Investing in children is a critical condition for Yemen to be better

Investing in children is a critical condition for Yemen to be better

Education is a key requirement for development, countering extremism and fighting poverty. On the other hand, Yemen has one of the lowest school enrolment rates in the Middle East and North Africa region, with more than a quarter of children and particularly girls of primary-school age do not receive an education.

UNICEF Representative in Yemen Geert Cappelaere talked to the Yemen Observer about the projects carried out by the UNICEF in Yemen, and the challenges that UNICEF faces every day.

By Zaid al-Alaya’a

& Majid al-Kibsi

Yemen Observer 

What are things learned about Yemen in regard to Children issues and other sectors UNICEF is working with?

One thing that I would like to say about Yemen is the huge solidarity that exists among Yemenis. Despite all the hardship that Yemenis face, this is a people that remain positive and generous in supporting each other. I think it is the first thing to say about Yemen. Of course Yemen is also a beautiful country, I had the opportunity to visit parts of the country over the last eighteen months, and I was here in 2002 and 2003 so I know what a beautiful country this is. But because of the current circumstances, it has become more complicated to travel around. It is striking that there are thousands and thousands of tourists who travel to explore and admire other countries throughout the year, while these countries have much less to offer than Yemen.

In one of your lectures you said that ‘Yemen is not the land of 25 million terrorists but 12 million children’ why do you think this focus that comes from donors is more on security issues and not focusing on more important issues like education and children, these are can build Yemen and get rid of all problems including security, al-Qaeda and extremism?

When people talk about terrorism and the risk of terrorism coming out of Yemen, it is very clear that these people are first concerned about security, of Yemen itself and the security of other nations.

We believe the true concern should be children. There are several reasons to say this. First, the numbers speak for themselves. More than half the Yemeni population is under the age of eighteen. This is one of the most salient aspects of Yemeni society, ie the large proportion of children. Second, investing in children has not only a very positive impact on children themselves, but it is also the best investment for the country as a whole.

Yemen is very reliant on revenue from its oil exports, and the need to diversify the economy is a well-known fact that has been repeated for years. Yemen has also been very keen to export some of its labor force to the Gulf countries. But how can you export a labor force if the country’s children aren’t properly educated?

How will you diversify your economy if most of your people are illiterate? What are you going to export to the Gulf countries if your people have never been exposed to proper education?

I am not saying investing in children is the only condition but it is a critical one if you want this country to have a better future.

I would like to compare Yemen with other countries, take Oman for example. Why is it that Oman today is where it is?  There are many reasons, but the critical one is that the Sultan came into power, and do you know what the first priority for the Sultan was? Education. And look where Oman is today and look where Yemen is today. If UNICEF says that Yemen is first and foremost twelve million children, it is because they constitute half of your population, and they are also the most valuable asset that Yemen can ever have. Not oil, but children. Invest in the children of Yemen and you are going to have a country that has pride. Don’t invest in them and you are going to have a country that has insecurity, extremism, poverty and underdevelopment. That is why for us, as UNICEF, we want all attention to be on Yemeni people and their wellbeing. Invest in Yemen’s people and you will have a safe and secure society.

Education is necessary to fight extremism. People resort to extremism when they have no other choices. Education is all about helping people find ways to develop themselves and their country.

How do you evaluate the role of the media? You are cooperating with the media in the UNICEF. From what I have seen personally, getting your message across to the media is when you succeed to make people talk about Children issues in Qat sessions or in the public transportation. What is happening is, they talk about children issues on certain occasions when there is some event, and how can you increase people awareness so they would talk about these issues all year long?

We need to partner with the media, and we need a media that believes that writing about children regularly is an important contribution to the society that journalists serve, as opposed to focusing attention on sensational stories, or even dramatic stories about children. An engaged media vitally enables social debate and discussion about the situation of children and what to do to improve it. And this should be a priority throughout the year, and not only on special occasions. In fact, one of the reasons the spotlight is on terrorism rather than on children is really because the media allows this state of affairs to continue. The media could instead challenge the obsession with terrorism and help change all of our perceptions about the important developments in Yemen.

There were some TV programs like flashes that talk about the children that were broadcasted on TV as well as the Radio stations, these programs were supported by the UNICEF. These were disappeared from TV, Why?

We at UNICEF remain very interested to work with any media that is willing to engage with us. Media is a very important vehicle to get the message across about children, and particularly to remote areas where access to information is difficult. In that sense, radio broadcasts can do wonders, especially in Yemen.

At the moment, we have launched a nationwide Back to School campaign with our partners, encouraging parents and families to send their daughters and sons to school, and you can see flashes and radio broadcasts, as well as banners and posters all over the country.

