Executive Summary

Implementing Agency: /
Islamic Relief Yemen (IRY) will implement this project in partnership with various ministries including planning, health, agriculture and irrigation, vocational training and technical education
Local authorities include Yemen Chamber of Commerce, agriculture, fisheries, animal husbandry department and extension service staff from health department
NGOs: Humanitarian Forum Yemen (HFY)National Microfinance Foundation (NMF)Abu Musa Foundation, Life Makers Association (LMA) Social Fund for Development (SFD) and Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW)
Contact Address: / Islamic Relief Yemen
Email:
Tel: 00967 1 418 596
Contact Person: / Mr. Hashem Awnallah
Country Director
Project Title: / Integrated Socio Economic Recovery Project – ISERP
Project Location: / Hodeida,Lahj and Abyan Governorates
Beneficiaries: /
Direct beneficiaries: 16,900 HH equivalent to 118,300 individuals
Indirect beneficiaries: Around 1,100 HH with 7,700 individuals including farmers who will receive necessary information on agriculture, water management, pest and disease management and related information through the dissemination of IEC materials and campaigns. In addition, suppliers of raw materials and input for livelihood and nutrition component, village level contractors and labourers to rehabilitate the infrastructure
Project Duration: / Three years
Project Start Date: / April2013
Project End Date: / March2016
Total Project Cost: / 2,000,000 GBP

Background of the Agency

Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) is an international relief and development charity founded in the UK in 1984. It works in 36 countries and includes more than 1,400 staff members’ worldwide working together to deliver relief and development.

Exemplifying Islamic values, IRW responds to disasters and emergencies linking them to sustainable economic and social development by working with local communities. It mobilizes resources, builds partnerships and develops local capacity as it works to enable communities to mitigate the effect of disasters, prepare for their occurrence and respond by providing relief, protection and recovery.

Islamic Relief Yemen (IRY) is a country field office of IRW. It has been active in Yemen since 1998. In 2004, IRY formally established its country office in Sana’a. It has since branched out with offices in Aden, Hodeida, Haradh, Dammar and Amran governorates in addition to four temporary governorate offices managing IR Yemen’s emergency safety net (ESN) operation catering for approximately 1.1 million food insecure individuals in the country.

IRY’s programmes range from WATSAN, health, nutrition, education, disaster response, conflict transformation, child welfare, seasonal projects (Ramadan feed the fasting and Qurbani meat distribution) and in-kind donations. All IRY relief and development programs activities are in-line with the government’s poverty reduction strategy as well as MDGs. IRY has around 200 staff encompassing experience in project design and programme management. emergency operations, child protection, conflict transformation and media and advisory.

IRY’s programmes are funded by the Islamic Relief family as well as a range of European, DfID, UN and other donors including the British, German and Dutch Embassies and the European Union. IRY is an active member of the international non-governmental organizations in the country as well as the UN and its various agencies. As such IRY successfully applied for 2013 CAP funding (approximately $24m) which has been partially funded (approximately 22%). To datethese applications have covered protection, food security and early recovery, child protection, wash and nutrition.

Being an INGO, IRY has to work with registration and permission from the local Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MOPIC) which also closely monitors IRY’s activities to ensure they are being implemented according to agreement and in-line with the country’s strategic plan for the development of the country. Since its inception, IRY has steadily developed and maintained a very close relationship and trust with the government, donors and other INGOs. IRY has project design safeguards in order to ensure that the neediest communities are reached in a timely manner.

Project Background

The objective of this project is to deliver a set of integrated and coordinated poverty reduction and economic recovery interventions for the target population in selected districts and governorates of Hodeida Abyan and Lahj. This effort will provide those beneficiaries affected by violent conflict, difficult economic conditions, escalation of the price of basic commodities and lack of government support (or access to it) with long term recovery and development assistance in the North and Southern governorates of Yemen. This will lead to reduced levels of vulnerability, marginalization and economic set-back among the vulnerable population; with a focus on women, children, youth and those with special needs. A sustainable nutrition, livelihood and youth employment programme will increase the potential of farmers, women, children, youth and other vulnerable community members to address their economic well-being, improve their living conditions and promote sustainable livelihoods.

Food insecurity in Yemen has reached alarming levels and has doubled in the last two years. Ten million people (44% of the population) are food insecure. The most affected groups are rural children, female-headed households and returnees.

The scale of the malnutrition challenge in Yemen is enormous where an estimated number of 966,848 children under five are victims of acute malnutrition. Assistance is required to support approximately 267,000 children under five years of age who suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Furthermore, an additional 700,000 children are affected by moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) and are at risk of long-term physical and cognitive impairment if they do not receive aid. Inadequate breastfeeding practices with consequent high prevalence of diarrheal diseases, especially in Hodeida governorate, coupled with a lack of basic public health education and awareness campaigns are major contributors to malnutrition of pregnant and lactating women as well as young children, particularly those under five. UNICEF’s recent nutrition survey in Hodeida (December 2012) highlights that food shortage and malnutrition are at severe levels and were widespread across the governorate

IRY proposes to implement this project in partnership with the Ministry of Health as well as other key stakeholders such as the department of health, local authorities, related INGOs and NGOs in the field with close co-ordination with UNICEF, IOM and other agencies working in the health and nutrition sectors.

