Published on: 9 July 2025
On 8 June 2025, ACLED began incorporating information collected directly from local information networks in Somalia to improve event coverage and address existing sourcing gaps.
Unlike traditional media sources, these contributors operate directly in the field and collect and transmit verified information on political violence and demonstration events to ACLED in real-time. Events sourced this way are identified in the dataset in the ‘Source’ column under the name “Local Network”.
This initiative is part of a broader effort to expand data collection in regions where traditional media sources are limited or inconsistent. At the time of writing, the inclusion of data from ACLED’s local information network in Somalia has resulted in a nearly 50% increase in the number of events recorded per week, starting from 1 June 2025. This increase reflects improved access to information, but not a change in conflict dynamics.
Summary of Changes
Date of publication: 8 June 2025
Countries affected: Somalia
Source label: Events collected through these networks appear in the ‘Source’ column as “Local Network”.
Considerations for analysis: Users conducting temporal analysis should be aware that this enhancement marks a shift in source coverage, and trends before and after 1 June 2025 are not directly comparable due to the addition of these new local information networks. There are no plans to code events from these sources prior to 1 June 2025.
