COVID-19 and other health crises
For much of 2020, the thematic focus of the Platform centered on the interaction between conflict dynamics and the health crisis of COVID-19. At the outset of the pandemic in early 2020, the Yemen Conflict Sensitivity Platform shifted focus to provide considerations and recommendations for challenges and opportunities related to the pandemic in Yemen, particularly focused on the questions:
- How can we enable effective responses to COVID-19 in Yemen given the conflict context?
- What impact could the crisis, and aid delivery during the crisis, have on conflict dynamics and future aid delivery?
Building on previous research on health and conflict, the Platform developed considerations about the interaction between the conflict dynamics and health crisis in Yemen, including key indicators (below) that were used to monitor developments and responses to COVID-19 measures.
- Levels of political competition and armed violence, and how this is influenced by COVID-19;
- Transparency of information and messaging;
- Levels of trust in authorities and across community groups; and
- Structural stability in the country, including the role played by international aid.
Resources, monitoring reports, and other publications related to COVID-19 and conflict sensitivity can be found below and on the Resources page.
As part of the Yemen Conflict Sensitivity Platform’s efforts to provide conflict sensitivity advice and capacity support to the aid community in Yemen, it organizes this support into thematic focus areas dependent on the interests and priorities of participating agencies. These focus areas could include: health and conflict, participatory processes for aid planning, and the impacts of aid on legitimisation.
