ATYAF Consulting Conducted Capacity Assessment for 10 Local NGOs/CBOs in Aden, Hadermout,Shabwa, Marib & Taiz Governerates in Yemen

On February 2025 ATYAF Consulting Conducted Capacity Assessment for 22 Local NGOs/CBOs in Aden, Hadermout,Shabwa, Marib & Taiz Governerates in Yemen in partnership with Oxfam and funded by EU.

The assessment report presents a comprehensive assessment of 10 Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) operating across Yemen, specifically in the regions of Aden, Hadramout, Shabwa, Marib, and Taiz. These organizations play a critical role in addressing pressing human rights violations, advancing gender equality, and fostering social inclusion within the context of Yemen’s complex humanitarian challenges and fragile governance. The assessment evaluates the operational strengths and weaknesses of these CBOs, identifies critical capacity gaps, and provides tailored recommendations to enhance their operational effectiveness and long-term sustainability.

Key Insights

Strengths:

High levels of trust and credibility within local communities, enabling the CBOs to effectively mobilize support for their initiatives.

Well-established grassroots networks, which are vital for effective social change and advocacy.

Initial advocacy efforts reflecting a strong commitment to influencing local authorities and promoting human rights within the community.

Identified Gaps:

Advocacy: Absence of comprehensive, national-level advocacy strategies, which limits the ability to engage effectively with policymakers at local and national levels.

Risk Management: Lack of contingency planning and digital safety protocols, which pose significant challenges to operational continuity and staff safety, particularly in volatile environments.

Gender Integration: Underrepresentation of women in leadership roles, a lack of gender-sensitive programming, and no structured leadership development program for women. Additionally, there is a gap in tracking and measuring the impact of gender policies, and gender-sensitive outcomes are not fully integrated into CBO activities.

Digital Advocacy: Weak use of modern digital platforms to amplify advocacy efforts, limiting public engagement and outreach capabilities.

Strategic Recommendations: To address these gaps and maximize the impact of these organizations, the following recommendations are proposed:

Build Advocacy Capacity: Develop and implement tailored training programs on strategic advocacy, evidence-based campaigning, and enhanced engagement with both local and national policymakers.

Strengthen Risk Management: Establish comprehensive risk mitigation frameworks, digital safety protocols, and conduct regular risk assessments, particularly for CBOs operating in volatile environments.

Engage Human Rights Defenders (HRDs): Incorporate HRDs into advocacy and monitoring initiatives, providing them with tools to effectively address challenges in these high-risk settings.

Promote Gender-Transformative Leadership:

Introduce mentorship programs for women leaders, increase female representation in decision-making roles, and embed feminist principles into organizational strategies to address systemic gender inequalities.

Develop a Gender Tracking System to monitor the impact of gender-sensitive outcomes. This system will include:

Indicators for tracking changes in community attitudes toward gender roles.

Metrics for assessing women’s participation in leadership and decision-making processes within CBOs.

A framework to evaluate the effectiveness of gender policies and integrate gender-sensitive outcomes across CBO activities.

Enhance Public Awareness: Leverage digital platforms and storytelling to amplify advocacy messages, increase public engagement, and strengthen efforts for gender equality and human rights protection.

Outcomes and Vision:

This assessment outlines a detailed, phased capacity development plans for each CBO, categorized into short-, medium-, and long-term objectives. By addressing the identified gaps and implementing the proposed strategies, the goals are to:

• Empower CBOs to advocate more effectively for human rights and women’s rights.
• Enhance the operational resilience of CBOs in fragile and conflict-affected environments.
• Promote inclusive development and contribute to social justice through the strengthened capacity of local organizations.

The successful implementation of these capacity-building plans will enable CBOs to operate with greater efficacy, significantly contributing to a more equitable, resilient, and inclusive Yemen.