President Obama has ordered an increase in humanitarian aid to Yemen. The administration is urging other international donors to step forward to help Yemen, which has suffered from a conflict between the government and rebel groups. A statement from the White House press secretary last week called the UN's Humanitarian Response Plan woefully underfunded.
U.S. humanitarian assistance to Yemen for the fiscal year will now total 42.5 million. The funds will provide food, water and sanitation, shelter, and health care to over 280,000 who have been displaced by the conflict in northern Yemen. Refugees in southern Yemen will also benefit from the aid.
The food aid operation of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) was running short by at least 75 million dollars. It's not clear yet how much of the 42.5 million in U.S. humanitarian aid will go to food programs.
Hopes for an end to the conflict in northern Yemen were raised in February with a ceasefire agreement. However, there are reports of recent fighting in the Sa'ada province. The White House is urging both sides to comply with the ceasefire and move forward with the peace process.
Food for Education in Sa'ada
Building peace and stability in northern Yemen will mean displaced persons will be able to return to their homes and resume their lives. However, what will be there when they get back? Communities don't just bounce back overnight from the chaos and destruction of an armed conflict, especially ones that were struggling in poverty.
The UN World Food Programme often refers to school feeding as a safety net and this is a perfect example. School feeding can play a stabilizing role for rebuilding communities in Sa'ada and other northern provinces by ensuring child nutrition and education.
However, WFP's school feeding initiative throughout all of Yemen is underfunded. Even in areas outside of the conflict zone, WFP has only been able to mount one limited distribution of school feeding rations since June, 2009. Maria Santamarina of WFP says the last school feeding distribution in Sa'ada took place in December, 2008 and reached 1,378 girls.
A Food Ambassador Needed
The Obama administration wants more governments to come forward and help Yemen. This illustrates the need for a White House office on global hunger, with a "food ambassador" in charge. Such a full-time food ambassador could build the international cooperation needed to fight hunger in Yemen and around the globe.
Save the Children, Mercy Corps, Catholic Relief Services and others have called for this White House office as part of the Roadmap to End Global Hunger legislation (H.R. 2817). Currently, 37 members of the House are co-sponsoring the bill, and the charities are trying to muster support for the legislation. Save the Children, who operates in Yemen, has a take-action page for supporting the Roadmap bill and the creation of a White House office on global hunger.
see also Obama's Feed the Future should include food for education in Yemen
originally published at Examiner.com
