Inception Workshop to Kick off The Food Security and Resilience Response Project Funded by World Bank in Yemen

12 December 2021, Sana’a– the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized an inception workshop to kick off the Food Security and Resilience Response Project (FSRRP) funded by generous contributions from the World Bank International Development Association (IDA) and the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP).

The workshop that  took place in Aden brought together government and local authorities, United Nations agencies; the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and, national implementing partners like the Social Fund for Development (SFD) and the Public Works Project (PWP).

During the workshop, participants discussed project goals, components, time lines, targeted geographical areas and the rural households most affected by food insecurity in the targeted governorates as primary beneficiaries of the project.

“The kicked off project builds on the success made by Smallholder Agricultural Production Restoration and Enhancement Project (SAPREP) funded by the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) and supervised by the bank. The need for this project is being centred on the fact that Yemen in 2021 represents the world's worst humanitarian crisis where about 16.2 million people face the risk of hunger and millions of children face the risk of malnutrition” said Hussein Gadain, FAO Representative in Yemen in his opening remarks during the workshop. “The food insecurity in Yemen is driven by several factors including decreased local food production, purchasing power and rising global food prices", he added.

Talking about the importance of the partnership with implementing United Nations agencies and local partners, FAO’s Yemen Senior Program coordinator, Mulugeta Shibru said:   “FAO's joint work with respective United Nations agencies and national counterparts in a cooperative spirit in this project provides better results on the grounds, towards more efficient, resilient, inclusive and sustainable livelihoods for the most vulnerable households in Yemen". 

The four-year interagency project aims to improve the availability of and access to food and nutritious diets, both in the short and medium term, for targeted households in the project area, and to enhance Yemen’s capacity to respond to food insecurity in a country suffering from consequences of seven years of violent conflict and an economic collapse. FAO continues to call for urgent action to protect, rebuild and restore agricultural productivity and create livelihood opportunities to reduce the alarming levels of food insecurity and nutrition while stimulating economic recovery.