Phase 3: Emergency Response for Idps, Returnees, and Conflict-Affected Communities in Yemen AID-OFDA-G-17-00295

Phase 3: Emergency Response for IDPs, Returnees, and Conflict-Affected Communities in Yemen AID-OFDA-G-17-00295 Context: In the North, the Houthi-controlled part of Yemen experienced major political and security crisis due to the disagreement created within the coalition groups-formed government in Sana'a which lately broke out to overt conflict that claimed the lives of many in the capital, including that of the ex-president Ali Abdallah Salah. These incidences had restricted the movement of citizens and impeded the work of humanitarian aid workers, which delayed program implementation as many organizations were closed for weeks. The bureaucratic procedures to travel to the field remained challenging during the reporting period. Processing sub-agreements, MoU signing with sector ministerial offices and obtaining field travel permits have become more complicated than before and requires long negotiations with the authorities. Additionally, there is confusion regarding roles of the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MOPIC), Minister of Interior (MOI) and the newly-established National Agency for Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Response office. Moreover, the ongoing conflict in the country has led to office closure numerous times, particularly in Taiz, which in turn disrupted fieldwork and delayed program implementation coupled with the reasons mentioned above. In Taiz there has been repeated attempts to raid the Mercy Corps enclave office, detaining staff, intimidate Mercy Corps staff and other threats that led to several program suspension. Moreover, during the reporting period, isolated cases of assassinations by unknown armed groups, criminal activities has increased in the hotspot areas like Taiz and even in Sana’a. The security situation shows that there are indicators that the conflict will escalate over the coming months, which has already affected activity implementation in the field, with limited movement. In the South, the most consequential events of the reporting period were clashes that broke out on 28 January between the Hadi-affiliated Presidential Protection Forces (PPF) and forces loyal to the secessionist, UAE-linked Southern Transitional Council (STC) led by former governor Aidarous Al- Zubaidi. Three days of heavy armed clashes erupted in Aden between the two parties following calls for the president to replace the cabinet over charges of corruption. The fighting subsided from 30 January as the STC forces took control of most military sites and government facilities in the city, confining the prime minister and other government officials in the Ma’ashiq Palace. Coalition forces in the city and their air forces conspicuously abstained from engaging in the fighting. At least 38 people were killed and 222 more were wounded in the three days of fighting. International organizations in the city went into lockdown and most operations were suspended. Although a cautious calm has settled on the city, the Hadi government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a defiant statement on 1 February, calling the week’s events in Aden a “failed coup” and blaming the STC for the bloodshed. It also expressed gratitude solely to Saudi Arabia for ending the rebellion but stressed that the administration will “spare no effort” to maintain the unity and territorial integrity of Yemen. Almost a month after the end of the armed clashes in Aden and, in spite of persistent rumors of the imminent formation of a new technocratic cabinet, there has still been no formal agreement between the STC and the Hadi government. The situation in the south remains uncertain. In Aden, a steady rate of security incidents continued, which are largely confined to localized armed confrontations between security units. Although tensions remain between the political factions, it is not expected that there will be a renewal of fighting in the city in the short term. It is hard to envision how, without significant external support, Hadi government-affiliated forces would benefit from another bout of fighting given their current inferior military strength in Aden. Instead, the friction is likely to continue to manifest as targeted security incidents, with further assassinations, arrests and armed clashes. In the rest of the south, though, the potential remains for the ongoing competition to turn violent. Program Overview: In Taiz and Al Mahwit, Mercy Corps trained 123 community volunteers for hygiene promotion activities in the community during the reporting period. The training focused on communication skills, community mobilization, participatory hygiene promotion of targeted communities and basic hygiene messages in addition to the reporting mechanism of hygiene and awareness sessions. In Sana'a and Al Mahwit governorates, 12 WASH projects technical assessments, bill of quantities (BoQs), designs/drawings of the projects were completed, including approval from the donor. The tendering process is ongoing. In Taiz, assessments of four sanitation projects were conducted, of which two were selected taking into account community priority, assessment criteria, project budget and number of beneficiaries from the project at the end. In addition, technical assessments, BoQs, designs for rehabilitation of eight community water points and three solar-driven water pumping system were finalized. The Mercy Corps livelihood team has established community committees (CCs), conducted orientation session for CCs on the livelihoods program objectives, selection criteria and success factors for the applicants to be selected for this program. The CCs in Bani Sa’ad district submitted 282 new livelihood participants and 142 for livelihood restoration. The application forms were entered into the database, cleaned and verified by the MEL team. The selection process is ongoing based on the criteria. A total of 30 successful applicants will benefit under the new livelihoods and livelihoods restoration section respectively. In Al Khabt district, Al Mahwit governorate, nutrition assessments were conducted in the five nominated outpatient treatment centers (OPTs) and the team selected 15 health workers to participate in the nutrition activity in the district. Selected health workers attended community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) and infant and young child feeding (IYCF) training. The training was held in Al- Mahwit governorate health office. Nineteen health workers (10 males and nine females) were trained, of which 15 health workers were from five OTPs and four health workers were from the mobile clinic. In Al Mahwit, Sana’a and Taiz the support to cholera response continued during the reporting period. Health workers and community health volunteers were trained on cholera case definition, case management and referrals, and community cholera prevention. Accordingly, 47, 14 and 39 health workers from Al Mahwit, Sana'a and Taiz respectively were trained. Moreover, 163 community health workers drawn from the three targeted governorates were trained on community mobilization and cholera messaging. Based on the nomination made from the health office, incentive was paid to 284 health workers for those who participated in the cholera response program in Sana’a and Al Mahwit governorates for January, February and March 2018. Mercy Corps distributed a total of 1,500 cholera prevention kits. Each kit contains two liters of chlorex solution, two jerry cans, 2kg of laundry soap, and 12 pieces of body soap. A total of 51,132 pieces of body soap, 1,699 jerry cans and 514 liters of chlorex solution were distributed to the diarrhea treatment centers (DTCs), for onward distribution to vulnerable households who are at high risk of cholera. Supported DTCs treated 7,088 acute watery diarrhea patients during the reporting period. Trained community health workers reached 155,827 beneficiaries through hygiene promotion messaging, of which 21,685 beneficiaries received hygiene message for the first time. In the South, project inception activities were implemented. A kick-off meeting was held in November disussing the program parameters, budget, schedule and workplan amongst others. The selection of target areas were done after the program team conducted actor mapping and stakeholder consultation to determine who, what and where and explore potential collaborations with actors that have similar interventions. Needs assessment was then conducted to verify whether the needs identified during the proposal stage is still valid and to identify new needs that may arise since then. The results of the needs assessment also determines what sectors/sub-sectors will be implemented in the identified target areas based on the set of criteria. For instance, for WASH interventions, target areas selected are the ones with high cholera rate, high cases of malnutrition and poor hygiene practices (such as open defecation MERCY CORPS AID-OFDA-G-17-00295: Yemen Semi-Annual Report #2 October 2017 – March 2018 Page 2 etc.). For livelihood interventions, target areas with presence of damaged business infrastructures due to the 2015 conflict, high unemployment rate and access to market among others. Community profile was also developed for each selected areas. After the target areas have been selected per governorate, the program team created a community committee in each area either through endorsement or election by community members. Orientation were conducted for each community committee on program overview and their roles and responsibilites. Selection of beneficiaries followed based

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