Yemen

Country Situation: The population of Yemen, already one of the poorest countries in the region, has been caught in the midst of a brutal civil war since 2015. And is now suffering the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today. Fighting has devastated both livelihoods and food security in the country, and destroyed critical infrastructure. All in all, 24.3 million people out of a population of 29 million are now at risk of hunger and disease, with 14.4 million having “acute needs” requiring intervention. 20.5 million also lack safe water. Malnutrition is rampant and various outbreaks of diseases including cholera, diphtheria, covid-19 are affecting people even as households cant find the bare minimum food to eat. Women and especially children are the worst affected. Lastly, economic prospects are grim as employment is scarce, remittances are declining, fuel is in shortage and the country’s currency is in the midst of hyperinflation, pushing more people into extreme poverty.

Muslim Hands Yemen has an Emergency Relief presence in the country with a focus on fighting the ongoing food-shortage/famine with a bread factory, tackle education by building school and supporting children left orphaned, building and running medical clinics, and providing safe drinking water in Yemen.

Education

Education for millions of children has been stalled indefinitely, and instead children are exposed to all kinds of child protection concerns during the ongoing crisis, with 1 out of 5 out-of-school children facing security incidents. Muslim hands supports education and child support projects in Yemen for the most vulnerable students and gives special consideration to orphans in Aden.

Its projects include support of local schools in Marib and building of Muslim Hands School Of Excellence in Aden.

In Marib School Support project, MH is increasing capacities of several schools by training teachers, installing 6 classes per school and 6 bathrooms per school. In total, 810 students are now receiving an education in indoor safe learning environments with hygienic WASH facilities as a result of MH intervention.

In MH School of Excellence (MHSOE), Muslim Hands has built from the ground up a first-of-its-kind, new model orphans’ school in Aden which currently delivers quality education and various activities to 270 students everyday. The School of Excellence provides the students (all of whom are orphans) Education from qualified teachers integrated with computer teaching, extra after-school classes to help orphans catch up to educational standards of their age group, transportation, a meal per day, free uniform with pairs of shoes, a bag kit with stationary and curriculum books, a fully equipped school clinic, Entertainment and Outdoors activities and a general care and concern for ensuring orphans emotional wellbeing.

Health

Years of disruption to society has also pushed Yemen’s public health system to collapse. More than half of all health facilities in Yemen are damaged or unable to function, leaving millions without access to the vital treatment they need. Today, Yemen’s healthcare is now largely dependent on outside aid.

MH Yemen operates and assists health facilities in various areas and works to make sure health is available for the most vulnerable people. Moreover, it provides care to the most vulnerable women and children through being the only provider of reproductive, maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health services for vulnerable populations. MH is also training and supporting the health capacity of the served community.

MH Yemen has rebuilt or rehabilitated health facilities and made them functional in Bir Ahmed, Aden and elsewhere. Health clinics like in rural Lahj are providing vulnerable families in rural villages with healthcare, medicine and nutrition services, including prioritizing pregnant women and children for nutrition testing. We are also providing medical awareness sessions to help families better care for themselves. The health centres of MH all combined have served around 31,371 beneficiaries whereas the full population they serve is upto 1 million people.

The project aligns with the SDG 3 in Yemen by developing quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure to support Good Health and Well-being.

WASH

80% of the country’s population struggles to access water to drink and bathe. Yemen already had a severe cholera outbreak has been made worse by the lack of accessible, clean drinking water. Nearly a third of all cholera cases were children under the age of 5.

Muslim Hands Yemen is actively responding to WASH needs in Yemen by improving families’ access to clean and safe water and rehabilitating key WASH infrastructures. To date, over 1,800,000 people have benefited from WASH infrastructure built by MH Yemen. Our WASH activities include well digging, rehabilitation of wells and community-participative O&M (Operations & Maintenance) of the infrastructure.

MH plans current plans include restoring 12 wells in various camps and villages to support upwards of 75,000 Yemenis in Lahj, Marib, Shabowa, Al Dhale’e and Taiz. These wells will mean people don’t have to walk for miles just for a bucket of contaminated water.

MH also plans to repair key water infrastructure in Marib such as water lines and water towers.

Food Security & Livelihoods

As a response to widespread famine and malnutrition, Muslim Hands Yemen have opened two bread factories in the cities of Aden and Ma’rib which provide food parcels to families in Aden, Marib, Hadramout and Ad Durayhimi. Currently, MH has four functioning Bread Factories in Yemen supporting food-insecure families. They target vulnerable families specifically orphans, widows, people with disabilities and households in extreme poverty. MH’s food aid has helped 147,565 beneficiaries to date.

Each factory has a capacity of baking approx. 7,500-11,000 loaves daily and they provide daily bread for over 15,000 beneficiaries every day altogether. A typical budget for a Bread Factory per month is $30,600 USD.

“For many Yemenis the bread factory will provide the only meal they will have in the day. This basic item helps stop thousands of people starving.”

– Abdul Rahman Hussein, Country Director Yemen Programmes

Other projects include School feeding project in Marib where MH conducted an assessment in 5 primary schools and determined severe malnutrition in the children of IDP and host communities which was affecting their ability to learn. Many children were showing underweight and stunting as well. As part of school feeding, MH donates 238,000 meals per day to children (consisting of a 125ml milk pack, bread, cheese wedge, and 2 bananas) from October 2021 to Feb 2022.

MH also conducted a similar Emergency Food Parcels distribution also in Marib, Aden and Ad Durahhimi where families that cant afford food prices are given a complete monthly food groceries package per month.

These projects protect the right of families to access food, as in many cases, the areas suffer food shortages and families cannot find adequate food even in markets.

Muslim Hands Yemen runs a bread factory and distribution points which serve families in equitable way. During periods of food shortages, beneficiaries reported that MH Yemen’s distributions were one of the only sources of food for poor families.