What does the UNICEF to update and guarantee that the information they get are right facts? Based on what sources you do that?

First, as UNICEF we gather data in a methodical manner. Our staff and our partners are our eyes and ears in the field, and we gather information from them on the latest developments. 

Not every piece of information we receive is reliable or faithful to reality. We have to verify. Especially concerning sensitive issues. If we receive reports that children are being killed in demonstrations, then we have to verify that before sharing this information. We know that 76 children have been killed throughout Yemen in demonstrations and during the civil unrest, and this number is verified.

But there still may be many more out there that may have been killed but if we cannot verify the information, we do not share it publically. We stand by our numbers, but we also are bound to neutrality. We have no interest in taking sides - except the children’s.

It is not our job to act judge and jury. Others have that responsibility, not us. Our task is to say, if you go out and demonstrate, and you take your children with you, then you are putting your children at risk of death or injury. At the same time, children have the right to express themselves and the right to life and health. And there is no justification or excuse for killing or injuring a child, whether in a demonstration or otherwise.

What kind of Obstacles that faces and hinders you from doing your work here in Yemen?

There are many.

The situation of children even before the current crisis began is not very good at all. There are large numbers of children who are malnourished or who have dropped out of school. If you compare that to other countries, Yemen is not doing well, and we can’t compare with neighboring countries in the Gulf, rather the data on children in Yemen can best be compared to sub-Saharan Africa.

But the good news is that there is an overall willingness and to some extent even a commitment to act. There are countries that have the tradition of early marriage, for example, but no debate exists. Or children are being recruited by armed forces in some other countries but the issue is hushed.

In Yemen, we can talk about it, and that translates into a commitment and an interest to do something about it, but the capacity may not always be there. It is easy to say that you want all children, girls as well as boys, to go to school. That is what should happen, yet more than thirty percent of the children are not going to school. One reason is that we don’t have enough teachers, so there is a lack of capacity; we have a lack of teachers. We would like for every child to be healthy, but we don’t have enough doctors, we don’t have enough nurses. In this country we want every mother to safely deliver her baby, but we don’t have enough midwives. So the capacity is the problem, the capacity in Sana’a doesn’t look so bad, but 70% of your children are living outside of Sana’a. In many districts, there is no capacity at all.

Another big obstacle is the illiteracy problem in the country and certain values and customs, for example with regards to malnutrition. The single, most effective way to fight malnutrition among children below the age of one is with exclusive breast feeding during the first six months of the child’s life. In Yemen only 12% are breastfed early and exclusively enough. Our job is to help society understand that when a child is born, you are not supposed to give it any water or honey or anything, but just allow the mother to breast feed her child for six straight months. This is the only way you will have a huge reduction in malnutrition in Yemen.

Finally, this may surprise many people, but money is not the first obstacle in Yemen. It is not money that is missing first, the problem is a question of priority, where do you invest your money and how much of it goes to improving the welfare of children.

There is less than 8% of the state budget that goes to the Ministry of Health, for example, how can you have a proper functioning health system in a country like Yemen if you give only peanuts to a ministry responsible for people’s health?

These are the challenges we face every day, but there are also several challenges such as poverty that has increased recently.

Would you please tell us more about the governorates and fields you are working on in Yemen?

Some of our programs, for example education, target all governorates across the country. For other programs, we focus on the most vulnerable areas for children instead of the entire country. But at the moment we run seven offices around the country that each serves the area around them. The offices are in Sa’adah, Haradh, Hodaidah, Sana’a, Taiz, Ibb, Dhale’, Aden and we will soon open another office in Seyoun.

What are the sectors or areas the UNICEF is working on? Also what are the priorities of UNICEF? And whether the UNICEF make these priorities or do you prioritize in cooperation with your stakeholders including the Yemeni Government? And is there enough cooperation between stakeholders and Yemeni Government?

UNICEF priorities include ensuring that children have access to drinking water and proper sanitation and hygiene. Second is guaranteeing that children are properly nourished. The third is around children’s health such as immunization, fourth is education and getting children back to school as well as improving the quality of education. The fifth area concerns protection, where we look into problems such as violence against children, child soldiers and child labor.  

Regarding working with the government, it is critical to understand that UNICEF is an agency that helps a country’s authorities serve their children.

So our ambition is to get out of Yemen as soon as possible, because when we do, it means that the authorities are fully able to provide for this country’s children and serve them in the best way possible, and as such, do not need our help anymore. The government is not our only partner, of course, and we help government diversify its partnership base, to guarantee the job gets done. We work with civil society organizations, religious leaders, parliamentarians and even with the private sector. We work with anyone who can make a positive difference for children.

Source: Yemen Observer