Challenges in Yemen

Today’s Yemen, characterised by a weak central state, local governance rests mostly with of those local authorities that still have some level of functionality, and more ad-hoc coalitions of formal and informal actors. The work on sustaining these structures, enhancing their inclusiveness and increasing their effectiveness is therefore essential. UNDP’s interventions will focus on upscaling and deepening UNDP’s support to a country-wide inclusive local governance system, anchored on formal local authorities, that can deliver a range of gender-responsive basic services, promote inclusive economic recovery and development, foster social cohesion, and rebuild trust in the state. Given the multiple and interrelated dynamics in the ongoing conflict, the restoration of peace in Yemen is also inextricably linked to the restoration of safety, security and the rule of law. Without access to peaceful conflict resolution mechanisms - traditional or statutory - progress towards socio-economic development will be severely hampered. In addition, the resilience of the Yemeni population cannot depend only on self-help capacities and humanitarian aid: it also needs that can deliver services and secure social cohesion more effectively. Local authorities’ own suffers from the prolonged effects of the conflict. More attention needs to be given to their resource and capacity needs and to the quality of their governance. The level of between local authorities in terms of their capacities and outputs is exacerbated by the conflict; this can be an important source of tensions in itself.

Responding to crisis 

As part of supporting local governance in Yemen, UNDP aims to foster responsive and accountable local governance, led by legitimate local authorities and working closely with other local actors. These can be materialized through following interventions:

• deliver a range of basic services and foster sustainable recovery;
• increase assess for Yemenis, in particular the most vulnerable towards critical public services for socio-economic resilience and social cohesion;
• more effective central-local and horizontal relations between local governance stakeholder contribute to stabilization. 

To support the rule of law in Yemen, UNDP takes a phased and evidence-based approach, building on an inception period of assessing safety, security, protection and justice needs, institutional capacities and implementing partners to deliver a balance of supply- and demand-side interventions. The strategy works towards supporting preparedness for rapid support to police redeployment, and security and justice services where conditions permit. The sector-wide approach will ensure that Yemen’s rural and urban areas receive support based on their needs and existing capacities. Support to the security sector, particularly the police and coast guard, will focus on the development of the operational and planning capacity through enhanced human resources management, training and infrastructure development. At the community level, UNDP will continue to facilitate the establishment of a community policing system aimed at enhancing security, protection and trust.

Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

UNDP is working to enhance women’s and girls’ contribution in Yemen, benefiting from inclusive, accountable, and gender responsive governance at the local and central levels. UNDP provides support to a country-wide inclusive local governance system – anchored on formal local authorities – to deliver a range of gender-responsive basic services, and empowering both women and men to seek redress where rights are denied.

UNDP enhances the capacity of the private sector and civil society to engage with subnational authorities on: 

1. Local economic recovery and development.
2. Promoting public-private partnership opportunities to improve community service delivery.
3. Ensuring that local economic recovery and development plans are inclusive, integrating, and addressing the needs of women, youth, and those at risk of being left furthest behind. This includes Muhamasheen, people with disabilities, internally displaced persons, and returnees. 

UNDP works to improve access to justice for women and girls including the most vulnerable, by working with civil society on: 

1. Legal rights awareness-raising.
2. Establishing legal help desks in police stations and other sites easily accessible by vulnerable groups.
3. Training legal aid providers. 
4. Paralegal outreach.
5. Providing access to direct legal aid through bar associations, lawyers networks, and civil rights civil society organizations. 

UNDP provides support for criminal cases to the formal justice sector to improve the delivery of gender-responsive justice services including building the capacity of the judiciary and prosecutors to ensure effective delivery of justice as well as providing equal access to the formal justice system for women and men. Moreover, UNDP supports the improvement of prison conditions and their infrastructure, particularly for women and juvenile detainees.

Additionally, the high use of Yemen’s population of mobile phones provides opportunities to deploy mobile applications to disseminate and gather information on gender-based violence. UNDP Yemen supports institutional capacity-building for key government institutions and enhances digital services and data management, while exploring opportunities for South-South and triangulated cooperation with countries in the region and beyond.

Partners

In collaboration with the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen (SESGY) and UN partner agencies - including UNICEF, UN Women, the UNHCR and UNODC - UNDP works closely with local actors to implement project activities.

Annual Consultation on Governance and Rule of Law

The Annual Consultation process has promoted dialogues not only between formal institutions between the north and the south, but also across the cross-sections of Yemeni society - including marginalised voices of women, youth and persons with disabilities (UN Enable). The vertical links between local authorities and communities, created and reinforced by the Annual Consultation process, offer opportunities for inclusive and participatory governance and rule of law, a key element for local peacebuilding and national peacemaking in Yemen. 

Read more on Annual Consultation on Governance and Rule of Law