Three pillars to boost Yemeni families' resilience to compact hunger

Pillar 2: Supporting Cash-for-Work activities – rebuilding community infrastructure and improving access to income

Improving cash flow is the primary aim of the Cash-for-Work activities, enabling families to gain income to fulfill their food and nutrition needs. Regular income, even temporarily, encourages savings that recipients can benefit from beyond the intervention period. Cash-for-Work activities also aim to improve how conflict-affected communities can access basic infrastructure. For instance, rehabilitation of water systems through Cash-for-Work activities simultaneously improves access to safe water and reduces the incidence of water-borne diseases.As a result, expenses incurred by families to pay for health and medical services are reduced,  health is improved.

Fahmy Ahmed, a 45-year-old father of one daughter from Al-Khadad Village of Tuban District in Lahj Governorate, says: “Job opportunities for unskilled laborers like me are few and almost don’t exist. I have a retirement salary of 35,000 Yemeni Riyal (nearly 30 US dollars), which can barely feed a family of three for one week. With prices skyrocketing, we eventually couldn’t afford to buy flour, oil, sugar, or even rice. Moreover, my 17-year-old daughter is a cancer patient.”

Fahmy tearfully continues: “I used to work all day with a small daily wage just to cover the expenses of my daughter’s treatment. It broke my heart to see my family starving and my daughter bearing cancer pain while I couldn’t do anything for them. I used to pray for help, hoping to find a better job.”

With funding from BMZ, CARE intervened in Fahmy’s villageto introduce cash-for-work activities- such as rehabilitating the village school by villagers themselves, who also benefitted from the temporary employment the project created. “CARE supported us in building new classrooms,” says Fahmy. “I’ve been working in classroom construction and receiving a monthly wage of 93,000 Yemeni Riyal (nearly 83 US dollars) for four months now. Finally, I returned home with a package full of high-quality foodstuffs. I use 60% of the income I earn from my work to buy food and 40% for my daughter’s treatment.”

During the rehabilitation period, Fahmy worked under the supervision of a skilled laborer and learned from him until he became qualified and found a job in a brick factory. “Thanks to my work in the factory,” he says, “I’m thinking of starting a small business by saving a portion of my daily wage. This way, I will be able to have a stable income to provide for my family after the project ends.”

Karem Fouad, thirty-five years old, another participant in the Cash-for-Work activities from Al-Massad Village, says: “I used to cultivate fruits and sell them to provide for my family, but I left farming due to the increased costs of irrigation water. Then I worked as a garment maker with a small daily wage that couldn’t cover the basics for seven family members.”

Karem worked in rehabilitating Al-Massad school, building a new fence, leveling the schoolyard, and installing a gate for the school. “I used my income to buy food for my family and save to start a small business,” he says. “After four months of saving, I bought four beehives to start my beekeeping business, hoping to be a big honey trader soon. I trust honey production will bring good money to help me provide food and other supplies for my family,” he concludes with a smile.

Pillar 3: Improving access to finance and microbusiness – saving and investing for resilience

CARE’s Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) is one of the most dignified means of assistance, particularly for women. Integrating the provision of cash assistance earned from the last two pillars with the saving model and microbusiness promotes women’s access to resources and ability to respond to crises.

Savings groups are self-managed groups of 15-25 members from within a community who meet regularly to save their money in a safe space, access small loans to cover expenses such as school fees or invest in small income-generating activities and obtain emergency funds to face shocks and crises.

Wazira, a 43-year-old mother of three, is a housewife and lives in Al-Massad Village of Lahj Governorate. Wazira’s husband is the sole breadwinner for his parents, wife, and children. He works as a teacher with an irregular salary. When his salary is delayed, Wazira’s husband often sells house possessions to buy food and the necessities for the family.

Wazira was keen on earning an income to help her family but didn’t know where to start until she was introduced to the VSLA approach. As part of its intervention in Lahj Governorate, CARE established ten saving groups with 236 members – 120 women and 116 men – to encourage them to save a portion of the money they earned during the provision of unconditional cash transfers and cash-for-work activities. This ensures the economic resilience of project participants beyond the intervention period.

Wazira was then trained to be a VSLA agent and earned 100 US dollars to supervise one of the VSLA groups in the Maqatera District in Lahj for six months. “As a VSLA agent, I was fully aware of the importance of saving and investing. And always encouraged other women in my village to do so,” says Wazira. “I turned one of the rooms in my house into a small grocery shop selling sweets, chocolates, and biscuits for children. Then I saved the money I earned as a VSLA agent and bought a freezer and a small solar system to increase the goods in my grocery shop.”

“I hope to continue building my small shop until it becomes a big supermarket. I also hope to see VSLA members starting their business so soon,” concludes Wazira.

Despite massive challenges, Yemenis continue to show incredible resilience. CARE and BMZ are committed to building that resilience even further through approaches that allow families to make their own choices and buy their own food. Integrating the three pillars will help turn the immediate emergency situation in Yemen into a medium-term improvement through reconstruction and rehabilitation activities (e.g., functioning schools). The microbusiness created with the help of cash assistance will employ more people. The village saving groups will continue to be a robust saving and credit tool to increase the impact of this intervention on livelihoods, social cohesion, and peace.