Aden, 1 February 2023 – The 10th annual Steering Committee of the United Nations' (UN) joint programme “Supporting Resilient Livelihood, Food Security, Climate Adaptation in Yemen” (ERRY JP) was held today for the first time in Yemen. In its third phase, the ERRY JP is generously co-funded by the European Union (EU) and Sweden with a contribution of US$ 49.3 million to be implemented over a three-year period (March 2022 – February 2025).

Generally managed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the ERRY JP is implemented by four UN partner organizations – UNDP, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the International Labour Organization (ILO) – in seven governorates across the country. Impacting tens of thousands of Yemen’s most vulnerable, the projects include areas of focus in livelihoods, social cohesion, renewable energy, agriculture value chain, cash-for-work, asset rehabilitation, and vocational skills development.

Meeting was attended by His Excellency, Dr. Waed Abdullah Badhib, the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation (MoPIC), as well as a distinguished MoPIC team, senior delegates from the European Union, Sweden, participating UN agencies, and stakeholders.

The Steering Committee reviewed ERRY II as well as ERRY III implementation progress, challenges, financial delivery, and annual work plan. ERRY III builds upon ERRY I and II JP progress and lessons learned and aims to build community resilience by enhancing capacities and reducing vulnerabilities caused by Yemen’s protracted conflict, significant rates and severity of poverty, and environmental shocks.

UNDP Yemen Deputy Resident Representative, Ms. Nahid Hussein, reiterated, “From the beginning, the joint programme’s impact has been far reaching and significant by helping reduce vulnerabilities and strengthen the resilience of Yemen’s crisis-affected rural communities. To date, it has directly impacted nearly 1.86 million vulnerable people in resilience, food security, and livelihoods within the seven governorates. Additionally, the programme has made a positive, indirect impact of 5 million people throughout these communities. As a joint United Nations effort, ERRY is an extraordinary example of joint programming, community collaboration, and transparent implementation.”

Regarding the criticality of the programme, Ms. Maria Selin, Head of the Swedish Regional Development Cooperation for the Middle East, stated that “Communities throughout Yemen need to be supported to gain access to sustainable livelihoods and job opportunities to enable them to step out of poverty, be able to withstand potential shocks, and to decrease the reliance on humanitarian assistance.” She further added that “ERRY JP III is an important programme where partners get together and work for sustainable resilience based on the perspectives, experiences, and best practices of communities on local development.”

At the conclusion of the Steering Committee meeting, the UN agencies organized a joint exhibition to highlight ERRY JP beneficiaries from Abyan, Lahj, and Taiz, showcasing their photos, stories, and products. It illustrated how joint programme interventions have contributed to rural Yemeni’s success – especially women and youth – through job creation, training opportunities, and economic empowerment. During the exhibition, a high-level delegation including the Minister of MoPIC, Ambassadors from the EU, France, Germany, Norway and Portugal, the Special Envoy of Italy, and the Deputy Ambassador of Ireland, met with several beneficiaries who talked about ERRY III’s contribution to enhancing their livelihoods and food security.

While attending the exhibit, the EU Ambassador to Yemen, Mr. Gabriel Munuera Viñals, stated that “Today’s exhibition was a great opportunity to see the impact of longer-term programmes such as ERRY III on the lives of Yemenis, especially women and youth. As we move from emergency assistance to resilience building, ERRY III shows when Yemeni institutions, donors, communities, UN partners and non-governmental organizations work closely together we can make a real difference with our investments in the future of Yemen.”

Earlier in the week, the EU delegation team also paid field visits to a number of ERRY III activities in Lahj governorate. The activities visited ranged from local governance, livelihoods, skills and entrepreneurship training to dairy product processing that contribute to enhancing livelihoods and food security of the most vulnerable people in Yemen.
“The European Union has been a longstanding partner of Yemen, including in supporting Yemeni people through emergency and development assistance. Weare proud to have supported the ERRY project since its inception in 2016 when it was groundbreaking in moving from a purely humanitarian approach towards resilience and development, and we are happy to see that this approach has been successful and is deepened through this third phase of the project,” Ambassador Viñals stated.

About Supporting Resilient Livelihoods, Food Security and Climate Adaptation in Yemen Joint Programme:
Funded by EU and Sweden , the ‘Supporting Resilient Livelihoods, Food Security and Climate Adaptation in Yemen Joint Programme’ (ERRY III) is a three-year programme jointly implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World Food Programme (WFP).The joint programme aims to reduce vulnerability and strengthen resilience of crisis- affected communities in Yemen through creating sustainable livelihoods as well as improving resilience, food security and access to basic services in seven vulnerable governorates in Yemen: Abyan, Al Mahweet, Hajjah, Hodeidah, Lahj, Sa'dah, and Taiz.

About UNDP:
UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in nearly 170 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations. http://www.undp.org
For more information about HEAL, contact Khaled Magead, UNDP Programme Analyst
Khaled.Magead@undp.org
 

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