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Salem and his son Omar had been displaced four times before moving to Alswidan Camp in Marib.

Kaff Media / Oxfam

Yemen

The people of Yemen are coping with years of conflict, an economic and public health crisis, and the threat of hunger and cholera.

Eight years of ongoing conflict in Yemen have created a sustained economic crisis and severely damaged the country’s water infrastructure and public health system. Yemen’s most impoverished people, largely women, children, and elderly, are the most severely affected. Many of them have been displaced from their homes by conflict more than once.

The conflict that erupted in March 2015 has killed more than 19,000 civilians, forced in excess of 4.5 million to flee their homes, and has left the country in a dire hunger crisis. More than 21.6 million people -- two thirds of the population -- need humanitarian assistance and protection. Lack of access to clean water and decent sanitation has created a severe risk of cholera, which has affected millions of people. Overall, 3.5 million people in Yemen are acutely malnourished and 17.3 million people are suffering from hunger. The high price of fuel in Yemen is also partly responsible for rising prices for nearly everything, including food. The conflict in Ukraine is making the crisis even worse: Yemen imports 90 percent of its food; 42 percent of its wheat came from from Ukraine before the conflict started there.

With local partners, Oxfam is fighting inequality by responding to both the immediate and long-term needs of people in Yemen. Since July 2015, Oxfam has helped more than three million people in nine governorates of Yemen. We’re improving access to clean water and sanitation, providing cash to help people buy daily essentials, and disseminating information about how to avoid cholera and COVID-19. We’re also helping people start businesses and support themselves, working with allies to advocate for an inclusive and sustainable peace, and working with Yemeni partners to reduce violence against women and other vulnerable people.

What are Oxfam’s solutions to help people in Yemen?

Oxfam is helping people in Yemen displaced by conflict to survive the current crisis, while also providing training, cash, and other assistance for people starting businesses so that in the long term they can support themselves. We also work with organizations that advocate for the rights of women and girls.

Helping people in Yemen survive in the short term

  1. icon - water and soap
    icon - water and soap

    Providing clean water and resources to improve sanitation and hygiene

    We have provided clean water and sanitation to more than one million people, including in hard-to-reach areas of the country, through delivering water by truck, repairing water systems, delivering filters and jerry cans, as well as building latrines and organizing cleaning campaigns. Oxfam is constructing and rehabilitating water systems using solar panels to power water pumps. And we pay local people to collect and dispose of solid waste.

  2. PublicHealthPromo
    PublicHealthPromo

    Promoting public health

    Oxfam recruits and trains hundreds of community health volunteers who promote good hygiene in communities affected by conflict. They help people understand how to reduce the risk of cholera and other water-borne diseases, and COVID-19. We also distribute water filters, hygiene kits, and personal protective equipment, ensuring that the most vulnerable people—including women-headed households, people living with disabilities, and elderly people—can access these resources. In 2020-2021, Oxfam helped 925,526 people with water, proper sanitation systems, soap, and hygiene promotion.

  3. icon - coins
    icon - coins

    Giving cash to help people meet basic needs and build more resilient communities

    To respond to the ongoing food crisis, Oxfam provides the most vulnerable people with cash to cover their basic food needs. We also run cash-for-work projects that pay people for rehabilitating essential infrastructure such as roads and water systems. We reach around 280,000 people each year with these kinds of projects, across nine governorates in both the south and the north of the country.

Helping people in Yemen thrive over the long term

Advocating for peace

Oxfam is calling for negotiations to end the conflict, respect for international humanitarian law, and the unrestricted importation and distribution of fuel, food, and other humanitarian aid. We also work to ensure that civilians are well protected, and work with civil society organizations in both the south and the north to ensure that the voices of women and youth are heard when it comes to the peace process.

In the US, Oxfam worked in a broad coalition to successfully urge the Biden administration to end the sales of weapons being used by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in Yemen starting in 2021. In 2018 and 2019, Oxfam supporters sent more than 25,000 emails to members of Congress and made more than a thousand phone calls.

Yasmin is a seamstress from Al Dhale’e who received support from Oxfam to help grow her business.
Yasmin is a seamstress from Al Dhale’e who received support from Oxfam to help grow her business. VFX Aden / Oxfam

Encouraging small business creation

As part of Oxfam’s efforts to help vulnerable people access food, we provide cash grants to help displaced people start businesses and grow food. Oxfam helped train women in sewing and hairdressing, enabling them start businesses, earn an income, and provide for their children.

“Oxfam assisted me a lot because they provided me with financial and moral support,” says Yasmin Ali Mohammed, a 35-year-old mother of four. "They organized training courses in sewing … which has made me successful in my life. The number of clients increased, and thus my profits increased, which helped me to provide proper education to my children and cover my household expenses. I bought a washing machine and other things. After the intervention of Oxfam, my living conditions improved.” In 2020-2021 Oxfam helped 1,462,58 people improve their food security and livelihoods.

A group of women next to their tents. Hundreds of people displaced by the armed conflict fled their communities of origin in the north of Yemen and sought refuge on this waste ground in Al-Mashkafa, Toban District, Lahij Governorate.
A group of women next to their tents. Hundreds of people displaced by the armed conflict fled their communities of origin in the north of Yemen and sought refuge on this waste ground in Al-Mashkafa, Toban District, Lahij Governorate. Pablo Tosco/Oxfam

Helping women and the most vulnerable people

Oxfam is working with organizations in Taiz governorate to address violence against women, unaccompanied children, and other vulnerable people by collaborating with community-based protection networks to raise awareness of threats and connect people to organizations that can provide services to survivors of violence. Services include psycho-social support and legal assistance. Oxfam has reached several thousand people with key messages about gender-based violence in Taiz and Ibb governorates.

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