Food Access  Livelihood Assistance for severely food insecure families in Al Zariq, Al Dhale'e governorate. ZOA is proposing to provide food and livelihood support to 1500 HHs of vulnerable agricultural dependent families in high priority IPC phase 5 and IPC phase 4 in the district of Al-Azariq – Al-Dhaleé Governorate. 
From the 12th to 15th November 2019, ZOA conducted a Rapid Need Assessment (RNA) in AL-Azariq District- AL-Dhale’e Governorate based on the selection of food insecure districts identified by the FSAC Cluster. 
The targeted HHs are at high risk of becoming acutely food insecure and the proposed project will improve their food security situation through:
	Distribution of agricultural kits to the targeted families and
	Cash+ assistance for the lean period while they will be waiting to harvest their produce.
	Orientation of the beneficiaries on climate smart agricultural practices that increase production.

The same HHs will receive both the Cash+ and the agricultural kits to increase disposable income of the targeted HHs and cater for their food needs while they wait for the next harvest. The cash will safeguard the disposal of HH assets and misuse of the agricultural kits by the target beneficiaries as part of negative copying mechanisms that the HHs are likely to embark on, when faced with such severe food insecure situation. 1500 HHs will be targeted, giving the estimated total number of beneficiaries of 10, 500 individuals, of whom about 2481 will be Girls, 2661 Boys, 2686 Women and 2672 men. The different needs of men, women, boys and girls as well as people with disabilities is being prioritized in the project design.
 
ZOA will establish (if not already) and empower a Community Development Committee in each village, with representatives from men, women, youth and people with disabilities from the targeted community. Their views will be fed into the project implementation where feasible. ZOA expects this aspect of inclusivity to be achieved and as much as possible and respecting cultural boundaries, women will be encouraged to participate in planning and implementation of the project. 

Potential risks that could jeopardize project implementation in the  targeted location are security and/or climate reasons, delay/denial of government permission and communities non acceptance of proposed activities. ZOA will mitigate the mentioned risks by continuously monitoring the security situation, keeping close contact with other agencies, developing close relationship with communities in the project area and ensuring the government is aware of the project from the beginning and throughout the project lifetime answering any concerns they might have. In addition, ZOA has consulted with the community during the design of this project and will continue to do throughout project implementation through the formation of Community Development Committees to ensure beneficiaries feedback is taken into account in any action. 

ZOA will implement the project directly as it has the expertise, presence on the ground and capable personnel to carry out the project. ZOA has been operating in Yemen since 2012 and in the south of Yemen since 2018. Some of the main interventions were  food basket distributions, implementation of home-gardens, rehabilitation of water and sanitation systems and  livelihoods projects. In the South of Yemen, ZOA operates in Aden, Lahj and Shabwah Governorates, rehabilitating water systems. Currently in Al Dhale’e governorate (3 districts, of which one is adjacent to Al Zariq), ZOA has started WASH activities.