UNDP Provides Psycho-Social Support to 500 War-Affected

March 18, 2020

Enabled by Japanese funding, participants receive UNDP psycho-social support in Aden and Lahj. | Photo Credit: UNDP Yemen

500 beneficiaries from Aden and Lahj Governorates have benefitted from the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Psycho-Social Support (PSS) sessions. The initiative, which ran from December 2019 to January 2020, is part of the UNDP-supported Livelihood and Human Security (YLHSP) Project funded by the Government of Japan.

Conducted in local partnership with Al-Atta Relief and Development (ARD), the PSS sessions aimed to provide protection awareness and community engagement among youth and women, as well as to reinforce their protection capacity and help resolve conflicts within participant communities.

“The PSS sessions brought out my ability to overcome problems, taught me how to discover my strengths, and encouraged me not to stop because of difficulty or exhaustion. The participation of girls who voiced their opinions served us all," says PSS participant Ashgan Abdul Qader.

The beneficiaries were selected from the targeted districts of Crater and Attawahi in the Aden Governorate and Tuban and Tur Al Baha in the Lahj Governorate. Selection criteria included experiencing a traumatic event in the conflict (including loss of a family member); losing or damaged personal property; and, witnessing incidents of violent conflict.

The Japanese government-funded YLHSP included a series of services for the conflict-affected people of Aden and Lahj such as psychological support sessions, cash-for-work, business skills development training, and financial grants to help secure sustainable incomes.

The project targeted vulnerable individuals and neighborhoods affected by the conflict and returnees. The focus of the interventions was on identifying the needs and opportunities for affected communities to help them return to normalcy, restoring the disrupted livelihoods of crisis affected populations and strengthening community-based protection mechanisms with a focus on women and youth.

Upon successful completion of the support sessions, the local partner associations provided additional tailored sessions to the participants, acting as protection actors. The trained participants provided support and referred cases to protection actors as needed.

About the United Nations Development Programme

UNDP works in about 170 countries and territories, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty, and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities and build resilience in order to sustain development results.

UNDP in Yemen aims to restore livelihoods, social cohesion and security, reflecting a minimum of conditions necessary for resilience while focusing on the community level. In this regard, our priorities for Yemen are: supporting peaceful solutions; economic recovery; restoring basic services; and, empowering vulnerable groups. More available here: www.ye.undp.org

For more information please contact:

    Arvind Kumar, Project Manager
    Email: Arvind.Kumar@undp.org

    
    Leanne Rios, Team Lead Communications and Advocacy
    Email: Leanne.Rios@undp.org