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Yemen: Humanitarian need comes to light in the new ceasefire
Young IDPs stand by water tanks in an IDP camp
Yemen is cautiously enjoying the first few weeks of the ceasefire concluded between the Yemeni Government and the Houthis on the 11th February. But despite the relative peace, there is much work to be done, and as the people of Sa'ada and Amran begin rebuilding their lives, the full extent of the humanitarian need is inevitably coming to light.
There are around a quarter of a million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Northern Yemen at the moment. The camps, set up to shelter them are overstretched, and the ICRC and Yemeni Red Crescent report that the massive logistical task of supplying not only food and water, but tents, blankets hygiene kits, mattresses and other living essentials is unsurprisingly proving a great challenge.
But despite what will realistically be a longterm project of rehabilitation and care for displaced people, there is cause for cautious optimism. The Yemeni government has taken the initiative to appoint a newly created Minister for IDPs, which will hopefully go some way to unifying and streamlining the government response to the needs. At recent meetings, attended by The Humanitarian Forum, special humanitarian advisors liaised directly with the government to facilitate an effective response.
Dr Hany El Banna recently returned from a trip to Yemen, a trip which involved visiting three IDP camps in Haran with representatives of 17 local humanitarian organisations, as well as high level meetings with government and international agencies. He said it was encouraging to witness how the different actors are making efforts to learn from each other. The camps visited are being run by international agencies including the ICRC, Islamic Relief and Oxfam, but the local organisations were given the chance to learn and contribute. Moreover, in the camps, representatives from amongst the IDPs are also members of the camp management committees, ensuring that the voices of the beneficiaries are heard directly and that their problems and solutions feature prominently.
The scale of this humanitarian crisis is still great. Nonetheless, there is great determination in Yemen, and the will to change this emergency into a basis for a strong civil society. Dr El Banna emphasised the importance not only of involving local organisations now, but focussing on capacity building, insisting that a strong local network must be left in place after the initial crisis is dealt with. If we build confidence in local organisations, he said, ‘they will transfer their knowledge and expertise to their colleagues in different cities and districts. That way their colleagues will feel that such a product can be, and is made in Yemen itself, and not only in Europe. If we want to leave a stronger, sustainable civil society, we must enable its members to build it, whether we're there or not. ‘
Read Dr Hany's Yemen blog update
