In Yemen, the conflict remains volatile, despite the signing of the Stockholm Agreement in December 2018 that aimed to de-escalate the fighting. Civil society space to address the needs of the communities we work with has continued to narrow. This year we have sustained our efforts to build peace in communities by supporting locally led initiatives.

We continued working with women’s action groups that have been implementing campaigns on a range of community security projects including street cleaning, lighting of public spaces, disarmament and anti-drugs. One group in Ibb successfully registered and received formal identification for 199 women in their community, overcoming a number of initial gender-related barriers; 80 to 85 of the 199 women who received formal identification are now enrolled in university or employed in some capacity. We conducted a series of interviews with Yemeni women on their experience of war, and we researched how gender roles have continued to change since the beginning of the conflict in the domestic, economic, social and political spheres.

We helped to form community groups that piloted a new participatory research methodology in their communities in preparation for their planned peacebuilding initiatives. As part of a community security assessment led by the groups, women and young people played a leading role in identifying concerns, speaking with relevant authorities and planning activities to build peace in the community.

Earlier this year, we held a conflict-sensitivity workshop with partners, during which we conducted a conflict analysis of different governorates in Yemen. We also supported a workshop for the Yemeni diaspora in the UK on their role as peacebuilders, resulting in concrete recommendations and initiatives going forward. The learning from our community-based peacebuilding work in Yemen also informed our contributions to the First International Symposium on Youth Participation in Peace Processes, held in Helsinki in March 2019.