December 20, 2018
Abdul Wahed Mukred, Ministry of Planing and International Cooperation, Yemen
Abdul Rahman Bamatraf, Hadramout University
A comprehensive interactive database on food and nutrition security projects and related Sustainable Development Goal Indicators has been lacking in Yemen for a long time. The Food Security Technical Secretariat (FSTS) and Scaling Up Nutrition Coordination Secretariat (SUN) with support from the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) have addressed this gap by building MAP Yemen. The introduction of MAP Yemen is considered a milestone towards more coordinated and evidence-based project and policy planning in Yemen. MAP Yemen is an easy-to-use internet-based tool that puts information and data on development projects at the users’ fingertips. For example, users can search development projects by governorate, category and international partner and graphically relate these projects to development indicators such as the prevalence of hunger and stunting.
This pioneer MAP Yemen initiative is considered a key step towards data-driven coordination of development and humanitarian projects. So far, access to information and data has been problematic in Yemen. The documentation system is traditional and relies on archiving documents as hard copies. In many cases, these files are misplaced or simply discarded after the termination of projects or change of management or personnel. Cases of limiting access to documents is commonplace in many government offices. Attempts to get information from terminated projects is almost impossible ten years after the termination. The only source of information is often found on the websites of development agencies or international organizations for projects sponsored or supported by these donor agencies or international NGOs. This tragic situation is evident not only in development projects, but it is also a more systematic problem that encompasses a wide range of public services such as education, health and civil service, and employees’ records.
As one step towards a more digitalized data future in Yemen, the launch of MAP Yemen took place on 21st November 2018. During the launch, the main food security and nutrition indicators and projects were showcased to inform the audience about the status of ongoing projects and the food and nutrition security. There was broad agreement that MAP Yemenis a big step in the right direction and that the efforts need to be continued. There is still a big need to continue updating MAP Yemen and to add more data on development and humanitarian projects. Moreover, there is a need to institutionalize a system within the FSTS and SUN secretariats. Together with the key development partners working on food and nutrition security, such a system should lay out procedures for receiving data from development partners and government offices on a regular basis to sustain and update MAP Yemen in the medium and longer term.
There is a lot of excitement about MAP Yemen and there is scope for it to play a large role in supporting and improving initiatives for post-conflict reconstruction and food and nutrition security. For example, the data on agricultural projects and food security indicators can serve as a tool for agricultural planners and decision-makers to identify areas deprived from agricultural development projects and suffering from food insecurity and malnutrition in record time. Policy makers concerned with food trade and industrial development will also find MAP Yemen useful. For example, comparing data on local food prices, local economic and social infrastructure and development projects can help planners to identify market bottlenecks and allocate infrastructure investments.
Plans in both secretariats are underway to ensure sustainability and regular update of MAP Yemen so that the tool can play a key role for development in post-conflict Yemen.
