Enhance the capacity of Female Police in Yemen: Mainstreaming a gender-based approach within the law enforcement

I. Introduction In November 2018, a contract (reference No. AVT16/BZ120646A) was signed between the state of Netherlands, represented by the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, legally represented by the Ambassador of Yemen and Penal Reform International to implement a project titled “Enhance the capacity of Female Police in Yemen: Mainstreaming a gender-based approach within the law enforcement”. The project overall goal is to Enhance peace and security efforts in Yemen through building the capacity of the female police unit at the MOI. Through achieving the following outcomes. 1) Female police officers in the female police unit are better able to maintain law and order according to human rights standards and rules of administration of justice. 2) A gender sensitive approach in the work of MoI is mainstreamed through improved safeguards for female police officers. 3) Barriers to women reporting crimes are removed 4) Improved international standards and best practice in ensuring equal opportunities for women in the police force The target groups of this project are MOI, 700 female police officers that were hired by the governement in the South, and the Police Academy. While the final beneficiaries of the project are: society at large in Yemen, with a focus on vulnerable groups including women, children, marganlised groups, that will benefit from the presence of well trained women police officers. To achieve the overall goal and the specific results of the project, PRI worked closely with relevant governmental stakeholders including (MOI, female police unit affiliated to the family protection department at MOI); Kindly see Annex No. 1 “MoI- PRI MoU governing the project implementation”. PRI has a strong partnership with the MoI and our contact person for the project from MoI side is the Deputy Minister, colonel Ali Lakhshaa, who provided full support to the project work and activities. This working relation was governed by the project theory of change outlined below in Figure No.1. which illustrates the sequence of events, activities and interventions taken within the course of the project, and how they contribute to achieving the project goal. In March 2021, PRI requested a cost extension for the project which focused on consolidating the work achieved by the project in the initial phase and had contributed to overcome the delays that took place due to the war, COVID and the weather. The extension focused on supporting the establishment and sustainability of the female policy academy through delivering trainings to a new cohort of the female police officers , and advocate for their hiring within all police departments. The report will be divided into two sections, section I Project Problem Statements and Political Overview, and Section II Achievements of Project Results and Activities. Section I: Problem Statement and Political Overview: This section will include a brief account of the political situation in Yemen; it shows the degree to which those political conditions have affected the project implementation. Since the war started in 2015, the political and security situation in Yemen continued to be a major challenge for the criminal justice system. The ongoing instability in Aden and the southern governorates, and the clashes led by different groups including Al-Qaeda, and the Southern separation council against the official government caused a challenge and slowed down the implementation of the project activities, but despite that the MoI continued to express their full political support for the project and its objective and their determination to deploy female police to serve in several locations with the aim of facilitating justice delivery and enhancing the access of females to the police as part of their international commitments and image. A closer scene of the political situation in Yemen, showed a very volatile and unpredictable situation due to the active armed conflict and clashes between the internationally recognized government (IRG) and the transitional council (TC). The clashes started in March 2020 and continued till the month of Ramadan. In addition to natural disasters that encountered the country, heavy rains, and flooding which started in mid-April 2020 continued across the country. Flooding has damaged roads, bridges, and the electricity grid, and contaminated water supplies, cutting access to basic services for thousands of people. In Sana’a, flooding caused widespread disruption to services as the city was overwhelmed by floodwaters. In Aden, power cuts have continued since the floods in April, causing a heightened risk of diseases such as malaria and cholera. Similar to other countries around the world, Yemen has been suffering from the impact of COVID-19, yet with a magnified effect or impact, due to the effect of the war on the Yemeni health system, as years of war has shattered the country's health system, leaving it incapable of coping with a pandemic. Many of Yemen's medical facilities have been damaged or destroyed in air strikes, and only half are thought to be fully functioning. Clinics are reported to be crowded, and basic medicines and equipment were lacking - in a country of 27.5 million people there are only few hundred ventilator machines. COVID-19 had also an impact on slowing down the work, where the work on renovating the police academy had to stop due to the pandemic and the lockdown forced by the authorities, training workshops had to be suspended till the lockdown is left. During the extension period of the project-(March 2021-March 2022), continuous conflicts and clashes between the international recognized government (IRG) and the transitional council (TC) lead to the transfer of some Ministers from Aden to Sauon to work form there, as the case of the minister of interior, which affected the services delivered by the ministry in Aden, such as the delay of the official decree announcing the female police academy as a branch for the Police academy, and the suspension of the monthly salaries of employees of the Ministry of Interior, including female police officers, and not being able to allocate a budget for the female police academy as part of the annual police budget. All these circumstances affected the ability of the female police officers to be deployed as required after their participation in the training delivered throughout the extension phase. Challenges faced by Female police in Yemen: Based on PRI’s Interviews with the female police officers enrolled in PRI capacity building interventions during the first year of the project, the female officers have expressed that they have experienced previous to the project many setbacks because of the lack of training due to lack of resources allocated to them, and as Yemen is a conservative society, they didn’t give much attention, or chances to the fact that women police needed continuous training, in addition to the need to expand their opportunities through enrolment and through on the job practical training, and theoretical knowledge which would help them increase their ranks to be leaders in the police forces . The need for the police academy to be built and maintained was a high expectation needed to compensate for the lack of experience and knowledge that the women police force faced. Some Officers felt left out and felt that they were not given the equal right of men to perform their tasks, and duties, yet they remained excited, and eager to earn knowledge, and gain experience to perform at their highest capabilities in order to serve their country, and their cause of equality. The trainings organized by PRI as part of this project provided them with a good head start, but the continues need for extra knowledge and training skills is still an obstacle due to the lack of resources. Theory of change The project theory of change was affected by the political challenges, natural disasters and the impact of COVID-19, and some changes needed to be introduced at the outcomes level to response to that. The original plan was that the project targets all of the 700 police officers, however, due to the delays in finalizing the academy that was impacted by the ongoing conflict and the division at the government level in Aden, the floods, and the COVID-19, not all the 700 officers were able to benefit from the training, only 400 officers, were the final beneficiaries. However, due to the difficult financial situation that the government in Aden was facing, more financial support will be needed till the academy is able to function smoothly and based on annual plan. The logic behind the initial theory of change is still valid and follow the logic and the project approach that was chosen when the project started. It worth to mention that the project team have a process of continuous revision of the theory of change and the risks on the ground and acted on adopting mitigating factors that aimed at reducing these risks to achieve the results of the project and its outcomes. However, the political situation and all the delays were beyond PRI control. However, the project non-cost extension has helped PRI in reaching out for its initial target in terms of reaching out to female officers. In total 857 female police officers were targeted by the project and benefited from the different training programs that PRI delivered through the academy.