ILO Regional Director’s visit to Yemen aims to increase support to constituents and crisis-affected communities across the country

BEIRUT (ILO News) - ILO Regional Director for Arab States Ruba Jaradat has begun a five-day official visit to Yemen. She is scheduled to meet with high level government authorities, employer and worker representatives, national and international agencies and development partners, and UN officials. She will also inspect progress on key ILO development projects on the ground.

“The ILO has long-standing engagement with Yemen as a key member State and the only Least Developed Country in the Arab region. The ILO’s work in Yemen is central to the wider UN efforts to support the country in responding to the deep crisis it faces,” Regional Director Jaradat said.

During these very difficult times that Yemen is facing, this visit aims to strengthen the ILO’s support to and partnership with our tripartite constituents in Yemen, to help build peace and resilience by creating decent jobs and income opportunities, especially for the most vulnerable."

ILO Regional Director for Arab States Ruba Jaradat

“During these very difficult times that Yemen is facing, this visit aims to strengthen the ILO’s support to and partnership with our tripartite constituents in Yemen, to help build peace and resilience by creating decent jobs and income opportunities, especially for the most vulnerable. It also aims to strengthen our coordination with UN and development partners, to jointly increase vital support to help crisis-affected communities cope, generate income, secure decent jobs and sustainable livelihoods, access education, increase food security, access basic services, adapt to climate change, and foster resilience and self-reliance across all of Yemen,” she said.

From 2014 to 2023, the ILO implemented 15 projects across all governorates and districts in Yemen, focusing primarily on enterprise development, apprenticeships, employment-intensive programmes for rehabilitating infrastructure, green jobs, skills development, capacity building, and combatting child labour.

The ILO aims to establish a presence in all areas of Yemen with labour market challenges, to enable it to provide increased support to constituents and to crisis-hit communities. It will work with constituents, the UN system and development partners to promote decent work through employment-intensive infrastructure development, and technical and vocational education and training to promote youth skills development and employment. It aims to support entrepreneurship especially in the agriculture sector and enable a peace-responsive business environment. It also aims to combat the worst forms of child labour, build the capacities of constituents, and support the provision of accessible labour market information.

Through its distinctive rights-based development approach, the ILO contributes to building the resilience of nations and people caught in fragile, conflict and disaster situations. In times of multiple crisis and conflicts, there is a pressing need for increased coordination and collaboration between humanitarian support, development cooperation and peacebuilding. The decent work agenda is an essential element of this Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus.