Centralization with its concentration of efforts, energy and resources in Sana’a is at the root of many of the problems and inefficiencies of the Yemen humanitarian response. Despite pressure to decentralize since early in the response, decision-makers in Sana’a have been reluctant to cede autonomy and authority to the field. This lack of support has disempowered the response at a…

Access to populations in need is essential to humanitarian operations, and in conflict situations, how unimpeded and sustainable that access is depends heavily on how willing warring parties are to cooperate with humanitarians in territories they control. In the case of Yemen, aid delivery, therefore, depends largely on the willingness of the armed Houthi movement in the north and the internationally recognized Yemeni government in the south as well as the Saudi-led military coalition. However, an important part of the…

Protracted complex conflicts that expose aid workers to risky operating environments are changing the way security is managed in the humanitarian community. Some of the world’s largest and longest-standing humanitarian operations — South Sudan, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Syria — are examples of such contexts that have recorded the highest numbers of attacks on aid workers year on year. In addition, groups designated as terrorist entities are increasingly present within areas of humanitarian operations; Boko Haram…

Once a small-scale intervention in a forgotten crisis, the humanitarian response in Yemen has grown in the past decade into one of the biggest, highest-profile and costliest responses in the world. In its attempt to address what is often described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, the United Nations’ 2020 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Yemen targeted 15.6 million people for assistance prior to the outbreak of COVID-19; in 2021, 20.7 million people are considered in need of some form…

Since 2017, the biggest headlines to grip the world about Yemen have been repeated claims that Yemen is “on the brink” or “one step away” from the largest famine in decades or a century. This has been one of the most visible sound bites of the response, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and leading to one…

In recent years, Yemen has come to the forefront as one of the world’s best-known crises. It is portrayed as the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis and the biggest humanitarian response world-wide. It is well known for being on the brink of the biggest famine in years, decades or perhaps a century, and for having the largest cholera outbreak ever recorded,…

Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. The world’s biggest response. On the brink of famine for the past four years. It is neglected, grossly underfunded, and exceedingly dangerous. This is the narrative that is spun and reinforced by those who lead the international response in Yemen, both on the humanitarian and political levels, from posts in Yemen to the top humanitarian leadership in New York, Geneva and Rome. The picture painted for the public, amplified through the media and…