The ongoing conflict in Yemen has killed or injured over 17,700 civilians including more than 3,000 women and children. 

Prior to the beginning of the war in 2015, Um Al-Saad, a widow in her fifties, had earned a living producing incense and aromatic products.

Because of the war she was forced to flee to Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, with her adult children.

By the time Um was able to find work again, her son had died and her health had deteriorated. Despite being psychologically distressed, she found the inner strength to push forward for the sake of her family’s well-being. Thinking creatively, Um came up with the idea of producing and selling Tamarind sauce, tumbul, and oshar. 

This vision was nurtured by a financial grant she received from the microfinance institutions, the National Microfinance Foundation (NMF) and the Yemen Microfinance Network (YMN), that are funded and supported by the Social Fund for Development (SFD) through the World Bank– UNDP partnership under the Yemen Emergency Crisis Response Project (YECRP).

Alongside her son and daughter, Um has doubled her income selling incense, aromatic products and tumbul. Her family can now cover their basic needs and living expenses, and her grandchildren have been enrolled in school.

Keen to continue growing and rebuilding her community, she has begun partnering with large grocery stores to sell her products. 

Um’s hope is that this programme will continue supporting projects like hers so that “life doesn’t stop again.”   

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Funded and supported by the World Bank, the Yemen Emergency Crisis Response Project (YECRP) is implemented by the Social Fund for Development (SFD) and the Public Works Project (PWP) in partnership with UNDP. The USD $400 million project provides economic stimuli in the form of large cash-for-work projects, support to small businesses, and labor-intensive repairs of socio-economic assets, benefiting vulnerable local households and communities across Yemen.