A joint needs assessment was conducted by DfID consortium partners (IR Yemen, Save the Children, Oxfam, Care and ADRA) in 2011 which identified food security and livelihoods as the major issue creating vulnerabilities at household level. This is compounded by the rapid increase in the living costs such as food, water and fuel. The difficulties are related to a lack of cash for these basic services. Further to that, knowledge of health practices is amiss including the importance of breast feeding.

Under the project’s livelihood component, IRY will raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities of resilience and introducing mechanisms on how to mitigate against disaster in the target governorates and promote Islamic faith stances around environmental protection amongst farmers and women. This will entail the development of handbooks, papers, IEC materials, environment protection campaign and voluntary activities. The livelihood related cash for work component will mobilize the local community to rehabilitate livelihood infrastructures such as clearing debris, rehabilitating abandoned irrigation channels and reconstructing earth bunds and sluice gates. The livelihood and agriculture sector will mainstream DRR in all related activities to support recovery efforts. There will be number of activities including climate adaptive livelihoods which will encompass saline tolerant crop and vegetable production, saline tolerant tree plantation, fish cultivation and animal fattening will be implemented in line with DRR principles and policy guidelines in Hodeida and Abyan governorates.

Agriculture, animal breeding and fisheries are key sectors in the Yemeni economy and provide the main source of employment for 65 per cent of the population. Agriculture contributed 17.5% to Yemen’s GDP in 2010 according to the Yemen Central Statistics Organization (CSO). Agriculture also plays an important role in food security in improving the trade balance and in efforts towards enhancing integrated rural development. The main sources of livelihood in Hodeida Governorate are agriculture, daily wage earning and fishery, all of which need critical improvements. Hodeida, due to its coastline and plains (Tehama) is the most important agricultural location in the country with huge potential in agriculture, including fruit and vegetables such as dates, millet and maize as well as livestock and fisheries. The Tehama plains, in addition to this, are considered the most important agricultural area in Yemen as they provide livelihoods to about 70% of the people in the region. An initial survey conducted by Oxfam in Hodeida region in 2012 indicated that damaged/abandoned fishing infrastructures are considerable. IRY will provide basic fishing kits including nets and small/large implements to selected fishermen. Also, fishermen associations will be formed to ensure collective working to address their issues and needs. Necessary training on business management and capacity building will be provided in collaboration with local fisheries associations and departments. Escalating youth unemployment rates pose a grave threat to stability in Yemen already classified as a “fragile state”. The problems of poverty and unemployment are linked to the frustrations with the political system and wider feelings of social alienation. Unemployment, particularly among the young, is soaring. The government statistics office in Aden marked the figure at nearly 40 per cent among men aged 20 to 24.

Current Situation

Yemen is struggling to cope with an increasingly complex humanitarian situation exacerbated by a three-front conflict with a protracted war in the North, a secessionist movement in the south and extremist elements operating in both parts (south and north) of the country. Given that the Yemeni government's capacity to respond to the country’s humanitarian needs is limited, it expects the humanitarian community to assume the burden (or at least the biggest portion of it) of humanitarian needs countrywide. Yemen has an annual population growth rate of 3.2 percent, one of the highest in the world, further complicating both development and service delivery challenges.

Yemen faces many challenges including high levels of poverty, malnutrition, youth unemployment, water scarcity for farming and drinking, a rapidly expanding population, severe resource constraints and security concerns. The development of an integrated long term recovery/development plan to address the above challenges is both important and urgent. Expanding productivity in agriculture, fisheries and animal husbandry sector can significantly reduce rural poverty while improving food security, malnutrition and contributing to reducing a key driver of unemployment among farmers and youth in the target governorates of Hodeida Abyan and Lahj).

With regards to disaster risk management in Yemen, the DRR concept is new to the country. There is no national policy for disaster risk reduction and so far only scattered and uncoordinated activities are in implementation of the National Plan for Disaster Management. A number of isolated initiatives have been undertaken on a project basis by different line ministries, but with little sustainable improvement partly due to a lack of clear indication of authority and responsibility for the different aspects of risk management. Some projects like early warning systems have been established with funding by international organizations, but they have not been maintained when funding has ended. The main reason of this halt is that there is no clear national mechanism to regulate and control these issues and a lack of national capacity.

