Yemen: ADRA Granted Award for Emergency Support
SILVER SPRING, Md. – The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has been awarded nearly $900,000 by the United States of Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) to continue assisting displaced persons through ADRA’s Yemen Emergency Support (YES) Project.
The additional funding comes a year after the project’s launch in February 2010, and will further enable ADRA to expand the project’s programs to reach a greater number of internally displaced persons (IDP’s) in the Al Jawf Governorate.
The YES project continues to assist IDP’s in gaining better access to clean water, providing emergency non-food items such as clothing, kerosene stoves, mosquito nets, and furnishing health clinics and units with basic equipment within the governorate.
Prior to beginning the YES project, ADRA was present in Al Jawf Governorate providing development and aid assistance to IDP’s displaced by an enduring civil war between the Yemeni Government and the Al Houthi rebels. Through a series of evaluations, ADRA had identified areas of most critical need, which were primarily access to healthcare, clean water, food, and non-food items.
The Al Jawf Governorate has been plagued by ongoing insecurity, which has encumbered humanitarian relief efforts causing the United Nations to declare this area as a ‘no-go’ zone for a number of years. However, ADRA’s longstanding presence in the governorate allows the agency to continue its humanitarian operations and assist thousands of beneficiaries.
As of September 2010, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Current Population Statistics recorded over 300,000 IDP’s within Yemen. Through ADRA’s intervention, thousands of these IDP’s continue to receive much needed aid.
