World Bank and UNDP: Continuing strong partnership for Yemeni people

Sana’a — The World Bank has renewed its pledge to continue working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to prevent Yemen from slipping into a full-blown famine.

In the continuation of their US$300 million successful partnership, which has provided nearly 3.4 million Yemenis with access to key services and helped 173,000 mothers and children to be treated for malnutrition, the World Bank’s IDA signs another two-year recommitment with UNDP to continue the Yemen Emergency Crisis Response Project (YECRP).

After four years of continuous conflict, this partnership has never been more important for the Yemeni people who are facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. With growing risk of famine and increasing rates of malnutrition, food insecurity is at its highest with 20 million Yemenis struggling to have three meals a day, while 10 million do not know from where their next meal will come.

Recognizing that humanitarian response alone isn’t enough and to preserve Yemen’s developmental gains for post-conflict recovery, the World Bank works with UNDP to support livelihoods and preserve vital and key services of water, food, health, education and safe roads. This has been possible by shoring up the national-based Social Fund for Development (SFD) and Public Works Projects (PWP) and their community networks to deliver these services across Yemen.

Building on its extensive field presence and working with local institutions in Yemen, UNDP will continue to work with the World Bank and its key partners – SFD and PWP – to stave off famine by providing support to nutrition interventions, cash for work, vital services, and small businesses to continue access to key local goods and services.

A part of its 2020-2021 Yemen Country Engagement Note, the World Bank has recommitted to the delivery of effective support to the Yemeni people for the next two years in the midst of ongoing conflict. Priorities will be preserving institutional capacity, improving service delivery resilience, and providing support to conflict-affected poor and vulnerable Yemenis. The new strategy will also focus on encouraging immediate economic growth by creating emergency jobs and supporting the private sector.