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CARE in Yemen

Two people sitting behind a table assist two people with papers.
Photo credit: Abdulrahman Alhobishi / CARE Yemen

Yemen Crisis

After more than six years of war, Yemen remains the worst humanitarian crisis in the world – according to the UN, a total of 20.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Ongoing fighting has led to thousands of deaths and the destruction and collapse of vital infrastructure like water systems, schools and health facilities. 80 percent of Yemeni people live below the poverty line and between 40 and 60 percent of the population has limited or no access to basic services. The protracted conflict has undermined Yemenis’ resilience, protection and livelihoods, forcing them to adopt negative coping mechanisms to survive.

As a result of conflict:

  • Over 4 million people have been displaced from their homes, fleeing with their families for safety, 73% of whom are women and children.
  • 2 million people are food insecure, including nearly 5.1 million who are suffering from extreme levels of hunger
  • Over 15.4 million people need support to access basic water and sanitation needs, where 4.3 million people are in acute need and less than a quarter of households have access to safe water and sanitation.
  • A total of 20.07 million people lack access to adequate healthcare

The war in Yemen is having a disproportionate impact on Yemeni women and girls who are exposed to an increased risk of violence, exploitation and abuse. They also struggle to access basic health care, including maternal and child health. An estimated 5 million women and girls of childbearing age, and 1.7 million pregnant and breastfeeding women, have limited or no access to reproductive health services.

Over 4 million people have been displaced from their homes.

of displaced people are women and children.

of displaced people are women and children.

What CARE is Doing

CARE works in 14 governorates across Yemen, providing lifesaving food, cash, livelihoods, water and sanitation services to those in need, including internally displaced people (IDPs).

CARE’s interventions start at the community level where we respond to emergencies, strengthen resilience, and give voice to the most vulnerable, especially women and girls. As well as our emergency interventions, CARE’s programs work along the continuum of nexus where early recovery, resilience building and longer-term development are integral parts of our programs.

We work to ensure people have sustainable incomes and community structures like schools, wells and roads; we economically empower women and young people by developing their skills and enabling them to start their own businesses; and we work in reproductive health, ensuring safer childbirth through training midwives, rehabilitating maternity health facilities, and strengthening systems through building the capacity of frontline health workers.

CARE has worked in Yemen since 1992 and is one of few international aid agencies continuing to deliver humanitarian services under extremely challenging circumstances. CARE is focusing on making sure that people in the hardest-hit and most hard-to-reach areas have access to emergency supplies and assistance with meeting their basic needs. CARE Yemen’s aspiration is to be:

  • The emergency responder that delivers sustained humanitarian assistance through a gender lens, rapidly, effectively and at scale;
  • The organisation that works all along the humanitarian-development-peace nexus continuum to address the needs and rights of communities and to ensure they can live dignified lives;
  • A strong and consistent enabler for the voices of women and girls, IDPs, host communities, and female and male youth through advocacy and communications;
  • A good partner that works collaboratively to create synergies and multiply the impact of its interventions.