Yemenis are considered one of the most at-risk populations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as a result of protracted conflict and difficult economic conditions. Investing in Yemeni women and men via capacity-building courses is therefore central to accomplishing RSD’s mission of empowering them to strengthen resourceful, interdependent Yemeni communities living together in reconciliation. To strengthen communities where everyone can prosper, it is especially important to build the capacity of women and girls, who have borne a disproportionate share of the suffering precipitated by Yemen’s frontline fighting and economic war. Many women have been forced to enter the labor market after losing their household breadwinner due to the conflict. As these dynamics have pushed women to be more independent and to assume financial responsibility for their families and children, they have found themselves at a disadvantage in the marketplace due to their limited access to education and training opportunities throughout their lives. Thus, RSD believes that building the income-generating skills of women and girls will contribute to increasing resourcefulness in Yemeni communities and building a strong Yemeni economy. Moreover, RSD believes that the increasing integration of women and girls into Yemen’s civil society spaces is essential in order for Yemeni communities to achieve the stability and early recovery that will allow them to progress toward sustainable development.

Since 2016, RSD’s commitment to capacity building has been integrated across all of its programs through initiatives supporting RSD team members, field partners, and targeted communities to enhance their emergency preparedness, response capacity, and development footing. This has included providing professional trainings and workshops to support the design and implementation of effective humanitarian interventions. Furthermore, the program has implemented various community capacity-building activities in different governorates of Yemen, equipping hundreds of war-affected communities in areas like finance education, leadership, gender equality, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), COVID-19 preventive measures, women’s economic and leadership empowerment, human development, human rights, and more.