Emergency Assistance for Conflict-Affected and Vulnerable Communities in Hajjah and Abyan Governorates CARE proposes to implement an integrated program to address critical and immediate food and WASH needs. The objective of the project is to improve access to the minimum food basket for the most vulnerable and food insecure communities through a combination of unconditional and conditional cash transfers as well as enhance access to safe drinking water and hygiene services. Approximately 50,400 individuals (7,200 HHs) living in Bani Qais district of Hajjah Governorate and Khanfar and Zinjibar districts of Abyan Governorate are expected to benefit from the project. CARE’s integrated programming approach ensures that target beneficiaries receive multiple assistance in order realize maximum impacts.

Food security activities will focus on unconditional cash assistance to 1950 most vulnerable and conflict affected households and an additional 650 HHs with conditional cash assistance through the CFW modality. The CFW intervention will involve rehabilitation of critical communal assets, such as water sources, access roads, and other infrastructure, which can benefit the population living in these areas. CARE will follow the Cluster approved criteria for selection of beneficiaries and will target the most vulnerable and food insecure households including women/child headed and households that lack land and productive assets, have limited cash income and no formal employment, HHs with children under five, and single parents taking care of disabled people. Monthly cash transfers will be over a period of five months of $108 per household per month, as per the guideline of the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster. 

The project will work with reputable money transfer agents with mobile teams so as to reduce security risks involved in traveling to project offices to collect money. CARE has been working with Al-Amal Bank in implementing cash transfer activity due to its liquidity capacity and mobile teams and it is expected to work with this Bank under this project. Furthermore, the project will collect market information regularly pertaining to the availability and price of basic food items. Post distribution monitoring will also be an integral component of the monitoring framework so to as to establish among others cash utilization at household level, cash distribution mechanism, and changes in access to food at HH level.

WASH interventions will seek to enhance access to safe water through rehabilitating of strategic water points, enhancing access to sanitation facilities, and improving knowledge and practice of hygiene/sanitation practices. CARE will train project field staff as well as local implementing partners on the use of portable water testing kits. Regular testing of water will be done both at source and HH level. CARE will also implement nutrition-sensitive hygiene promotion and distribution of Cluster-approved hygiene kits and replenishables to reinforce hygiene interventions. Trained community hygiene/ nutrition promoters will be engaged to undertake household messaging. Hygiene messages will focus on health-seeking behaviors, and recognizing signs and symptoms of common water-borne disease such as AWD and cholera. Additionally, CARE will promote optimal nutrition behaviors (such as optimal infant and young child feeding, and exclusive breastfeeding) to individuals or groups through the provision of relevant nutrition/health messages at WASH meetings. 

The project, in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders, will establish community committees and develop beneficiaries' selection criteria so as to overcome possible inclusion and exclusion errors. CARE will also strengthen the Complaint, Feedback, and Response mechanism so as to receive timely complaint/feedback and provide timely response. The project shall also ensure that vulnerable IDP and host men, women, boys, and girls have equal access to services through taking into consideration specific needs of each group.