diaspora humanitarianism is embedded in social norms and relationality, with a strong emphasis on alleviating suffering. Indeed, as suggested by Koshin et al., the latter may be the defining characteristic of diaspora humanitarianism, not the distance to recipients (cf. Brkovic, 2023).

Another key insight across the articles is that crisis relief constitutes a ‘normal’ phenomenon that is part of everyday life, reflecting the overall state of polycrisis in the Somali regions (Kleist et al., 2025). It is not exceptional or operating in a discrete realm but entangled with socio-cultural, religious, and sometimes political and commercial practices and interests. This comes across clearly in the case studies of mosques in Nairobi (Edle et al.) and the Somali businesswomen in Zambia (Koshin et al.) where different combinations of ambitions shape humanitarian contributions such as religious-ideological outreach or political agendas and business engagement (see also Chonka). Importantly, this does not annul or invalidate humanitarian efforts but highlights that humanitarian engagement can generate benefits and recognition for high-profile givers, whether this is intended or not – a phenomenon that is well-known from other kinds of humanitarianism as well (Barnett, 2011).

New Research on Africa-Based Giving

The special issue articles explore giving in Africa-based Somali diaspora humanitarianism and its implications, examining the practices, mobilisation, and motivations of crisis relief. We conceptualise ‘giving’ in humanitarianism as the act of providing money, goods, care, or solidarity to alleviate suffering. It can encompass both immediate assistance and long-term support, as well as voluntary acts of altruism and obligation. In diaspora humanitarianism, such giving is undertaken by kin and compatriots living outside their ancestral homeland to assist crisis affected populations there but, as we shall see, it also involves close collaboration with local partners in these places.

Somali diaspora humanitarianism constitutes a pertinent case for analysing such practices. Decades of armed conflict, climate shocks, deep poverty, and weak governance have created a protracted polycrisis in Somalia where mutual support systems among the diaspora are critical for survival and well-being (cf. Kleist et al., 2025). Diaspora humanitarian actors range from families and households, kinship associations, civil society organisations, religious institutions, businesspeople, and more. These actors work across multiple spatial and temporal contexts, scales, and speeds as they respond to crises and disasters in their erstwhile homelands or beyond. Indeed, because diaspora actors are often deeply socially and morally invested in the places and people they seek to help, family ties, social obligations, and religious motivations are central to mobilisation and delivery (Aden Hassan et al., 2021; Horst et al., 2016; Majid and Abdirahman, 2017).

The special issue consists of six articles that examine Somali diaspora humanitarianism from different perspectives and geographical contexts, based on original, in-depth and – in several cases – multi-sited fieldwork in Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, and Zambia. The first four articles focus on diaspora actors and specific cases of collective emergency assistance. These include Somali–Zambian businesswomen's relief assistance in response to flash floods in Qardho, Puntland, in 2020 (Koshin et al.); self-help groups in Kampala organised around notions of shared Somaliness (Soomaalinimo) during COVID-19 (Abdullahi); mobilisation of relief by mosques and kinship associations based in Nairobi in response to natural disasters and conflict in Somalia (Edle et al.); and emergency assistance mobilised through WhatsApp groups in Nairobi and Mogadishu during the 2022 drought in southern Somalia (Mohamed et al.).

The final two articles offer important perspectives beyond these case studies. A survey amongst Somali households in Nairobi on their giving patterns in crisis relief shows that the highest levels of giving are for Somali-populated areas in Kenya, followed by Somalia and then emergencies outside East Africa (Okinda). This reminds us that diaspora humanitarianism encompasses broader mutual support systems within national borders (see also Abdullahi) and that humanitarian giving can go beyond kin and compatriots, accentuating the role of solidarity. Finally, Chonka's study of the political and moral economy of corporate social responsibility of the Somali telecom giant Hormuud highlights the critical role of the telecom sector in both facilitating and implementing emergency assistance and draws attention to the role of commercial interests and capitalism in diaspora (and conventional) humanitarianism.

Continuous Transformations

The articles demonstrate that diaspora humanitarian engagement is continuously evolving and comes in many forms. It is influenced by gender, generation, educational background and socio-economic circumstances, highlighting dynamics of inclusion and exclusion (cf. Musa, 2023). While gender does not necessarily impact on Somali giving to crisis relief (Okinda), it often shapes the leadership of humanitarian initiatives that tend to revolve around patriarchal and gerontocratic norms in Somali society where especially elderly men hold authority and public and political leadership. That said, several articles highlight the critical and under-reportedrole of female leaders (Abdillahi; Koshin et al.; Mohamed et al.), illuminating transformations that happen where women and youth play important roles in initiating, coordinating and mobilising crisis relief, not least through online engagement (cf. Norman, 2024).

Digital technologies are thus pivotal in facilitating such transformations. Especially WhatsApp groups for kinship communication and emergency assistance constitute a central mode of mobilisation and organisation (Edle et al.; Koshin et al.; Mohamed et al.) that is particularly pertinent when members are located around the world, affording fast responses and broader participation (cf. Norman, 2022). As Mohamed et al. show, kin-based support to areas of origin nevertheless remains central, underscoring that diaspora humanitarianism is grounded in long-term support systems, rather than a novel phenomenon made possible by the communicative affordances of social and digital media (Schrock, 2015; Willems, 2021). Meanwhile the Somali telecom sector that has been instrumental in facilitating communication and transferring remittances and emergency funds thrives in conditions of protracted state weakness and conflict (Chonka), reminding us about the political and moral economy of diaspora humanitarianism.

Finally, the articles advance the literature on vernacular humanitarianism around the world (e.g., Brković, 2016; 2023; Fechter, 2023; Fengjiang, 2023; Widger, 2023) through the carefully observed case studies of Africa-based crisis relief outside the conventional humanitarian system. In doing so, they reveal the depth, diversity, and complexities of Somali repertoires of giving, underscoring their critical relevance for both scholars and practitioners.