Speeches Shim
USAID has a long history of empowering women and girls to lead transformational changes within societies. In Yemen, USAID improves the lives of women and girls by expanding opportunities for economic and community engagement and improving access to education, health, water, and sanitation services.
Abdul is a 10-year-old boy who dropped out of school in the first grade. “I had no friends,” he explains. “My schoolmates used to make fun of me, and call me bad names because of my eye.”
Yemen is facing the COVID-19 pandemic with a healthcare system that has been hollowed out by years of conflict, greatly reducing its ranks of medical practitioners. With just 10 healthcare workers per 10,000 people, Yemen is well below the international standard of 41 per 10,000. For job-seeking Yemenis, however, the unmet demand for health professionals offers a promising employment opportunity—especially for women—if they can access the training they need to succeed.
Humanitarian assistance is critical in Yemen, but on its own will not prevent the collapse of key social and economic institutions, stem the tide of conflict, or build Yemen’s resilience to future shocks. For this reason, in 2017 USAID relaunched its development assistance program in Yemen to help put the country on a path to recovery and ultimately to end the need for foreign assistance. USAID works with international and local partners to address the underlying causes of instability. Our work focuses on improving the full spectrum of Yemeni systems and institutions, government, civil society, private sector, and communities, to help lay a foundation for durable peace and resilience.
Trade is an essential lifeline in Yemen, bringing in critical supplies of food and fuel. However, existing bottlenecks impede the flow of goods into the country. To facilitate vital trade and imports into Yemen, USAID is supporting the upgrading of customs procedures in Yemen’s major Port of Aden, introducing modernization systems that are building efficiencies and saving time and costs for both traders and trading authorities.
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