As we commemorate International Women’s Day, we look back at a year with shocking crimes of violence against women and girls worldwide. We all remember the story of the Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai who was shot on 9 October last year, while returning home on a school bus. In Yemen, some girls are forced to marry when they are still children, sometimes as young as eight years old.

Sana’a, Sunday, 24 February 2013 – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced today its support to the Emergency Capacity Development Facility managed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The initial 1,000,000 USD contribution will be channeled to Yemen via the UNDP Thematic Trust Fund for Crisis Prevention and Recovery through an agreement between the Headquarters of the agencies.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reconfirms its strong commitment and support to the transitional process through its continued support to Yemen’s update to the Voter Registry, Constitutional Referendum and post-Referendum elections by the signing of an agreement in the amount of 27 million SEK (approximately US $4 million) with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) for the implementation of the Support to the Elections during the Transitional Period (SETP) project in Yemen.

Document Summary

UNDP has a presence on the ground in over 170 countries and territories and decades of concrete development experience in countries ranging from fragile States to middle-income countries like Brazil and Indonesia. This, combined with our four focus areas — poverty reduction and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); democratic governance; crisis prevention and recovery; and environment and sustainable development — make us uniquely situated and qualified to answer the UN’s call for a better and more sustainable future.

Yemenis head to the polls today to bring a close to more than three decades of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule. These elections are a first step towards the implementation of the political transition agreement, based on the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative, signed on November 23rd of last year, to end months of protests, violence and political impasse.

To support the Yemenis in their transition to democracy, UNDP worked closely with the Supreme Commission on Elections and Referenda (SCER) and the International community to coordinate efforts and promote civic engagement.

Sana’a, 7 February 2012, The UN Peace-Building Fund (PBF) has allocated one million dollars to the “Support to Elections During the Transitional” Project.

Mr. Gustavo Gonzalez, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Senior Country Director in Yemen, described this contribution as “timely”, and said: “it allows us to fill the financial gap of the Presidential elections”.

“This contribution supports critical training activities and reinforces the awareness campaign”, he added.

A signing Ceremony of the Cost-Sharing Agreement (CSA) between the Government of Federal Republic of Germany and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was held today in Sheba Hotel. According to this CSA, the Government of Germany allocated Euro 750.000 (US$ 950.000) to support the upcoming Early Presidential Elections in Yemen.

The impact of the unrest situation on social and economic landscape of Abyan has been dramatic and devastating. According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), close to 90,000 persons were forced to flee outside the conflict area as Internal Displaced Peoples (IDPs). Abyan governorate had the lion-share of IDPs, with just over forty thousand displaced in the governorate.

New York — In light of developments in the region, UNDP is deferring its upcoming five-year programmes for Yemen, Bahrain and Syria pending further review. The decision was taken by UNDP to ensure that new programmes address the evolving development needs of the people in each country.