The Essential Role of Remittances in Mitigating Economic Collapse

This White Paper addresses the impact of Saudi Arabia’s increasingly restrictive handling of its expatriate workforce on the economy in Yemen. The kingdom’s policies, which have forced tens of thousands of Yemenis to return home, have resulted in a dramatic loss of income from remittances for their families in Yemen at a time when the country is already going through a catastrophic humanitarian situation. The authors thus argue that it is incumbent upon GCC states, and Saudi Arabia in particular, to allow Yemeni expat workers an exemption from the current labor nationalization campaigns – at least until a post-conflict Yemen has attained acceptable economic growth and the issue of the repatriation of Yemeni workers can be revisited responsibly.

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Reconstruction and Recovery in Yemen

This Policy Brief brings forward the results of in-depth discussions held by the Development Champions with the aim of developing recommendations and guidelines to ensure the reconstruction and recovery of Yemen is a comprehensive, effective process that has a long-term positive impact.
The Champions’ recommendations include measures to link immediate humanitarian interventions to Yemen’s long-term economic recovery; mechanisms to address fiscal challenges and enhance social protection; guidelines to create new jobs, rebuild infrastructure and strengthen the rule of law; and strategies to enhance local governance and local inclusion in the reconstruction process.

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Economic Confidence-Building Measures – Civil Servant Salaries

This Policy Brief brings forward crucial recommendations resulting out of the fourth Development Champions Forum in Amman, held in December 2018. The Development Champions recommend that the Yemeni government resumes salary payments to all civil servants working in the administrative apparatus of the state registered in the Ministry of Civil Service database of 2014 across Yemen, prioritizing payments to education and health workers. Meanwhile, Ansar Allah should allow all state revenues in areas under their control to be deposited into the accounts specified by the Central Bank of Yemen temporarily headquartered in Aden, and all parties should work toward the restoration of the Central Bank as a national institution that serves all of Yemen. The Development Champions call on regional and international donors to cover any funding gap to support the payment of salaries and pensions.

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Priorities for Government Policy in Yemen

This Policy Brief outlines recommendations for the immediate priorities of the Government of Yemen, both to achieve quick wins and to prepare the ground for medium and long-term success. These recommendations are the outcomes of in-depth discussions held during the fourth Development Champions Forum convened on 8-11 December 2018 in Amman, Jordan. They are designed to offer Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed and his cabinet a set of practical measures to help the government build on the momentum and increased visibility it achieved in the final quarter of 2018.

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Combating Corruption in Yemen

This White Paper assesses the multifaceted pervasiveness of corruption in Yemen. It is demonstrated, amongst others, that patronage networks are now emerging among previously marginal or unknown figures and that the financial involvement of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has extended patronage across national borders. It is argued that any anti-corruption agenda must aim to understand the complex configuration of patronage networks in Yemen, to be introduced gradually, and to get the buy-in of as wide a group of Yemenis as possible.

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Generating New Employment Opportunities in Yemen

This Policy Brief brings forward crucial recommendations to address Yemen’s worsening economic and humanitarian crises. These recommendations result from the third Development Champions Forum, which took place in Amman, Jordan, between 14–16 July 2018 as part of the “Rethinking Yemen’s Economy” initiative. Amongst others, the Development Champions recommend that policy makers seek to create jobs by investing in sectors that have historically been neglected in favor of oil and gas activities. This includes investing in agriculture, developing the fishing industry, expanding mining operations, and linking reconstruction efforts to the local construction sector. In the medium term, policy makers should look to new initiatives, such as constructing a free zone on the Yemen-Saudi border.

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Private Sector Engagement in Post-Conflict Yemen

This White Paper assesses the factors weighing on private sector development in Yemen. It lays out the impacts of the 2011 uprising in Yemen, the ensuing political crisis and the current conflict on the economy and the private sector. Following this, recommendations are offered to both the Yemeni government and international stakeholders regarding steps that can be taken to revive and develop the private sector post conflict.

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Local Governance in Yemen Amid Conflict and Instability

This White Paper deals with the role of local councils in Yemen and analyses their current situation. In the absence of central state authority and despite all the challenges they face, these councils remain important instruments for coordinating humanitarian relief efforts and local-level conflict mediation. Local councils are among the best-equipped and best-established institutions to support a shift away from the previous centralized model. Thus the Brief concludes that it is imperative that local, regional and international actors seek not merely to keep local governance structures from collapse but to enhance the capacities of local councils in post-conflict scenarios.

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An Institutional Framework for Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Yemen

This White Paper proposes an institutional structure for a future reconstruction process in Yemen: a permanent, independent, public reconstruction authority that empowers and coordinates the work of local reconstruction offices, established at the local level in areas affected by conflict or natural disasters. This proposal does not arise only from lessons learned from previous reconstruction efforts in Yemen, but also from the immediate need for such an institution to begin planning and implementing reconstruction work to the greatest extent possible.

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Increasing the Effectiveness of the Humanitarian Response in Yemen

This Policy Brief brings forward recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of the humanitarian response in Yemen. These recommendations result from the second Development Champions Forum, which took place in Amman, Jordan, between 14–16 January 2018 as part of the “Rethinking Yemen’s Economy” initiative. Among the key topics of discussion among the Development Champions were the need for international humanitarian actors to increase their coordination with local authorities, civil society actors, and the Yemeni private sector; the importance of decentralizing the humanitarian response; and the importance of prioritizing assistance to the most vulnerable members of Yemeni society.

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Restoring Central Bank Capacity and Stabilizing the Rial

This Policy Brief brings forward crucial recommendations to address Yemen’s current challenges in the financial sector. These recommendations result from the second Development Champions Forum, which took place in Amman, Jordan, between 14–16 January 2018 as part of the “Rethinking Yemen’s Economy” initiative. Here, among the urgent topics of discussion was the deterioration of the value of the Yemeni rial (YR), the magnifying impact this is having on the humanitarian crisis, and the need to re-empower the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) as the steward of the rial and the economy in general. The recommendations collectively underline the need for the CBY to function in a more coherent, assertive manner – whereby its various branches operate as a united bank that is able to draft and implement economic and monetary policies for Yemen as a whole.

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Addressing Yemen’s Most Critical Challenges. Practical Short-term Recommendations

This Policy Brief summarizes the short-term recommendations to address Yemen’s current most critical challenges in development and economy which resulted from the first Development Champions Forum. This Forum took place in Amman, Jordan, between April 29 and May 1, 2017 as part of the “Rethinking Yemen’s Economy” initiative. The challenges addressed in this Policy Brief were identified within three main, if overlapping, categories: the food security crisis, the problems faced by the banking industry, and the collapse of basic service delivery.

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