Yemen Emergency Food Assistance (YEFA) Quarterly Report: April– June 2017

The program aims to reduce food insecurity and promote recovery and resilience of vulnerable displaced and conflict-affected households in Yemen. YEFA program interventions are currently being implemented in ten districts, in the five governorates of Sana'a, Al Mahwit, Taizz, Lahj, and Al Dhale'e. The overall goal of the project is to reduce food insecurity and promote recovery and resilience of vulnerable displaced and conflict-affected households in Yemen. The program has three mutually reinforcing objectives that focus on meeting the basic food needs of conflict-affected households through food vouchers; improving the knowledge of proper hygiene and nutrition practices for households targeted through YEFA interventions; and improving targeted communities' ability to mitigate shocks through the construction and rehabilitation of communal productive assets. The program utilizes complementary approaches to ensure the realization of its objectives. Through unconditional and conditional food transfers, the program meets the basic food needs of the targeted households. Nutrition and hygiene promotion is conducted through a network of community health volunteers appropriately trained by Mercy Corps and partner staff as well as equipped with relevant information, education, and communication materials. Community projects for risk mitigation are constructed or rehabilitated through the food for assets (FFA) approach. The conflict-induced humanitarian situation in Yemen has worsened over the reporting period, with a cholera outbreak of unprecedented levels reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). The cholera emergency brings an additional burden to a country experiencing high levels of food insecurity affecting over 60% of the country's estimated population of 28,000,000 people. The Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan was only 33 per cent funded as of June 2017, with a total requirement of $2.1 billion. The market situation is reasonably stable despite the war-induced macro-economic instability, with basic food items still available at stable prices, although they remain considerably high as compared to February 2015. An analysis of the World Food Program (WFP) market data shows consistent availability and price stability of key food basket commodities (wheat flour, cooking oil, and beans) across the five governorates YEFA consortium partners are operating. Progress against performance benchmarks and indicators has been made, with 7,510 beneficiary households having access to basic food items through the provision of food vouchers. Community committees have been established in all but one governorate (Taizz) to facilitate the proper targeting of beneficiaries and identification of community asset projects. Beneficiary identification and registration have been completed in Ash Shamayatayn district of Taizz governorate, with 2,000 households registered during the quarter. The program teams conducted program awareness activities at multi-levels with different stakeholders, including government officials and community members. The awareness sessions were attended by all 8,300 beneficiaries who received food assistance during the quarter. The program continues to face challenges, including access barriers and the persistence of conflict, but efforts are being made to improve humanitarian access and lobby different layers of government for improved access.