The objective of this case study is to assess to what extent the humanitarian community in Somalia has faced an increase or decrease in insecurity during the last decade (1997 to 2006), and in either case: a) what were the reasons and circumstances; b) what were the policy responses; c) and what was the relationship between the real or perceived security environment and the applied security response systems/approaches.

The report identifies changes in, and perceptions of, security and threat levels, and maps the individual security practices of key humanitarian actors and their collective security arrangements, in order to draw conclusions as to how the security environment has impacted on humanitarian delivery, including shifts towards localisation of response.