Yemen Humanitarian Update: Issue 7, July 2023 [EN/AR]

HIGHLIGHTS

Underfunding exacerbates food insecurity and jeopardizes the humanitarian response in Yemen.
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UN completes the removal of oil from the decaying tanker of Safer.
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Unacceptable Tragedy:
Killing of WFP Staff Member in Yemen P 04

Ghaleb: A Story of Loss, Trauma, and Resilience P 04

UNDERFUNDING EXACERBATES FOOD INSECURITY AND JEOPARDIZES THE HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE IN YEMEN.

The 2023 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan (YHRP) funding shortages pose an escalating threat to Yemen’s critical situation. The YHRP, which foresaw a requirement of USD 4.34 billion to extend a lifeline to estimated 17.3 million people among the most vulnerable in the country, has received around $1.34 billion amounting to just 30 percent of the required funds. This substantial funding gap jeopardizes the humanitarian response, compelling aid organizations to scale back or close crucial programmes.

Furthermore, the uneven funding has resulted in certain clusters receiving minimal support. The shelter, refugee, and migrant clusters are only 16 percent funded, whereas the education cluster is even worse, receiving just 10 percent of the required funding. Insufficient funding for shelter and refugee clusters impacts the response to displaced people, refugees, and migrants, while severe underfunding for the education cluster exacerbates the already dire education crisis in the country and exposes children to negative coping mechanisms such as child marriage and child labour.

Critical interventions providing essential services such as food, water, and healthcare are at risk of being downscaled or wholly closed. This would lead to a reduction in the number of people reached, including those who are most at risk, like displaced persons, women, and children.

As a result of critical underfunding for Food Security and Agriculture, the WFP has been forced to reduce the assistance rations they distribute, providing only 40 percent of the standard food basket per cycle. Additionally, over 900,000 beneficiaries have been transitioned from cash-based assistance to in-kind food aid. With the funding situation growing increasingly dire in the upcoming months, WFP had to make difficult decisions about further cuts to food assistance programs across the country