In 2023, two-thirds of the population of Yemen—21.6 million people—will need humanitarian assistance and protection services.1 The 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan for Yemen (HRP) requires US$ 4.3 billion to reach the 17.3 million most vulnerable people in need (PiN) of humanitarian support as a result of protracted conflict, displacement and economic deterioration, compounded by recurrent natural disasters.
The total projected number of people in need in 2023 has decreased slightly from 23.4 million people in 2022 to 21.6 million in 2023 and the overall intersectoral target from 17.9 to 17.3 million people. These changes are mainly due to technical modifications to cluster-level needs assessments and revised food security projections released in October 2022.2 They do not reflect an across-the board improvement in the humanitarian outlook. Gains that have been registered in 2022 remain extremely fragile. The humanitarian response in Yemen will support people facing multiple vulnerabilities, including but not limited to internally displaced persons and those attempting to return, Muhamasheen,3 persons with disabilities, and migrants and refugees.
The response approach will be organized around three strategic objectives focusing on life-saving activities, resilience contributing to durable solutions, and the centrality of protection. The response strategy in 2023 aims to address immediate and significant levels of needs, delivering urgent life-saving humanitarian assistance to 14 million people, under the first strategic objective alone. At the same time, it recognizes the importance of working closely with development partners to prevent a broader collapse of basic services and economic conditions that would further exacerbate the dire humanitarian situation. Humanitarian, development and peace (HDP) actors will engage in coordinated action under the strategic umbrella of the recently established Yemen Partners Group (YPG) and its operational structure, the Yemen Partners Technical Team (YPTT) and building on opportunities as presented in the UNDSCF. These coordination structures aim to expand the existing HDP nexus efforts, as well as the operationalization of the Durable Solutions Working Group under the leadership of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office.
Allah (AA, also known as the Houthi de facto authorities), whereby women must be accompanied by a close male family member to travel. This has impacted female national staff traveling on field missions, leading to the delay and cancellation of field visits, needs assessments and life-saving assistance deliveries. It likewise has had a major impact on the access of women to essential services, education and livelihoods opportunities. The second is long delays in approval of sub-agreements, leading regularly to delayed implementation of urgently required humanitarian projects and services for the better part of a year.10 Access challenges remain the most important challenge to effective humanitarian action in Yemen. As such, coordinated action to safeguard operational space and ensure safe, unimpeded and principled access will be a cornerstone of the response in 2023.
Clusters are targeting only the most vulnerable people in need through highly prioritized planning and humanitarian actors are increasingly implementing integrated programmes to improve quality and efficiencies of response.11 However, the per unit price of activities has increased in eight out of ten clusters, due to high global supply chain costs, rises in commodity prices, the continued fragility of Yemen’s economy and access impediments. These factors have driven overall funding requirements upwards despite a decrease in the number of people targeted, compared to 2022.