BY BUSHRA NASR KRETSCHMER

Overview
A three-year war now entering its fourth year in Yemen. Three million people forced to flee their homes. 17.8 million Yemenis estimated to be food insecure, 7 million of which are categorised as “severely” food insecure.

Over 70 humanitarian organisations are working within Yemen to help those in need. However, such efforts are significantly hampered in light of the lack of funding as well as access constraints, damaged infrastructure and unreliable access to fuel.

More recently, the focus has been drawn to the reasons underlying aid prevention, with recent articles appearing in media outlets and public statements of condemnation from civil society. By way of example, on the 6th of January 2018, the article entitled “Yemen War: Corruption stops food aid reaching us, say desperate families” appeared in the Middle East Eye, detailing the restricted access to aid packages by those in need with families often coming up against armed gangs; inflated prices and malfunctioning distribution process.

Conversely, a collective group of humanitarian organisations working in Yemen issued a statement on 17th December 2017 condemning the allegations of corruption and bias in their provision of relief assistance in Yemen.

It is in this context, noting the time constraints, that an initial filed assessment was conducted in order to ascertain an accurate reflection of the situation on the ground in an effort to facilitate the effective distribution of aid throughout Yemen. In doing so 36 documentary statements were collected from field activists; aid workers; displaced persons and representatives of local councils from, inter alia, Aden, Taiz, Sanaa and Hodeida to grasp a better understanding of the situation.

First Section: The Aid sector in Yemen answers from the field. 

List of answers and statements by the Yemenis (activists and/or associated with the aid sector): 

1. “The aid is confiscated by the Houthis and sent to their rebels in the fighting fronts”
2. “Human aid organizations working in Yemen are unbelievably many. So many new organisations started functioning in Yemen after the war. The main reason for this huge concentration of aid work in Yemen is not only the emergency humanitarian aid need in Yemen that the war has done to the Yemeni people but it is because of the fertile land for making revenues out of the aid work. “
3. "There is an exaggeration in the humanitarian situation by humanitarian organizations. I went to Africa and I have seen countries are suffering and are in a worse situation compared to Yemen now”.
4. “In Al Maafer recive only 30% of what is needed for more than 3000 family. Obstacles are the roads and the location of the Maafer camp. We urge aid organisation to provide education back for kids and youth don’t get involved in begging or joining the war. “
5. “should support the community in development projects and training so the sieged city Taiz be sufficient in food security as the food baskets sustain for 15 days only”
6. “Failure of organizations to implement programs further beyond the needs of citizens and urgent needs such projects as saving patients with kidney failure - cancer - diabetes - etc., which made the aid organisations being subject of doubts for everyone.”
7. “Most of the problems that face the organisations is identifying the people in need. It always depend on the local area administrative officer ( Aqel Al Harah) along with the local council where they report un needed people of their own circle and here corruption take place. Familied in need are not mapped.”
8. “Furthermore, there is not approach by the aid organisations in activating a sustainable approach or an exit strategy where the induvial at the end can generate income and integrate, instead of just keep waiting for the next aid and so on. “
9. “There are many, many families in need don’t reveal or declare that they are in need for social reasons”.
10. “It is hard to deliver aid due to security, infrastructure and politics”.
11. “Women are asked to provide ID to receive aid, this shouldn’t be the case for women according to 1325”.
12. “There are people in need in Lahej and Al Dhale and Abian where they don’t get any attention from the humanitarian organisations”.
13. “The concentration of aid relief is in the northern part, they might send something here and there in the freed places just to report to their organisations that they are covering the country”
14. “Monitoring is weak and usually they find out about corruption of undelivered aid during the evaluation and after the aid is lost, where nothing can be done”
15. “Sometimes aid is distributed before it reaches the people in need, due to bad infrastructure, security etc, just for the organisations to report that they disbursed aid”, he continues, though it serves the people in the rural area but they are not the ultimate beneficiary the program was designed for”.
16. “The IDP keep changing their places or camps it is hard to track them, and sometimes they do that to receive aid from different organisations”.
17. “The market is saturated of goods and food, the groceries have all kind of great products coming from Saudia Arabia and Emirates, the problem is not in the lack of food, the problem is in the low power of shopping that people have especially after not receiving their salaries”. She continues: “Today you can buy what ever you want online, e-commerce is great business these days. The delivery can take few weeks and you can have it into your house”.
18. “Women and kids in the IDPs are fragile and need protection”
19. “Cash for work and cash transfer are much models in supporting people in need”.
20. “ The local council should support the community in development projects and training so the sieged city Taiz be self-sufficient in food security”
21. “ Aid sustain to an average of 15 days.
22. “The obstacles are:

