NDP-9 (National Development Plan) was approved in late 2019 and represented a realistic, but hopeful development plan. It presented a deep analysis of the roots of poverty in Somalia and, leveraging significant progress in prior years, outlined ambitious goals in four interconnected pillars aimed at improving a wide range of sustainable development indicators.

Even as it was presented to the IMF in early 2020 as a component in reaching the decision point under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative, three external crises were beginning to break over Somalia, undermining its implementation and once again threatening the most vulnerable.

This first progress report for NDP-9 outlines the circumstances of 2020 and their toll on Somalia; the rapid and innovative responses taken by international partners and government which mitigated the worst of the outcomes; the impact on NDP-9, and the achievements made despite the external triple threats. In fact, the coordination and innovation demonstrated in 2020 form a compelling basis for a more focused development plan going forward.