New FAO-World Bank programme to scale up assistance for women, men and families in Yemen
The $36 million joint project aims at providing immediate assistance to over 630,000 poor and food-insecure people in Yemen — more than 30 percent of whom are women — as well as increasing longer term agricultural resilience in the conflict-ridden country
A farmer in Yemen tends her herd of goats.
With an estimated 17 million people facing Emergency or Crisis levels of acute food insecurity, Yemen is currently experiencing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The ongoing conflict has severely affected the agriculture sector and has had a devastating impact on the food security, nutrition and livelihood of Yemenis.
In response, a new programme launched by FAO and the World Bank, will support priority projects in the areas of providing food-security support and rehabilitation of water resources to increase smallholders' production, income and nutrition. The target areas will consist of 21 of the most food-insecure districts in the country, with a special focus on the most vulnerable: landless farmers, sharecroppers, smallholders and households headed by women and affected by conflict.
"The World Bank grant that FAO has received in Yemen will go a long way in helping us provide sustainable agricultural solutions — furthering rural development, providing food security, rehabilitating community water infrastructures and improving capacity development in a country where millions of people are food insecure," said Salah El-Hajj Hassan, FAO Country Representative in Yemen.
"The implementation of the project will also allow FAO to build on previous projects, such as those empowering women to become more involved in conflict resolution issues," he added.