• lack of seriousness of the organizations in carrying out their duties in accordance with the need on the ground.
• Organizations use the suffering of the people to invest and trade in the humanitarian situation for material gain.
• Failure of organizations to implement programs further beyond the needs of citizens and urgent needs such projects as saving patients with kidney failure - cancer - diabetes - etc., which made the aid organisations being subject of doubts for everyone.
• The work of these organizations in the current framework and way made the world pump in millions of dollars which will end-up in the wrong place where the need of citizens will remain the same despite all the donations and grants provided to address the humanitarian situation, which is getting worse day by day”

23. “Most of the problems that face the organisations is identifying the people in need. It always depend on the local area administrative officer ( Aqel Al Harah) along with the local council where they report un needed people of their own circle and here corruption take place. Familied in need are not mapped.
24. “Furthermore, there is not approach by the aid organisations in activating a sustainable approach or an exit strategy where the induvial at the end can generate income and integrate, instead of just keep waiting for the next aid and so on. “
25. “The organisations are reluctant to reach the freed areas, due to security and political reasons. They settle in sending a person or few personal to report that they reach all governorate”
26. “no coordination between the aid organisations where some areas gets overwarmed with aid.”
27. “The selection of personal who works in this field are far away from integrity”
28. “There is no accurate or semi-accurate statistics for the needy people”
29. “There are many, many families in need don’t reveal or declare that they are in need for social reasons”
30. “It is hard to deliver aid due to security, infrastructure and politics”
31. “The merchants of war who take humanitarian aid from the international organizations by force and intimidation, and in arrogance of de facto authority.
32. “There are initiatives and institutions in Sana'a, and IBB receive huge amount of aid and uses it as a war tool distributing it to the fighters and the local administrative officers. There are reports about this . So these acts deprive aid to reach areas such as Taiz and the south because these areas belongs to the legitimate government. “
33. “Unfortunately, the simple citizen is deprived of his right to access to food, medicine and livelihood that help him during the internal displacement. Thousands end up living in the mountains buckets and stay unreached. The other reason is the lack of transparency and oversight of these international organizations and their partners”
34. Continue : “ On the other hand, youth initiatives have emerged, which are very active, dynamic and generous, and have helped thousands of Yemenis, especially in the besieged city of Taiz, where life has been lost. However, these initiatives and institutions lack integration in performance because coordination is weak, and many do not have the institutional structure that qualifies them for international financial grants, and they face significant challenges from unsustainable business and lack of financial resources to continue.”

35. “There is also a lack of training and lack of clarity mechanisms and criteria for choosing families because of the existence of general poverty and the lack of salaries and the difficulty of mobility and the lack of specialized cadres, but remains the biggest challenge is the relief lobby.”

36. “Women are forced to go to conflict zones to get aid, show id even they have nothing with them except their clothes on them, further facilitation for women should be considered”

Problems raised from interviews:

Under the Houthis controlled areas, INGOs and local NGOs are closely monitored by the Houthis officers and they have a hand by the power of force on the list of needed people for aid, the channels of aid and the methodology. INGOs found themselves in a situation to comply with this corrupted group militates e corruption of the group acceptance of the local and international NGOs.

• Corruption by the Houthis on the ground is one of the main factors preventing better and more direct funding to humanitarian actors and it limits aid reaching people who desperately need it;
• Corruption divers aid to fuel war and feed the worriers instead of the needed families.
• The circle of trust is missing between the affected people, local authorities and aid agencies to provide assistance fairly and reach people who are in need.
• There are disincentives, stemming from a sense of acceptance or disempowerment, to report instances of corruption and abuse of power. 
• Aid product is not the right product in many places and for many cases. People need lively hood programs and early recovery programs too.
• Lack of exit strategy and sustainable approach in the aid models implemented.

