Fiscal Governance at the Edge of the State: District-Level Public Financial Management, Accountability, and Climate Resilience in Somalia

District governments are the point at which fiscal federalism is most visible to citizens, yet they are also the tier least examined in Somalia’s public financial management (PFM) reform agenda. This article presents a journal-ready analysis of district-level PFM across 15 districts in five Federal Member States: Puntland, Hirshabelle, Galmudug, South West, and Jubaland. Drawing on a mixed-methods field assessment conducted by the Institute of Public Finance of Somalia, the study combines structured interviews, document review, fiscal data screening, and a 24-indicator PFM System Strength Index. The evidence shows that district PFM is not merely weak; it is structurally misaligned with the constitutional and political expectations placed on local governments. The mean index score is 3.47 out of 24, no district scores above 8, and only limited basic tools—such as annual approved budgets, banking arrangements, procurement committees, and electronic bookkeeping—are present in more than a minority of districts. Three mutually reinforcing constraints explain the pattern: an assignment-resource gap that leaves districts with broad mandates but narrow and unreliable revenues; a rule-practice gap in which informal power networks, clan bargaining, and patronage frequently override formal procedures; and a shock-buffer gap in which droughts, floods, and rapid urbanization erode already thin fiscal capacity. The article contributes to the literature on PFM in fragile and conflict-affected settings by shifting attention from central government reform to the district frontier and by integrating climate-responsive PFM into sub-national fiscal governance. Recent scholarship demonstrates that PFM reform in fragile states often follows non-standard sequencing, with budget execution improving faster than formulation or accountability, and that substantial progress is possible when reforms are tailored to institutional and capacity contexts. This study extends these insights to the district level, where fiscal institutions are weakest yet citizen expectations are highest. It argues for a sequenced reform strategy that begins with minimum viable PFM—standardized charts of accounts, routine reporting, bank reconciliation, procurement registers, audit pathways, and participatory disclosure—before progressing to advanced digital systems and performance-based transfers. The findings have direct implications for Somalia’s fiscal federalism settlement, domestic revenue mobilization, service delivery, and climate resilience