WUNRN
YEMEN - CONTINUED VOLATILITY,
PROTESTS - WOMEN AT RISK FROM CONFLICT & HOUSEHOLD DANGERS
Though YEMEN continues to be
volative and with protests, media
is quite focused on other areas of conflict. We see little of the women in
Yemen in the news these days. International Crisis Group indicates that
"Yemen’s transition is gradually unravelling amid unprecedented security
and economic challenges, partly caused by political infighting and weak
consensus on national dialogue results."
Crisis Watch on Yemen: http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/publication-type/crisiswatch/crisiswatch-database.aspx?CountryIDs=%7b9D2149C0-C350-40FC-BE12-7693FB454AEE%7d#results
Though women's safety, security,
survival is absolutely challenged by the continuing conflict, many women also
lose their lives from unsafe gas cylinders and gas cylinder explosions.
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Photograph by Stephanie Sinclair
A Yemen
lieutenant patrols the pink barracks of
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Photograph by Stephanie Sinclair
A
shattered family mourns 15-year-old Nadaa Showqi Abduallah Hussein, her body
swathed in cloth. She was killed by a sniper in the southern port city of
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YEMEN - HOUSEHOLD SAFETY TRAINING
FOR WOMEN TO DEAL WITH EVERYDAY DANGERS
June 2014 - In Yemen small grants were provided to local civil society initiatives to enhance the safety of women. Recipients of the grants in Mukalla, a coastal city in the governorate of Hadramawt, are having a positive impact by working with women and families on everyday safety concerns writes Marwa Baabbad.
Although Yemen is known as a country where people die as a result of conflict, many others, especially women and children, lose their lives as a result of gas cylinder explosions. According to official reports, of the 16 million gas cylinders on the market, more than 4 million are damaged, threatening the safety of hundreds of women and their families. In Jumhurriyya Hospital in Sana’a alone, there were 328 injuries and deaths in 2009, the last year for which figures are available.
As part of Saferworld’s Strengthening Women’s Public Voices project, a small grant was provided to women’s groups who are interested in improving women’s safety and security in four different governorates across Yemen. As part of this, Faiza Ba-Matraf, who is the head of Women National Committee (WNC) in Mukalla city, received a small grant for a project to increase household safety for women.
In coordination with the Civil Defence Authority in Mukalla, the WNC held three days of training to raise awareness of household safety measures. In the training participants learned about the different types of damage that can be caused by gas cylinder explosions, and how to act if one of these accidents occurs, with a short exercise on using fire extinguishers. Thirty housewives and women activists were carefully selected to receive the training so they can help their families and pass the knowledge on to other women’s groups. “The plan was to train 15 participants, but as we received many requests from women to join the training, we doubled the number. It’s our role as civil society to take action and to support those in need of it in our community,” explained Faiza Ba-Matraf.
Coordinating with Civil Defence Authority
As well as having Saferworld’s support, it was important for WNC and the Civil Defence Authority to coordinate work together. The Civil Defence Authority is a government agency that operates under the Ministry of Interior. Its main roles are to provide firefighting, rescue, and emergency and disaster responses and services. They also formulate, implement and enforce regulations on fire safety and civil defence disaster management plans. By working with them, WNC was able to receive on-going support from them, with the Civil Defence Authority providing the training and all the necessary practical materials. The collaboration with the authority meant participants understood the role it should be playing, but also the challenges it is facing. This understanding meant participants were less likely to blame the authority for shortcomings in service provision.
As one Civil Defence Authority official in Mukalla put it: “Civil defence lacks funding to provide support and training to the community, but we are ready to provide support to civil society with our time and effort.”
Passing on the training
In coordination with local charities, WNC passed the training on to others. Without any additional Saferworld funding, another 150 women were trained in four different groups using mosque facilities over the last few months. More training is planned to take place when the adult classes restart in September 2014. During the summer, WNC is providing training in a summer camp in Mukalla.
Marwa Baabbad is project officer, Yemen.
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