Empowering and protecting Yemeni women and girls

Background:

Yemen remains the largest humanitarian crisis and relief operation in the world. The crisis is the result of the brutal armed conflict that escalated eight years ago. It has killed and injured tens of thousands of civilians, causing immense suffering to the Yemeni people.

Women are disproportionately and severely affected by displacement. More than 70 percent of the displaced in Yemen are women and children, and about 30 percent of the displaced families are now female-headed. Displaced boys and girls face problems accessing education and other basic public services, often due to their lack of civil documentation such as birth certificates and/or the lack of identity documents for their caregivers. Men and boys are at increased risk of protection risks, including forced conscription and arbitrary detention. Almost 40 percent of women have never been to school. In general, women are further marginalized, particularly those who are widowed, unmarried, disabled, or elderly. Children are often seen begging in the streets and not attending school.

It is estimated that a total of 20.7 million people, 66 percent of the population, will need humanitarian assistance in 2023; 10.1 million of them are in acute need (severity 4 and 5). This includes 4.6 million women, 5.5 million girls, 4.7 million men and 5.7 million boys. Of these, there are 1.8 million pregnant and lactating women, 2.8 million children under the age of five, 3.1 million people with disabilities, and 4 million internally displaced persons.

Sanid Organization for Relief and Development (SORD) has sought to support the protection and dignity of the most vulnerable and affected displaced women, especially pregnant women, girls and women heads of families, by providing various assistance that will help women live in dignity and help them recover their livelihoods and boost their economies. SORD therefore needs financial support to achieve this goal from a generous donor by funding this program campaign. Due to the lake of funding announced by humanitarian actors and the UN agency in Yemen, more resources are now needed to reduce the suffering of pregnant women and families headed by women or girls affected by the war. Your donations will support several sectors related to women and girls to address different aspects of needs in the same locations. Risks of starvation, disease and epidemicsmalnutrition, and displacement are all examples of the complex and multifaceted humanitarian needs of women that require multisectoral approaches.

Through this project, SORD sought to build women's capacities and protect them through a number of activities that make them a woman with a self-reliant entity in providing for herself and her family, since the activities targeted women who support their families in war-affected areas that witnessed large waves of displacement, such as Sana'a governorate and others. Displacement areas that witness a high population density, especially since the beginning of the armed conflict

The project aims to protect and build the capacities of 300 displaced, poorest and abused women and girls in Sana’a in economic empowerment in the areas of modern sewing, the art of hairdressing, making incense and its derivatives, education for adults, literacy, awareness of reproductive health, and others.

Achievement report for the implemented activities for the period (March-May 2023)

• Many women and girls from different regions of the category of displaced persons and the poorest and those exposed to violence and survivors of it were received at the organization's headquarters.
• The names were sorted by the organization's team, and the areas inhabited by these women were determined, as well as their professional tendencies and desires to be trained in life skills and gain experience in order to enable them to work, earn money, become self-reliant, and be able to provide for their families.
• A map of services has been prepared in their areas of residence, and women's centers and training institutes have been identified
• SANED organization contributed to bear the enrollment fees for a number of women by 50% of those fees, while the centers bear the remaining 50%, and thus the trainee does not pay anything from those fees.
• 80 women distributed over 4 centers and institutes within their area of residence have been referred so that they do not bear transportation fees and their access to training centers is easy.The number 80 was divided into 4 types of training, as follows:
• Training in the field of sewing for 20 women and girls. The training period was 15 days
• Training in the field of knitting for 20 women. The training period was 15 days.
• In the field of incense and perfume industry, 20 women and girls completed a 15-day training period.
• In the field of accessories industry, there are 20 girls. The training period was 10 days.

They were distributed into four groups. Two groups during the month of March and two groups during the month of April

• Providing the requirements for the implementation of training activities to the training centers (training supplies from the materials contributed by SORD to those centers that received referrals.
• Providing individual and group sessions for 90 cases that need psychosocial support by the organization's social worker.

In addition to these activities, there are a number of privileges for these trainees, in terms of health and reproductive health care, where a contract was signed with the Motherhood and Childhood Center, and it was agreed to receive the women who were included in the training program and subject them to periodic examinations within the Motherhood and Childhood Program, accompanied by their children, especially infants, who are exposed to diseases, the most important of which are bad nutrition .

Challenges and Difficulties

• Lack of support and capabilities to provide empowerment packages for training beneficiaries
• An increase in the number of female visitors to the organization in order to join empowerment training and activities.
• Scarcity of capabilities to implement and expand activities and preparation for the benefit to prevail.

Recommendations:

• v  Searching for more financing to provide empowerment packages for the beneficiaries of the training
• v  Provide support to enroll the largest number of women who wish to obtain training