Over the past four days, starting from Monday, June 24th, community members from Aldalea and Shabwa governorates in Yemen actively participated in inclusive workshops aimed at developing localized action plans to address their most pressing needs around food security and livelihoods. The workshops, held in Addalea, Ashoaeb, Bayhan, and Mayfa’a districts, were organized by YFCA as part of the BRIGHTLY project’s activities, funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). Each workshop brought together 25 diverse participants from the local community, including women, marginalized groups, and people with disabilities. Through a participatory approach, the communities identified key challenges and collaboratively designed context-specific action plans to tackle these issues.

Some of the key actions identified during the workshops included engaging with community leaders to secure access to equipment and natural resources needed for income-generating activities, exploring safe transportation options, especially for women, to access markets and services, strengthening knowledge on rights, services, and skills development, such as land tenure, legal documentation, and literacy training, and implementing climate change adaptation measures, like tree planting and infrastructure rehabilitation, to address the impacts of flooding and desertification.

These participatory workshops are part of a broader initiative to empower local communities across Aldalea and Shabwa to take the lead in addressing their development challenges. The action plans will be supported through advocacy to amplify these locally-led initiatives and further engagement and resource mobilization to ensure their effective implementation. This approach aligns with the localization principles of the BRIGHTLY consortium, which emphasizes placing communities at the center to build more resilient and sustainable livelihoods.