Comprehensive protection response to conflict-affected populations in Sa’ada governorate (Sahar district), Hodaydah governorate (Tuhayta district), and Al Dhale’e Governorate (Dhale’e district) in Yemen – enhancing access to rights and services The proposed project will contribute to the improvement of conflict affected people in Yemen’s access to rights and services through the provision of essential protection services targeting all age groups and all type of beneficiaries including internally displaced persons (IDPs), host communities (HCs), returnees, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. It will target the most vulnerable individuals including women, men, boys, and girls in Sada'a (Sahar district). 

The project will provide quality protection services in community centres and through mobile outreach teams. Activities  include recreational and non-specialized group psychosocial support (PSS) activities as an entry point in the community, protection monitoring, family case management with a special focus on women at risk and children (including referrals, cash for protection, hereafter called Individual Protection Assistance (IPA) and livelihoods activities (vocational trainings and small business grants)), legal aid, and awareness raising (on topics identified by the communities and therefore in accordance with context and needs. The community centre will be accessible to men, women, boys and girls (with separate shifts for women/girls and men/boys determined after consultations with communities), as well as to persons with mental and physical disabilities. The community centre will be welcoming IDPs, HCs, returnees, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers to foster social cohesion this is particularly relevant in Sa’ada hosting large numbers of migrants residing in their locations for years.

In northern Yemen, all INGOs as a pre-requisite by the authorities must work jointly with a local partner to run protection community centres. DRC will select an implementing partner to run less sensitive and technical activities such as community outreach, protection monitoring, and recreational and non-specialized PSS activities. DRC will provide specialized and more technical protection services such as case management, protection cash assistance, and legal aid, as well as livelihoods activities, while building the capacity of the local partner on the provision of protection services (see “exit strategy and sustainability” section below). DRC will also establish or support existing community-based Protection Networks (CBPNs) in Sa’ada governorate.

DRC is operational in Sa’ada since 2013 with a field office and ongoing protection, food security and livelihoods (FSL), and WASH programmes, as well as emergency response for general food distribution (GFD). DRC currently works with a local partner under its UNICEF-funded victim assistance project and has established a large network of child protection committees (CPCs) throughout the governorate and districts of Sa’ada, that are able to identify needs in their areas.

In addition, DRC through protection monitoring in its community centres and through outreach teams will feed the Protection Cluster and OCHA with information on protection risks as well as basic needs and gaps in Sada'a (Sahar district), to inform the humanitarian response and develop advocacy points on key protection concerns where needed.