Caring for women, creating sources of livelihoods for a dignified life, and economic empowerment have been key objectives for the PWP. The PWP has worked to create income opportunities for women as social workers and engineers. Moreover, the lion’s share of projects implemented by the PWP were identified by women as priority. In doing so, the PWP has played an effective role in reducing hardships for women and restoring hope on the future, especially under the YECRP – funded by the World Bank and administered by the UNDP.
Activation of 50% of society, represented by women, is a strategy that has been adopted by PWP and implemented in the ground. This has been accomplished through the creation of work opportunities for hundreds of women as social workers, engineers, and consultants, as well as workers in construction activities carried out by contractors in the field: cooks, janitors, and workers for curing concrete structures.
Effective Women
Amriyah al-Odaini, a social worker in the PWP Management Unit, believes that the PWP gives top priority to women participation in the identification of projects to be implemented in target areas. This has been embodied in field visits by social workers to the local communities for meetings with women to sound out their hardships, feel their concerns, and identify their needs and priorities for projects.
Amriyah al-Odaini asserts that the PWP has succeeded in ensuring women participation in the identification of priority projects during the mapping and field study phase. In doing so, she said, the PWP has succeeded in transforming important groups in society, previously neglected and marginalized (women and persons with special needs), into key productive actors. This has contributed to a drastic change in the reality for women – to the credit of PWP.
Work opportunities for women have been created, where women have been recruited as social workers, engineers, and consultants to supervise construction activities in the field, and as workers performing functions, such as cooks, janitors, landscapers, and working to cure concrete structures, and other activities.
Benefits
Al-Odaini thinks that, as a social worker, the most important benefits she has gained under the current conditions are: training and new experiences gained through field visits and communication and outreach activities in the local communities, besides the financial compensation. In addition, women have also been beneficiaries and workers in various stages of the projects’ life cycle.
She adds: “My message as a social worker is that the YECRP is an excellent initiative working to reduce the hardship in society at large, and women in particular, by working to curb the deterioration of basic services most needed by local communities in their daily lives, and the creation of work opportunities for women. Our situation, as social workers, is the same as that of women in Yemeni society, in general - whether from the economic, social or environmental perspectives”.
New Skills
Intisar Kaidmah, a social worker, says: “The PWP has succeeded in creating equal work opportunities for women in the field, and contributed to the improvement of quality of life for many women - through projects implemented in the water sector, for example, where the majority of beneficiaries are women - considering that women are primarily responsible for fetching water for domestic use”.
An Important Opportunity
Kaidmah asserts that women in Yemen are hardworking and independent, but the current crises have affected her deeply: mentally, physically and economically. Many people have been forcibly displaced, their living conditions deteriorated, and increased their hardships by facing overwhelming economic burdens.
Capacities
Shaden Yaslam Bazuhair, from the Governorate of Hadhramaut - the coastal areas, says:” Thanks to the PWP, this initiative has helped women meet their needs to care for their children and education”.
Bazuhair adds: “Training of women by the PWP has had a positive impact and helped her prove to the community that women are capable of giving, overcome challenges, and able to provide for themselves”.
She says: “The PWP’s implementation of training programs targeting women is of crucial importance for Yemeni women, and aim at making them employable in the labor market, creation of work opportunities so that they can support their families, get to know daily routines, and identification of needs, as well as gain new experience, and creates opportunities for seeking work opportunities in other institutions. This is especially important because social perception of women have changed and women are now working in all fields”.
An Opportunity
Saidah Iskander, from the Governorate of Mahweet, points out that the PWP is promoting and encouraging women to play a leading and effective role. It’s doing it through effective engagement in project identification and beneficiaries committees, which facilitate communication and outreach with beneficiaries in the field, and in project management.
The PWP also train women in a number of economic aspects and by giving them opportunities to work and improve their lives.
From a social perspective, the PWP provides services in important sectors that help women, for example, the water sector, road paving, and the rehabilitation of schools - all these create a households and development connections.
A Major Role
Iskander reaffirms by saying: “Given the dire economic situation the country is experience, the role played by the PWP in recruiting women is a crucial one, helping to improve living conditions for many households, and in raising awareness on the importance of women participation in the labor force”.
Ms. Iskander called on the PWP to continue its effective support for women in field activities and education, such as field studies and intensification of training program to improve the lives of women.
Challenges
Ms. Iskandar is of the opinion that the most important challenges facing women today are some of the various old traditions in society which are rather restrictive, the perception that women are inferior, and lack of awareness in target communities on the importance of women.
Experience
Amal Mahfouz Baqreen, a social worker, in the Governorate of Hadhramaut - the Wadi (Seiyun), says:” The PWP has given women work opportunities, new skills and experiences in the field, and moved forward toward achieving the desired objectives to help women by giving them the right to work in community participation and reduction of the hardships suffered by Yemeni women through the implemented projects”.
Baqreen adds by saying: “Before working with the PWP as part of YECRP, I used to think I was restricted, but when I started work with PWP, I gained self-confidence, freedom of movement and I integrated with society which enabled me to share mutual concerns with the community.”
Baqreen also confirms: “Yemeni women - under the current crises - are experiencing severe hardships. This situation has become catastrophic and everyone now knows what the situation is like for women in this crisis”.
Improvement of Quality of Life
Salwa al-Akhram, from the Governorate of Sana’a, points out that implemented projects have succeeded in reducing the hardships of women, especially by providing water through construction of water reservoirs, tanks, and cisterns - by studying areas in need of such projects; thus, contributing to the improvement of living conditions for thousands of households who rely on agriculture as their main livelihoods.
Service Provision
As a social worker, Abeer al-Dhubaibi, from the Governorate of Raimah, considers the YECRP as a crucial step toward reducing community hardships, in general, and women in particular by working to curb further deterioration of much needed basic services. YECRP through PWP has been focusing on creating work opportunities for women and has been mindful of the need to integrate gender in the identification of needs, empowerment, and job creation for women.