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Reviving Yemen: The Transformative Power of Multipurpose Cash Assistance

Since violence erupted in late March 2015, Yemen – already one of the poorest countries in the Middle East – has witnessed its economy shrink by half, plunging more than 80 percent of the population below the poverty line. The conflict and economic collapse have decimated public services, which were already scarce. Today, only 50 percent of health facilities and 65 percent of schools are functioning, leaving over 2 million children out of school. Nearly 90 percent of the population lacks access to publicly supplied electricity. Key public service employees, including Yemeni health workers and two-thirds of all Yemeni teachers, have not received regular salaries for years. In these dire circumstances, families strive to survive, struggling daily for basic necessities. Jaliea's family is among them. Displaced to Al Haqeeb near Taiz, they sought refuge in Al Haqeeb camp, where a community slowly began to take shape.

Posted on 29 Jun 2024

During the conflict, our area, Al Taweel, was targeted by airstrikes. One night, we saw several houses bombed and knew we had to leave ours, that meant abandoning everything we had built. Travelling here, we understood we had to start anew.

/ Jaliea

To address such desperate situations, the Cash Consortium of Yemen (CCY), funded by the European Union (EU), and hosted by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) implements life-saving humanitarian interventions across 13 Yemeni governorates, including Al Haqeeb Camp in South Yemen. Here, Mercy Corps, a CCY partner, delivers Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) and resilience-building support to vulnerable households. This flexible aid empowers families to meet their most urgent needs with dignity.

"Facing these conditions forced my family into actions we never imagined, like borrowing money or reducing our meals," Jaliea describes the harsh coping strategies they had to adopt.

One of the MPCA's goals is to reduce households' reliance on negative coping strategies, such as those Jaliea’s family endured. In Al Haqeeb, Mercy Corps assessed the humanitarian needs and classified Jaliea’s family among the most vulnerable, making them eligible for three-month instalments of the MPCA.

"The cash assistance helped us repay part of our debts, crucial since none of us has a job and we're living day-to-day," Jaliea explains. "It also allowed us to improve our daily food intake, trying to protect our young children from malnutrition. After three years in this camp, this assistance is the most effective aid we've received, providing a foundation on which we can build our future." She adds with gratitude, "Mercy Corps and the European Union offered us life-saving assistance that could change our lives."

The impact of CCY's MPCA program is profound. There has been a remarkable increase in the food consumption score across the 13 governorates in Yemen. Before receiving cash assistance, the score was 32%, but it soared to 85.6% post-MPCA distribution. This improvement underscores the program's effectiveness in addressing the immediate needs of Yemen's most vulnerable families, laying the groundwork for a more hopeful future.