Procurement of dignity kits to most vulnerable women in priority districts and provision of life-saving commodities to newly displaced persons within the rapid response mechanism (RRM) In times of crisis, women and girls become increasingly vulnerable to Gender Based Violence (GBV) and exploitation as families and communities becomes displaced, forcing many families to adopt negative coping mechanism. The ongoing conflict in Yemen has led to displacement of 3.34 million persons of whom one million have returned to their homes. Meanwhile, the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for 2018 identified 11.2 million people in acute need. The ongoing clashes in Hodeida, Taiz and other locations have led to further vulnerabilities among this population, especially with the ongoing displacements and further deprivation and interruption of basic services. The situation has recently further escalated in Hodeida after June 2018, leading to a displacement of 360,000 persons to date.  This has also led to a further deprivation of services available to women and girls. 

Women and children represent three quarter of all IDPs in Yemen. The women and girls especially, continue to suffer the most in the ongoing crisis. They suffer vulnerabilities arising from different cultural, social, poverty and political factors, where by women and girls take an additional toll, leading to magnified risks of GBV. This has led to the increase in different forms of GBV since 2015. As noted by UNFPA GBVIMS, 1,946 GBV services were recorded in 2015, 10,806 GBV services recorded in 2016, 25,462 GBV services recorded in 2017 and in the first quarter of 2018 3,329 GBV services, with cases of physical assaults being the highest recorded form of GBV (18%) from 13 governorates, as noted in GBVIMS, 2018. It must be noted that GBV response services in Yemen are almost non-existent, leading to limited reporting and access to basic life-saving GBV services by survivors to such as medical services for survivors of sexual violence, shelter for those requiring protection, psychosocial/resilience building and livelihoods support and in many cases, emergency cash support for basic protection. The only providers of services to GBV survivors and vulnerable women are humanitarian actors.

Sudden displacement is characterized by increased vulnerability of the affected populations. This is particularly the case in Yemen as the people are already in dire situation given the protracted crisis. Women and children are the most vulnerable. The most critical immediate needs of the displaced persons are usually food and basic personal effects for hygiene and dignity as families are uprooted suddenly from their homes with no time to pick anything. Vulnerability to GBV is heightened and access to health care, particularly for pregnant women, children and those with chronic illnesses become critical. 

Through this project, UNFPA will provide 56,000 dignity kits to be distributed at the community centres to women and girls in all the targeted 56 districts by this allocation. These will be based on set vulnerability criteria and to set an entry point for survivors to receive comprehensive and multi sectoral GBV services, promote their safe access to other humanitarian services as well as encourage inclusive participation of women in sustainable development of Yemen.

This project will also contribute to the coordination of the Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM), which will target newly displaced persons with IRR, hygiene kits and transit kits. The project will specifically lead to the pre-positioning and distribution of kits, as well as coordination and monitoring.

The RRM component of the project will be only for three months given the available budget. UNFPA is working on resource mobilization to continue supporting the RRM after the initial three months covered by this project.