Cooperation in a crisis: Delivering food security for Yemen

A confluence of global challenges, spanning the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and continued shocks and uncertainty in the global energy, commodity, and food markets, is deeply impacting societal, economic, and health prospects for communities across the world, in both developed and developing economies.

But for vulnerable populations in fragile, conflict-affected environments, the impacts of successive global crises are generating the gravest threats to lives and livelihoods in recent memory.

This is particularly the case for Yemen, a country that the UN considers the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. A staggering 19 million people, 60 percent of Yemen’s population, are currently estimated to be suffering from food insecurity. At HSA Group, Yemen’s largest business, we have witnessed the humanitarian and food security crisis unfolding first-hand.

In keeping with our values, we believe that it is the role of the private sector to serve the needs of Yemen’s communities, in both prosperous and challenging moments for our home country. And, as a family business that has operated in the country for 85 years, we have always felt an unwavering sense of duty and responsibility to step up and support the people of Yemen, particularly within the context of rapidly escalating food insecurity.

Therefore, in recent years, HSA Group has sought to act with impact by supporting a number of initiatives that aim to tackle food insecurity in Yemen. Our programmes have spanned philanthropy, innovation and capital investment.

For example, the Hayel Saeed Anam Foundation (HSACF), the charitable arm of HSA Group, has distributed over 800,000 food baskets to local communities and delivered over 40,000 loaves of bread per day to over 6,900 households to support vulnerable groups.

HSA Group has also taken steps to further fortify several of its core staple food products with essential vitamins and minerals, using its innovation and R&D capacities in line with its values and purpose to support the nutritional needs of Yemen’s population.

And to ensure that food and basic supplies relied upon by hard-to-reach communities can travel reliably and securely to the last mile, the Group has invested to repair and restore 144 roads and bridges across Yemen.

Yet we have not acted alone. HSA Group is just one of the many organisations that are working tirelessly to respond to widespread food insecurity in Yemen. We frequently partner with other organisations, including international organisations, NGOs and other private sector companies.

This collaboration has proven critical to not only respond to Yemen’s immediate humanitarian needs, but also to lay the foundations for action to address the wider systemic challenges that hold Yemen back.

Multistakeholder humanitarian operations on the ground in Yemen remain essential to meet the short-term needs of local communities and to overcome chronic food insecurity. But Yemen’s longer-term development relies on forward-looking programmes that drive self-sufficiency, economic empowerment and resilience.

HSA Group believes that an innovative approach to tackling Yemen’s food security crisis and building systems that enables Yemen to move towards economic growth is necessary. To that end, we have published a new white paper, responding to Yemen’s food security crisis: insights and perspectives from the private sector, designed to support international policymakers as they devise and implement strategies to respond to the immediate food security crisis and chart the route to prosperity in the years ahead.

In our white paper, we have outlined the principles that we believe must direct this approach: harnessing the power of partnership, promoting collaboration between the international community and Yemen’s private sector; adopting a long-term approach to Yemen’s food security and development; and enabling a shift from a current reliance on humanitarian food aid to establishing the conditions for economic self-sufficiency, inward investment and international trade.

Our hope is that the white paper’s insights will support the invaluable work that our peers and international colleagues are undertaking to find solutions to Yemen’s present challenges.

As the international community rightly increases its focus on food security globally, it is imperative that in fragile countries such as Yemen, we collectively shift our mindset toward a comprehensive strategy to both feed the hungry today and put in place the building blocks that will empower future generations to grow and thrive.

For most of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the world improved by every metric. Malnutrition decreased, as did child mortality and poverty and life improved for many. In some ways, Yemen is a test for humanity: can we collectively find solutions to reignite that progress? If Yemen can emerge from these very dark times, this will bring hope for vulnerable communities elsewhere in the world, too.

That is why by investing in the long-term, and harnessing the expertise, experience, and resources of actors across the public, private and third sectors, we firmly believe that Yemen can move towards a brighter future, and together, we can realise the courage, resilience and potential of the Yemeni people.

Read HSA Group’s white paper: Responding to Yemen’s food security crisis: insights and perspectives from the private sector, here.

Abdul Gabbar Hayel Saeed, Chair and CEO of HSA Group, and Nabil Hayel Saeed Anam, Managing Director of HSA Group – Yemen region and Board Member of HSA Group. HSA Group is the largest private company in Yemen and employs over 35,000 people across its global operations.