Every Yemeni and their international friends know that the real test of Yemen’s political transition process will be whether it improves the lives of most Yemenis. Progress won’t happen overnight: significant structural reforms are needed and corruption needs to be tackled before there are real improvements.
Life in Yemen is tough: in 2005, 18% of people lived on less than $1.25 a day – if it’s around the same now (it’s probably worse), that’s about 5 million people. Most men have just over 6 years or less of formal education and most women have just over 2 years of schooling or less.
Over 10 million people have no access to clean drinking water and over 12 million have no proper sanitation. The situation is made even worse by Yemen’s various conflicts, which have forced over 500,000 people to leave their homes. The weak economy means many people can’t find jobs.
In the face of these challenges, I am proud that the UK, through our Department for International Development, is at the forefront of efforts to improve the lives of Yemen’s people.
We are spending £196 million (over $320 million) in Yemen over three years. We work closely with Yemen’s other international partners to encourage them to invest more money in Yemen’s future and to invest wisely. More important than the amount of money we spend though, are the results we achieve.
As a direct result of UK funding 33,000 additional children were enrolled in school from 2011 to 2013. More than 680,000 women and children were screened for, and given help to prevent, malnutrition from September 2012 to December 2013. 60,000 people received cash payments to help them survive (including payment for public works) in 2013. Over 96,000 people were provided with access to clean drinking water in 2013. In 2012, over 4,500 jobs were created indirectly by UK support. Our projects are delivered in governorates across Yemen.
A list of numbers like that is certainly impressive, but the value of our work really came home to me recently when I met people whose lives had been transformed by UK-funded projects delivered by the Social Fund for Development (SFD). In Bait Mazuor, in Sana’a Governorate, I met villagers who told me that since SFD had built a dam, fewer children fell ill because of drinking dirty water, and farmers had been able to switch from subsistence farming to cash crops such as coffee, potatoes and maize.
In Da’oah, I heard that the road SFD is building would connect the village to economic opportunities and had already cut the journey time to the nearest clinic from six hours to three. In Deer Qumal in Hodeidah Governorate, I saw how an SFD water tower piped water directly to households in the village and meant that the village girls were now able to attend school instead of fetching water.
SFD delivers projects like these all across the country, making tangible improvements to people’s lives. These projects work because they are identified by the villagers themselves, who help to build them; and because of the expertise, dedication and commitment of the SFD staff. It is this commitment by Yemenis to improve their lives, and the lives of their fellow citizens, that gives me real hope for the future.
The British government will continue to help improve the lives of Yemen’s people in every way we can. Our ultimate ambition is to work ourselves out of a job. In other words, we will continue helping Yemen to build a secure and prosperous future in which it no longer needs aid and development assistance from other countries. That day is a long way away: but it will come for Yemen’s children, if their parents make the right choices today.