FAO’s response in Yemen – Mar 2019

In 2018, FAO significantly scaled up its assistance to Yemen, reaching millions of vulnerable Yemenis through a mixture of crop and vegetable seeds, fishing gear, poultry production kits, cash support, animal health campaigns, restocking and animal feed, as well as value chain development.

FAO’s animal vaccination and treatment campaigns reached over 2.4 million livestock in 2018 despite significant access constraints, providing critical protection from disease and safeguarding livelihoods despite the collapse of government veterinary services. In addition, FAO provided training to 104 community animal health workers to provide basic veterinary services in remote areas.

FAO’s expertise in farming, livestock, fisheries and forestry is an essential part of the humanitarian response in Yemen and is not just saving lives but is securing and restoring agricultural livelihoods, which is crucial to address rising food insecurity in the country. It is our role and responsibility to protect, restore, and enhance the food security, nutrition and livelihoods of farmers, fishers and pastoralists. FAO promotes self-reliance, helping crisis-affected communities not just to survive but to thrive by building more resilient livelihoods.

FAO is also focusing its efforts on supporting women, especially given their increasing role in agricultural production since the onset of the crisis. Rural women are thus benefiting from a combination of inputs and training – for example on improved animal health and feeding, milk production and sheep and goat fattening, food processing, backyard gardening and roof water collection – as well as support to institutionalize women’s groups and strengthen their role in community-level natural resource management, in which their participation is enhancing conflict resolution mechanisms at the local level.

FAO has offices in Sana’a, and four regional hubs (Al Hudaydah, Aden, Ibb and Sa’ada) and over 110 staff, most of whom are based in Sana’a. This includes a range of technical experts, including on animal health, agronomy, water resource management, food security and information systems, value chain, livelihood, cash-based programmes, environmental and social safeguards, monitoring and evaluation, procurement, and operations and finance.

FAO is continuing to build its operational capacity on the ground in Yemen by deploying national and international experts to supervise its activities either directly implemented by FAO staff or implementing partners from NGOs or specialized institutions.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/fao-s-response-yemen-mar-2019