Section Two: The Development Programs in Yemen. 

The development projects in Yemen have been suspended apart from some projects funded by the WorldBank to the Social Fund for Development (SFD) and Small and Micro Enterprise Promotion Services (SMEPS). These projects showed great results are rarely mentioned nor apprised in the international corridors and media. 

On a snapshot analysis of the development projects in Yemen focusing on the Yemen Emergency Crisis Response project funded by the World Bank and implemented by the SFD and SMEPS. The Project Development Objective is to provide short-term employment and access to selected basic services to the most vulnerable;

The youth in the targeted communities have a positive impact, community leaders emphasize that the programs enable the youth to resolve the community conflicts, build internal community initiatives that solves local problems, create internal social collaboration, and most important create internal enablers.

The project helped the diverse groups (women, youth, IDPs) to integrate better in the region.
All respondents confirmed that the intervention helped to further belong to the region through creating new relationships and consolidation, co-existence and cooperation among them in order to strengthen greater community cohesion by enhancing new relationships of women from the region and outside, exchange of information and consolidation of relations.

 Some statistics and indicators of the development projects in Yemen.

As of January 15, 2018, the component has created over 1.83 million working days and benefits approximately 10,972 workers (33% female, 45% internally displaced people and returnees, and 52% youth); 64,049 vulnerable women and children under five received nutrition-sensitive cash transfers and treatment/preventative services; about 937,752 individuals (direct recipients and family members) have benefited from the income support provided through wages, transfers and livelihood activities; and over a million people provided with access to key services and community infrastructures. As of January 15, 2018, approximately 1.3 million households (about 7 million individuals) have received cash transfers under the first quarter payment in all governorates and districts of Yemen. Approximately 44 percent of the direct recipients are women. The first quarter payment ended in November 2017, and the second quarter payment was planned for delivery beginning in February.

Cash for Work Intervention Projects has improved their livelihood significantly. Statements from the ground:

“The intervention stimulates the community through the current situation to create the initiatives and to solve our problems by ourselves”
Abdulaziz al-Mukren, Khwlan, Sanaa

“There is no great thing in this intervention but it helps the community to help each other and resolve their conflicts”

“We used to get a single tank with 12 thousand YR and at least 3 houses share it, but now we have water to home”

This was very obvious in some CFW activities, farming, nutrition projects where the coaching and educational activities helped to educate the communities and create a trigger to do similar activities and similar practices.

In 2017 SMEPS supported 1782 farmers upgrade practices to be resilient and improve food security. They created short-term and long-term job opportunities for 22,000 people. Their M&E data showed 12.5% of the farmers or 222 are ex-combatants.
Their M&E data showed 40% of these farm workers were fighters that had left the front lines – that is 7600 out of the 22,000 recruited. They encouraged combatants to disengage – imagine what They could have achieved if we had designed the project to achieve these results? Imagine the implications for DDR?

So these projects improved food security created jobs, encouraged disengagement of fighters , and encouraged thousands of rural communities to invest.

On the other hand at SMEPS they held focus discussions with 200 women micro health providers (midwives and nurses) and none of them had been approach by the UN system to support the cholera response. They supported 500 micro health providers to deliver better services. In a base line of 130 midwives and nurses they found that they serve collectively 49,000 patients a year. After their intervention with them their businesses had expanded now serving 110,000 patients each year and growing.

