Pulling the Pieces Together: Health and community actors as levers of local response in Taiz and Hadhramaut, Yemen

Abstract

This study builds on our collaboration with Yemen Policy Center and their earlier study of state community relations and the enforcement of Covid-19 measures by security officials in Taiz during early stages of the pandemic.

In this report, we examine the local responses to Covid-19 by health authorities, health professionals and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), framing their efforts within the peace and conflict nexus with Covid-19. At the time of writing, the conflict continues although a new UN Envoy has provoked Yemeni and international discussions on how to reframe and reinvigorate the peace process. This report raises some of the complexity around local service provision and decision making and the actors who can be central in influencing it. We retrospectively consider the importance of local health and governance actors to local political dynamics in Yemen, by considering their role in the critical health and community responses to Covid-19. We suggest that their capacities in facing the Covid-19 crisis in Yemen are further grounds for inclusion in any future peace and transition dialogue focused on a fundamental reframing and redesign of peace processes. Whether at local, regional or national levels, any future pause or cessation of violence can create space for dialogue. The voices and views of local actors such as the health-focused civic actors involved in this study should be included in any dialogue given the extent of their knowledge and capacities, as made clear in the examples set out in this study.