The Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Yemen have embarked upon a USD $500,000 partnership intended to empower Yemeni women as protectors and peacebuilders within their communities. Through UNDP Yemen’s Rule of Law project, the ROK’s support will help promote women’s leadership in peace and security by primarily targeting female police to improve their ability to respond to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and to facilitate local-level peacebuilding.

“The support from the Republic of Korea is highly appreciated and comes at a pivotal moment for Yemen. This new and exciting partnership will help mitigate Yemenis’ ever-growing and urgent needs during an already complex and protracted crisis – particularly as the issues become increasingly compounded by COVID-19,” says UNDP Yemen’s Resident Representative, Mr. Auke Lootsma.

The UNDP-the ROK partnership aims to ultimately contribute to the bottom-up peace and reconciliation processes by operationalizing the United Nations’ Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in Yemen. The project will help strengthen female police officers’ capacity through tailored and context-specific trainings (including community policing); improve multi-sectoral protection of GBV survivors by partnering with civil society service providers; and, empower female decision-making in multiple levels of the security and justice sectors.

“This important and timely support will help develop the capacity of Yemeni women in Yemen’s Rule of Law system – particularly within the police force. It is vital for women to be able to access justice and to ensure we are helping to build peace at the local level,” says Lootsma.

The Republic of Korea is one of the emerging donors on GBV, WPS and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 for Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. Appreciating the “Action with Women and Peace Initiative” by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs for enabling the new funding, UNDP values the partnership with the Korean Government in its efforts to support the people of Yemen.