General Conclusions and Recommendation:

• The evidence from all interviews that corruption affects humanitarian assistance is unsurprising. According to Transparency International, in 2017, Yemen was ranked as the “175 least corrupt nation out of 175 countries”.[1]
• Humanitarian action generally takes place in difficult and insecure contexts. At the same time, there is also recognition that whatever is done to tackle corruption needs to be done in a way that continues to enable humanitarian actors to channel aid to reach difficult-to-access vulnerable populations.
• Furthermore, active and proper communication is vital to solve projects’ obstacles .
• Women and children are the main affected entity of this war and aid should be gender responsive.
• Solutions need to be balanced with a view to maintain assistance to those in need and to enhance its integrity, accountability, efficiency and cost effectiveness in the implementation of aid delivery. All agencies need a better narrative about how they are addressing corruption
• More use of creative and innovative models harnessing Aid, Development and Technology for aid delivery.
• Cash transfers are perceived as less prone to corruption due to the emphasis placed on strong systems and reliance on electronic disbursement channels.
• I urge to reconsider more effective, creative and innovative approach when implementing aid funds. The current status of the country corruption and the power distribution won’t support at any time the aid delivering in an effective, efficient, and sustainable way.

Recommendations for the UN Aid organisations: 

1. We are pleased to note that the recently appointed UN OCHA coordinator is a woman, that UN OCHA recruited a national gender specialist, are looking forward to more gender-responsive policies and procedures according to 1325, benefiting from a solid monitoring & evaluation framework.

2. Currently, 75% of the volunteers distributing humanitarian assistance is female. Some incidences have been reported where these women were denied access to communities. The requirement for a ‘mahram’ (male relative acting as guardian). The access of female humanitarian workers to communities needs to be supported and their potential as female community leaders needs to be enhanced.

3. An in-depth assessment is recommended into humanitarian needs, obstacles and constraints to ensure that the humanitarian needs of different groups: women, men, girls and boys are adequately met. The funding should be based on the principles of ‘do-no-harm’, gender and protection as well as conflict sensitivity. The study should take experiences and lessons learned so far by NGOs into account. Allocation more funding to women NGOs and women led NGOs not less than 25 % according to Human Rights Forum.

4. Divide funds between humanitarian assistance, early recovery and development, depending on the local needs. It is important to include these three phases for each area and work through NGOs for this chain. Addressing sexual reproductive health needs and addressing of GBV in this chain is crucial.

Cash for work : $ 94 million disbursed

Cash for Social Services Nutrition

Farmers :

Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs)

بيانات المبحوث:                              

A1.    الاسم: ________________________________

A2.    بيانات الاسرة:

A3.    بيانات المنزل:

• هل تستطيع ان تحدد ن ه يالجهة التي قدمت هذه الإغاثة/ الاغاثات؟
  1. ألامم المتحدة UNDP
  2. برنامج الغذاء العالمي WFP
  3. اليونيسيف UNICEF
  4. منظمة الصحة لعالمية WHO
  5. مركز الملك سلمان للإغاثة
  6. الصليب الحمر
  7. الهلال الأحمر الاماراتي
  8. تجار وفاعلي خير

         غير ذلك (أذكره)  .......................................................

         غير ذلك (أذكره)  .......................................................

• ما هو نوع هذه المواد الاغاثية التي سلمت لك
  1. مواد غذائية
  2. منظفات ومواد منزلية
  3. أدوية
  4. مستلزمات سكنية

         غير ذلك (أذكره)  .......................................................

• محور التقارير:

• ما هو الحل برأيك لذلك: .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

• ما هو الحل برأيك لذلك: .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

• محور المخاطر:
• ما هي المخاطر و الصعوبات المرتبطة بإيصال المعونات الإنسانية حسب رايك ترتيبا تنازليا الاخطر فالأقل خطر بحسب رب الأسرة:

1. _______________________
2. _______________________
3. _______________________
4. _______________________
5. _______________________
6. _______________________
7. _______________________
8. _______________________
9. _______________________
10. _______________________

• برأيك ما الذي يمكن عمله لحل هذه المشاكل: ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

• محور التعاون مع الجهات المعنية و المجتمع المدني:

• كيف يتم ذلك: .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................
• برأيك، هل هي فعالة ؟

.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

• ما هي المخاطر و الصعوبات المرتبطة بإيصال المعونات الإنسانية حسب رايك ترتيبا تنازليا الاخطر فالأقل خطر بحسب رب الأسرة:

1. _______________________
2. _______________________
3. _______________________
4. _______________________
5. _______________________

• محور التعاون مع الجهات المعنية و المجتمع المدني: