Kathiah Mohamed, a housewife and a mother of five, lives in the Aflah al-Sham area in Hajjah. Salma al-Faqih, is also a housewife, living in Bait al-Faqih in Hodeidah. She is mother to four children. Wardah Ayesh from Aden, a housewife and head of the household of seven individuals.  laila Salimain, from the Governorate of Lahj, is a housewife and a mother of five.

These are women who reflect the current situation in Yemen. They are all responsible for their homes and are forced to fetch water for domestic consumption. To do that, they have to walk for hours to the water source braving the heat of the merciless sun, or for providing food for their children after they lost the breadwinner of the family. To make matters worse, there is a lack of basic services that have exacerbated the problem creating an almost tragic situation for them and many people like them.

As alleviating the hardship of women is a top priority for the Public Works Project, the PWP has been making a deliberate effort to give women a voice in project selection. Women have been encouraged to participate in women beneficiaries’ committees to outline priorities and identify projects for the PWP to implement.

Revival of Hope

The PWP Management Unit has been keen to meet the needs of women through its projects, because it recognizes the magnitude of hardship and responsibility women shoulder as a result of the situation, especially so, in far and remote areas of the country.

Providing a sustainable source for clean water, for many women, was a mere dream and seems to be a difficult feat to accomplish, especially for women in al-Akroub in Taiz and al-I’rr in Amran. However, this is no longer a dream after the PWP made it a reality by building water-harvesting reservoirs in both areas.

A source of Income

Having an opportunity to work as a social worker or an engineer means securing a living for an entire family, but the majority of Yemeni households are now in dire need, with jobs and livelihoods becoming harder to get.