In a bid to improve lives – and livelihoods – for the long term, UNDP’s Emergency Social Protection Enhancement and COVID-19 Response Project (ESPECRP), with national partner the Public Works Project (PWP), is applying community contracting mechanisms to construction projects, from water harvesting to agricultural land reclamation and road paving. This is an approach that helps communities better support themselves through
immediate crisis and for the long term, improving food production and increasing access to critical services. Already these projects have benefited tens of thousands of Yemenis in disadvantaged communities. 

Because of the way that community contracting works – by hiring and paying local community members to improve their own infrastructure and using local resources as much as possible – these projects also help foster a greater sense of community as neighbors work together for the good of the whole village, resulting in a sense of ownership and belonging.