In Yemen, Saferworld has focused on enhancing community security, supporting four community centres and eight youth initiative groups in Taiz with micro-grants to implement action plans. Steps the communities have taken include installing security cameras and widening roads, both of which have improved people’s ability to access services safely.

Through the ‘Resourcing Change’ programme, Saferworld in Yemen has provided women’s rights organisations with core and flexible funding so that they can respond to their own self-identified needs and priorities.

We have supported the establishment of two women’s hubs in Taiz and Aden. The hubs are forums for discussion, decision-making and coordinated action by Yemeni organisations. The women meet regularly to coordinate with each other, exchange resources and information, and work together on shared issues to influence peace processes and decision-making in Yemen. As stated by the hub members, the hubs provide an opportunity to unify the work of women activists and leaders from many different fields and to make their efforts more focused and coordinated. Coming together within the hubs has also helped women to communicate effectively with local authorities, including on the need to rehabilitate infrastructure destroyed by the war. The hubs’ engagement with authorities has contributed to outcomes such as the refurbishment of a hospital operating room, and to actions being taken by various authorities to address serious flooding within schools. Hub members have also noted the benefits of providing direct support to this type of platform. Donors tend to support international and national NGOs and there is generally little support available for spaces such as these – which are closer to the community and where support can be provided in a way that directly promotes cooperative approaches. Saferworld provided the hubs with grants, as well as training on budgeting, communication, outreach and prioritisation, and facilitated learning between the two hubs.