Yemen has incurred a heavy price for more than seven years of conflict. Basic services have been disrupted, the economy has limped, the social fabric has been left in tatters, and 4 million people have been displaced from their homes.
Millions of people in Yemen urgently need emergency aid and protection services to stay safe, healthy and simply alive. We do our best with our partners to provide this.
However, Yemenis, like others affected by crises around the world, also need to make plans to move towards a better future, in terms of education and economy, and to build stable homes in which a mutually supportive society pulses.
Doing so will require long-term investments in sustainable development and peacebuilding, the spectrum of which extends far beyond the reach of the humanitarian sector.
Political solutions, that is, resolving conflicts, building peace, and taking concerted action to combat climate change require engagement at the highest levels, and these things take time and resources that those in need have no way of.
However, humanitarians and development agencies can reduce people's vulnerability and build their resilience to shocks by working together and with governments, international financial institutions and donors to achieve common goals.
And such complex issues as reducing the risk of hunger or stopping the spread of deadly diseases are much more effective if we approach them from all sides.
Momentum is building to take this approach – to build bridges and links between humanitarian action and development. In 2016, the Secretary-General of the United Nations formed a joint steering committee to enable the United Nations and the World Bank to overcome obstacles to humanitarian and development cooperation. The Commission began working on priority countries in the Sahel and Horn of Africa, which were chosen because they were in a state of chronic vulnerability and had governments eager to co-develop solutions for a better recovery.
Since then, the UN team has been working with the governments of Chad and Niger to ensure that their national development plans reflect humanitarian priorities and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Humanitarian and development partners in Niger are also working to set collective goals to reduce hunger and find durable solutions for the displaced.
In the Central African Republic, the government and development partners are working on a national plan for recovery and reconciliation that draws on the humanitarian community's analyzes of risk and vulnerability criteria.
Efforts are being made to ensure that this analysis, planning and development of joint programs focus on the needs and priorities of women and girls.
Insecurity and lack of funding may create obstacles to progress and, in some cases, to government reforms. But it is significant that such cooperation can lead to better outcomes for the most vulnerable, even in these fragile circumstances.
Governments are joining to pioneer these joint approaches by attending development-relief working groups in countries such as Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Iraq, and elsewhere.
For example, donors support the humanitarian needs and economic situation of Syrian refugees and Jordanians in Jordan by supporting co-financing agreements targeting national education, health and social protection services.
For six decades, the Kuwait Fund for Development has played a major role in providing humanitarian and development assistance, financing more than a thousand development projects in 107 countries, and has been a permanent and reliable supporter of developing countries around the world through relief and development aid. This assistance has saved lives and built the resilience of millions around the world.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs expresses its deep gratitude to the Kuwait Fund for Development for its generosity in supporting the Yemen Humanitarian Fund, and we look forward to cooperation on common goals to build bridges between development and relief in the coming years.