German Ambassador and BMZ Visit Food Security Project in Yemen

On the occasion of the first BMZ visit after the Yemen crisis in 2011, Holger Green, German Ambassador to Yemen, and Dagmar Lohan, BMZ Desk Officer for Yemen, visited the GFA office of the Food Security Project in Hodeidah. A field visit to one of the project sites of the emergency Cash for Work Project was the highlight of the mission which had to be conducted under strict security regulations.

The cash for work approach was introduced to the project in a political crisis situation which aggravated food security in poor Governorates of Yemen even further. The goal was to hand over cash directly to poor people by providing employment opportunities in remote and particularly food insecure areas of Hodeidah Governorate.

The work projects were selected to create priority community assets such as access roads, irrigation canals or village protection and sand dune stabilization structures. All projects were implemented by community-elected social development committees. GFA’s local technical assistance team provided technical, managerial and administrative support. A first set of projects was successfully concluded by the end of 2012, while a second array will be continued until the end of 2013.