Economic Development Humanitarian Goals for Yemen in 2017

Economic, Developmental and Humanitarian Priorities in Yemen
Yemen is a country that has experienced a period of prevalent destabilization, particularly since September 2014. The recent civil war has had tremendous negative impacts on the wider Yemeni population since it has undermined the effective operations of the country’s governance systems and functions. The violence from the recent widespread destabilization has generated devastating effects on Yemeni’s developmental progress, economic growth, social integration, and generated a major humanitarian situation. The international community has been on high alert as the situation in Yemen continues to worsen. As a result, rebuilding or developing Yemen has become a major priority, especially in the context of humanitarian, economic, and developmental aspects.
One of the key areas in developing Yemen is security given that the recent crisis has contributed to poor security conditions and vicious fighting that result in a severe humanitarian problem. As of 2017, one of the security priorities in rebuilding Yemen is to battling Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) fighters through joint operations between Yemeni government forces, UAE forces, and US Special Forces (United Nations, 2017). The other priority is to strengthen Yemeni forces through external support in order to fight Yemen’s Houthi rebels who are supported by Iran (Stratfor Worldview, 2017). Enhancing intelligence capabilities and operations as well as enlisting expanded support from the United States is considered vital in developing Yemen’s security system.
The second development priority is rebuilding the nation’s water system, which has deteriorated following the crisis. Due to the ensuring humanitarian crisis, displaced people, isolated communities, and the sick and wounded Yemeni’s have been unable to access clean drinking water. Water development initiatives as of September 2017 include launching numerous water and sanitation projects for displaced people and isolated communities. There is also a focus on increasing the number of deep boreholes and water reservoirs in villages and communities affected by the war. This is regarded as a key priority towards enhancing access to clean drinking water and improving availability of water for agricultural purposes. Several governmental and non-governmental organizations are also working to rehabilitate water supply systems in urban and rural settings like Sana’a, Aden, Amran, Hodeida, and Shafar.
The third developmental priority in the context of humanitarian, economic and developmental progress in Yemen is rebuilding the nation’s energy system. According to The World Bank (2017), the immediate plan for restoring electricity in Yemen is expanding access to energy services that are privately-supplied and distributed and restoring electricity to public service and agricultural sectors in the next three months. The short-term goal is to restore public electricity supply through revamping urban grids and public institutions to provide such services within a year. The medium term priority is to restore the operations of the national grid and foster the capabilities of national electricity institutions to offer services.
The other priority for rebuilding Yemen is transforming the nation’s transportation system, which has been affected by the crisis. One of the transformation initiatives is to re-open Sana’a airport for commercial flights, which will enhance transportation, particularly in bringing humanitarian supplies to the country (United Nations, 2017). Secondly, improving security along the roads has been identified as a crucial goal in improving the free movement of people and goods in Yemen. Securing main roads and control checkpoints by the various parties to Yemen’s conflict is identified as a priority to promote free movement across major cities or free civilian and commercial movement.
In conclusion, Yemen continues to experience a dire situation across the country because of widespread destabilization, conflict, and violence that began in the past few years. The international community has embarked on several initiatives to help restore the country and the wider Yemeni population. These initiatives focus on rebuilding Yemen on the context of humanitarian, economic, and developmental aspects. In this regard, the key sectors or areas that have been identified are security, water, electricity, and transportation systems.


References
Statfor Worldview. (2017, June 24). Yemen: Houthis Claim an Extension of Their Missile Threat. Retrieved September 12, 2017, from https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/yemen-houthis-claim-extension-their-missile-threat
The World Bank. (2017, June 2). Republic of Yemen: Restoring and Expanding Energy Access. Retrieved September 12, 2017, from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/655811496412539032/pdf/P158449-Output-Yemen-Power-Sector-Reengagement-Note.pdf
United Nations. (2017, August 19). Briefing by the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to Yemen. Retrieved September 12, 2017, from https://osesgy.unmissions.org/briefing-special-envoy-secretary-general-yemen