Atrás
Sana'a, Sana'a City, Yemen
2017 - 2019
Breve descripción
This Project has helped the rural communities to better manage the natural resources (land and water), strengthen the participation of women in conflict resolution mechanisms at the local communities level, increased the economic self-reliance and enhanced social cohesion.
While most projects in Yemen prioritize meeting emergency needs, this project focused on peacebuilding and stabilization, emerging areas of work in Yemen. FAO and IOM built local capacities to address community needs and conflicts, thus reducing dependence on aid and contributing to sustainable recovery. In particular, it implemented the following innovative approaches:
- Environmentally sustainable approach: While climate change is a major concern in Yemen, affecting traditional livelihoods and agricultural production, it is often not considered a priority by humanitarian resource partners due to competing emergency needs. The project implemented climate-change mitigation measures through the planting of 10,000 Sidr trees, which also provided a sustainable source of livelihoods to local communities.
- Context-sensitive approaches: The project engaged women and youth in consultation sessions and used a community participatory approach for the selection of sites. Shared natural resources are often a source of tension and competition between communities. Instead, the project used shared (water) resources as the foundation for peacebuilding and promoting cooperation amongst people.
Propósito principal
Restauración de la tierra para aumentar la fertilidad del suelo/revertir la degradación de la tierra,
Control de erosión / estabilización de pendientes,
Flood protection: redirection / drainage / infiltration of flood waters,
Water infiltration / groundwater replenishment, Provision / protection / diversification of employment and livelihoods / poverty reduction,
Reducir la competencia por los recursos naturales,
Increasing community cohesion / community building,
Gender equality
Otros beneficios esperados
Climate change mitigation / capture of greenhouse gases, Climate adaptation / resilience,
Food security,
Entry point for dialogue and mediation between conflicting groups
Contexto de conflicto
Natural resources disputes are a chronic, debilitating reality for a great many Yemenis. Social violence over land and water in Yemen is a pervasive and self-perpetuating phenomenon that claims thousands of lives each year and severaly inhibits social and economic development. While escalating political violence in Yemen is rapidly capturing international attention, more insidious land and water-related social violence threathens to further weaken community cohesion and undermine stability. At the national level, collective land grievances are fueling southern resentment and calls for secession.
While mortality data is extremely limited, a recent internal Interior Ministry report estimated some 4,000 violent deaths annually due to water and land disputes. The Yemeni quasi-governmental Social Fund for Development (SFD) described an area in Sana’a governorate where land (and water) conflicts were resulting in around two armed violence deaths per week, including while conflict reducting training was carried out. Some of the key dynamics affecting the likelihood and escalation of land and water conflicts, including a widening ‘governance gap’ between the state and customary regulation, collective responsibility and revenge norms, small arms proliferation, and the existence of powerful vested interests.
Contribuciones a la paz y la seguridad
This project played a key role in strengthening social cohesion by addressing conflict drivers at the community level, promoting women’s inclusion, as well as providing fair access to shared livelihood resources.
In total, the project team and local stakeholders conducted 18 consultation meetings and, as a result, formulated three agreements with Water Users Associations, leading to community cooperation and facilitation of conflict resolution in Wadi Thabi. The project also established a Women Water Users Groups in each Water Users Association and built their capacities to conduct conflict resolution and community awareness raising to promote peaceful solution. Twenty-five members of Women Water User Groups and Water Users Associations (15 women, 10 men) were trained on conflict resolution and gender empowerment to enhance local capacity in addressing any future conflicts’.
Elementos de buenas prácticas reportados
- The community-oriented and gender empowering approach taken by the project contributed to setting a precedent for an inclusive peacebuilding process, considering that the current national peacebuilding process has largely excluded the civil society.
- While most projects in Yemen prioritize meeting emergency needs, this project focused on peacebuilding and stabilization, emerging areas of work in Yemen.
Desafíos reportados
The project initially targeted Wadi Rima in Al Hudaydah Governorate, however, FAO and IOM encountered significant access constraints because of the volatile security situation in Al Hudaydah and the inability to secure approval for the project from local authorities. Consequently, FAO and IOM requested a project location change to Hadramout Governorate, which was approved in October 2019.
The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and continued spread of the disease in Yemen occurred throughout the project period. This resulted in delays in some field activities.
Detalles prácticos de implementación.
– The project ensured that women represent 30 percent of Water Users Associations’ (WUA) Board of Directors and 50 percent of Conflict Resolution Committees.
– The project implemented climate-change mitigation measures through the planting of 10,000 Sidr trees, which also provided a sustainable source of livelihoods to local communities.
Método de seguimiento de los impactos ambientales y de paz.
During the inception period, the FAO Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) team, supported by IOM field staff conducted the baseline assessment in the targeted location to assess needs and determine the target beneficiaries. The baseline assessment also identified perceptions related to local water conflicts, number of local conflicts and their causes in order to inform the project conflict resolution processes. FAO also rolled out its beneficiary feedback mechanisms through a local hotline to allow beneficiaries to report concerns, complaints, or provide overall feedback on the project. In total, 12 calls were received with feedback or complaints, which were concerned with the beneficiary selection process and the timing of assistance delivery. All the received feedback and complaints were considered and resolved accordingly. Furthermore, the FAO and IOM M&E and project management staff regularly visited the project sites to assess progress, and IOM field staff monitored the field implementation. Before the start of cash for work activities and throughout the implementation period, FAO and IOM M&E units conducted beneficiary eligibility verification, and FAO M&E unit conducted cash transfer monitoring. The outputs from the remote monitoring exercises including the eligibility verification and cash transfer monitoring were used to verify the progress of some output indicators. The supporting documents of implemented activities, such as training workshops, were also analysed to verify the achievements of some relevant indicators.
