Study: Yemen's foreign aid is temporary sedatives, does not support sustainable livelihoods programs
English - Thursday 27 June 2019 الساعة 11:15 pm
NewsYemen
A new economic study shows that grants and foreign aid to Yemen over the past four and a half years have been temporary shelters, and a number of people in need of humanitarian assistance are increasing every day.
A growing number of Yemenis suffering from extreme poverty and acute food insecurity have been forced to reduce food consumption, sell homes, land, productive assets, livestock and furniture, according a study under title " Food Insecurity in Yemen".
According to the latest official update of the Integrated Classification of the Food Security Phase in December 2018, nearly 20 million people face severe food shortages, of which nearly 5 million suffer from conditions similar to a famine or the famine itself.
The study, carried out by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation - funded by UNICEF, stressed the importance of combining emergency humanitarian interventions with livelihood programs to ensure that the effectiveness and sustainability of external support so as to prevent people to fell into the square of food insecurity, malnutrition and maintaining the remainder of their livelihoods.
The development programs should work in parallel with emergency humanitarian interventions with a focus on bringing sustainable livelihoods programs, such as the expansion of cash-for-work and labor-intensive programs to rehabilitate and maintain infrastructure and community assets such as roads, schools and irrigation systems, the study said.
The study called on international organizations and agencies working in Yemen to support small and microenterprises and income-generating activities related to food production, support the poor and low-income people to own productive assets, and provide solar energy systems to run facilities in health, learning and water in rural and suburban areas of cities.
The study emphasized that providing and sustaining the livelihoods of the population are extremely important in times of protracted crises and conflicts to make the population less vulnerable and more resilient to economic shocks, transforming them from consumers who rely on temporary humanitarian food aid to self-reliant producers.
