Qatar Charity and UNOCHA to provide water and sanitation to displaced Yemenis

In October, Qatar Charity signed an agreement with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Yemen to provide water and sanitation services and improve access to health services for internally displaced persons in Yemen. The project is valued at U.S. $ 1.35 million and will be implemented in the governorates of Taiz and Ibb in the southwest of the country. The funds will go towards the construction of two water collection tanks in the villages of Al-Barasha and Al-Juwaih in Taiz, the monitoring of water quality in 17 wells across the two governorates, and the construction of 35 toilets. In addition, the operational costs of 12 health facilities will be supported across the two governorates. In total, the project is expected to reach 118,721 beneficiaries.

According to a September 2022 Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) field mission report, there were 45 hosting sites for internally displaced persons in IBB governorate and 73 in Taiz. These two governorates receive the majority of the internally displaced people in the country. The report mentioned the need for improvement in access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, as tankered water services to the sites had stopped in May 2022, leaving the population to either collect rainwater or purchase water.

After eight years of conflict, Yemen  has a population of some 21.6 million people who are dependent on humanitarian assistance for survival. Of these, some 4.3 million are internally displaced. Some 207 humanitarian organisations were active in the country as of August 2023, and they were able to deliver aid to some 8.9 million people.

Qatar charity and UNOCHA have been working in the country for many years and have reportedly signed three similar agreements in the past. They have regularly called attention of the international community to outbreaks of cholera which are partly caused by internal displacement and partly by exposure to unsafe water sources, the poor maintenance of sewage systems, and the use of contaminated water for irrigation.