Aid in Faith. When religious identity does not help to access the needy. A case from Somalia.

The article provides a narrative of the 2006 and 2011 drought emergency responses in Somalia, showing how both Christian and Muslim organizations experienced difficulties in accessing the Somali population in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. Two examples are cited, which suggest the need to frame religious identity within a political discourse, where all NGOs, as political actors, need to find their strategies to negotiate access and be allowed to operate. The article concludes that religious identity alone does not determine the opening of the humanitarian space in a conflict-prone area. What matters is the political dialogue that organizations are able to establish with the factions that control the territory, combined with their capacity to negotiate their presence in the field.