Save the Children has been in Yemen since 1963. In 2007, Save the Children USA joined Alliance partner, Save the Children Sweden in Yemen and together they are working in Sa'ada, Sa'ana, Ibb, Lahaj, Aden and Abyan governorates. Save the Children works both at a community level, through the combination of direct implementation and partners, and at a national level to help promote awareness and related policies in the areas of education, protection and a civil society for children's rights.

Challenges for Children

In Yemen, a key factor contributing to poverty is the lack of education. Despite recent gains in enrollment, school statistics in Yemen remain among the lowest in the Arab world, especially for girls and particularly in rural areas. Moreover, these gains have increased the pressure on scarce education resources, which has affected the quality of education.

Numbers at a Glance

• About 87 percent of the poor are illiterate or did not complete primary education. 
• The poverty rate among families with a post-secondary educated head of the household is 22 percent, while the rate rises dramatically — 47 percent — for those households with an illiterate head of the family.
• The enrollment for basic education in 2003 was identified as 66.5 percent overall, with a girls' enrollment rate of 51.5 percent. Girls' enrollment is especially low in rural areas; in 2003 just 29 percent. [1]
• Primary school attendance among boys is approximately 68 percent as compared to 41 percent for girls. [2]
• The employment rate for women in Yemen is less than one-third that of men and when they are employed, women often work in low-productivity agriculture and small livestock trades (World Bank.)

Our Response

Education
Save the Children seeks to strengthen its support of the Ministry of Education (MoE) and other education partners in an effort to increase school enrollment among poor and vulnerable groups, such as girls and children with disabilities. There is also a need to shift the focus on education programming in Yemen from merely access to education, to quality in education and providing not only a place when children come to school, but to stay in school and enjoy learning.

Save the Children's work has a focus on inclusive education (IE), including a program in the Somali refugee camps of Kharaz and Bassatin with support from UNHCR. Save the Children is also working with Somali's and host communities on access to and utilization of basic services such as schools and health clinics in Sa'ana with support from BPRM. The beneficiaries total more than 16,000 children.

Save the Children also works on developing a model of inclusive education for Yemen with the MoE in 35 schools in 3 southern governorates, with a total enrollment of more than 35,000 students through a grant from Dubai Cares.

The goal is to improve enrollment among vulnerable groups as well as to improve the quality of education, thus ensuring that the schools become truly inclusive to all children — especially girls, who continue to be the largest group excluded from education. The 35 schools have been identified as Inclusive/Child Friendly Schools by the MoE's Inclusive Education Department. 

Child Protection
Save the Children also works with child protection programs, focusing on developing a community based child protection mechanism with links to national level mechanisms. Child protection programming includes also a program with a focus on birth registration as well as addressing the use of physical and humiliating punishment of children in schools and homes with support from UNICEF.

Civil Society
Save the Children has a program for the strengthening of civil society with a focus on children's rights organizations, including the Yemen Children's Parliament. It supports these organizations with capacity building and subgrants. Save the Children works also with youth organizations; through its Naseej project, Save the Children currently supports 13 youth organizations, and seven organizations have received subgrants for community development activities. Other youth programs include a youth leadership program Siraj in Yemen that is funded regionally. This program also operates in Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, and Egypt. It provides young people with access to skills and opportunities for empowerment. Save the Children also has a two-year Youth Empowerment Program (YEP) which targets youth in Aden, Abyan, Lahj, Sana'a and Ibb/Taiz, with the goal of the program being to help vulnerable youth in Yemen make informed, practical and positive life choices that contribute to the stability of communities.

Save the Children is currently working to extend the program to other areas of Yemen including the conflict-affected Sa'ada governorate in the north of the country. The program works in close coordination with partner NGOs as well as the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Emergency
Save the Children is responding to the emergency in the north of the country through an emergency child protection program funded through the Swedish International Development Cooperation (SIDA).

Plans for the Future

Save the Children is working on establishing a School Health and Nutrition Program in Sa'ada Governorate where Child Protection programming has been established and where Save recently carried out Imam training on children's rights as well as training of youth through the aforementioned Siraj program. The SHN program in a three-year emergency program aimed at reaching 45,000 children in 52 schools, encouraging children to go back to school, boosting their nutritional intake and raising awareness on health, nutrition and related issues. There will also be funds available for rehabilitation/construction of water and latrine facilities.

Save the Children is also in the process of starting 'Child Survival' programming which includes health and nutrition with Save the Children Alliance-wide support.

Other programs that are in the pipeline include adolescent health, gender-based violence program, and increased child protection activities

[1] UNICEF (2006). Birth Registration. Child protection information sheet. United Nations Children Fund. New York, USA.

[2] Unicef, Web Site statistics based on Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS)

Last Updated July 2009