  1. Situation related to Nutrition

The UNICEF nutrition survey conducted in Hodeida in December 2011 shows that the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate of 32 per cent exceeds the emergency threshold of 15% by far. Furthermore, the survey found underweight prevalence of 59.6% and stunting of 54.5%. These GAM and underweight prevalence rates of 32.0% and 59.6% respectively are higher in this governorate than the national average indicating higher vulnerability levels. With regards to food insecurity, approximately one in seven families have been forced to reduce children’s meal size; one in eight families have been forced to reduce children’s number of meals and one in 12 children went to bed hungry during the preceding month. The fact that the prevalence of acute malnutrition in Al Hodeida governorate is high above the critical emergency threshold (≥15) also indicates a need for an integrated response with both short term (to avert malnutrition related deaths) and long term mechanisms (to enhance nutrition in order to reduce incidence of malnutrition and prevent, to the extent possible, permanent nutrition related impairment of nearly a million children in this governorate).With an extremely high national hunger ranking on the Global Hunger Index and with malnutrition rates in the country among the highest in the world, Hodeida alone has malnutrition levels that require an urgent, integrated and coordinated intervention.

  1. Situation related to Livelihood

Fishermen, farmers, women, and youth have limited access to markets, capital, inputs and services including poor availability of quality seeds and planting material; poor storage and distribution capacities for fertilizers and other agricultural inputs; limited access to quality breeds that could produce better yield; limited access to credit and insurance schemes; limited irrigation systemsand damaged agricultural infrastructure and processing centres that have not been rehabilitated. Furthermore, agricultural labourers have no assets and rely on daily wages; their employment security is unstable as they depend on seasonal work and cultivation. Farmers as well as community based organizations (CBOs) working in the agriculture sector have limited knowledge and skills on sustainable farming, cash crops and proper livestock management. A shift in farming practices is essential for improving food security for small landholders and poor families. Furthermore, there is large gender disparity across the country where women’s lack of access to household cash combined with men’s mismanagement of family finances means planning is usually handled on a daily basis rather than for the future.

  1. Situation related to Youth Employment

Youth unemployment, exacerbated by the entry of several hundred thousand people in to the labour market every year, cannot be isolated from the civil unrest the country has witnessed, particularly in 2011. The international community is particularly concerned that the lack of economic opportunities may increase youth vulnerability to radicalization. Unemployment entails a security threat as the youth either get involved in organized crime or associate themselves with extremist elements that are willing to provide the cash needed to survive. Findings of various surveys (Addressing Youth Unemployment in Yemen: International Support and Domestic Reform by Leonie Northedge Postedon February 02, 2011 also highlights a lack of facilities in Yemeni schools for practical learning. This survey shows thatthe absence of an effective educational system has resulted in a lack of necessary job skills such as proficiency in English language, use of IT equipment and basic writing skills.

Findings: Islamic Relief Yemen conducted a rapid needs assessment early and in late 2012 in the Hodeida and Sothern governorates of Yemen in order to develop this project proposal. This needs assessment identified nutrition, livelihoods and youth unemployment as the major needs to be addressed immediately. The study found that most difficulties in other sectors experienced by vulnerable groups are related to the lack of access to cash to pay for basic services, such as food, water and health. Also the youth unemployment was highlighted as the basic problem for insurgency in the southern parts of Yemen. The following main challenges and areas for intervention were thus identified:

  • Lack of services from government authorities to improve livelihood (agriculture, fisheries and animal husbandry)
  • Lack of employment opportunities especially among youth (male)
  • Youth unemployment and unrest
  • Damage to livelihoods, economic infrastructure and assets
  • Malnourished children and women unable to access to basic needs (food, health and other facilities)

The needs were identified with support of local co-ordination and information sharing with relevant agencies working on the ground. The recent UNICEF nutrition survey (December 2011) WFP’s Comprehensive Food Security Survey (CFSS) (14 March 2012) and the government of ‘Yemen’s National Agriculture Sector Strategy’ documents (March 2012) are key secondary data documents used to cross verify/check needs and inform this project.

Project Location

IRY selected the governorates of Hodeida, Abyan and Lahj to implement this project. With 2.7 million people, Hodeida is the second largest governorate population wise. Two thirds of its inhabitants live in rural areas where poverty, malnutrition, food insecurity and unemployment are rife with over 33 percent of its people living under the national poverty line.

Hodeida was selected for intervention as it is the governorate with alarming rates of food insecurity and famine oriented malnutrition (findings from a UNICEF nutrition survey). It also has a stable agriculture profile and is conducive to livelihood initiatives in fruits, vegetable production, dates, grain and fisheries. It is accessible and secure enabling IRY to duplicate its consortium phase II experiences from Saa'da and Amran.

On the other hand Abyan governorate has alarming rates of youth unemployment and the presence of large IDP populations in various parts of the city. The political backdrop is volatile, but an intervention will enable IRY to balance its North/South considerations which impact the UK donor base.