The "Enhancing Local Security in Yemen" program activities follow the 25-months, which ended in October 2022. Through this program, Resonate! Yemen funded and supported 45 CSOs to create safe spaces among the community members, local authorities, and security forces and implement security and safety projects and advocacy projects proposed and prioritized by local residents in Yemen, who participated in the safe space, that strengthened local security and safety and restored basic security. Under a program that benefited more than 24,501 Yemenis (14,562 males, 9,939 females) across Taiz, Aden, Shabwa, Marib, and Hadramout governorates.
Under 20 security and safety grants, the program established security operations rooms, rehabilitated war, and flood-affected security facilities, supplied police stations and traffic police with basic equipment, and built the technical and practical capacities of administrative personnel and security units' officials. 38 Security Administrations benefited from the security and safety initiatives' interventions.
Resonate! Yemen awarded 20 advocacy grants to advocate issues that would enhance security such as campaigns for the ceasefire and prevent the unauthorized carrying of weapons, activate the role of women police, counter the spread of drugs among youths, drug use in armed polarization , improve conditions of detention for detained women and juveniles .
The advocacy activities resulted in a national advocacy campaign conducted under the hashtag " #Safe_Community" by 46 CSOs. More than 2 million views and reactions were received on the content and messages associated with the national-level campaign, which was intended to increase awareness around the safety and security issues identified by the local communities.
Resonate! Yemen also established safe spaces and communication channels at local, governorate, and national levels through local youth community facilitators to discuss the security and safety issues raised by the local communities through conducting local forums, community dialogues, governorate-level, and national-level roundtables that included representatives from various society components Local Authorities, Local Security Forces, CSOs, youth, and women.
Due to the safe spaces creation, the local, governorate, and national level discussion makers and officials became more aware of security and safety issues at the district and governorate levels, and more aware of the interventions and limitations in regard to these issues. 328 decisions and decrees were issued and activities were implemented by the discussion makers who attended the safe space at the governorate and national levels. Moreover, social accountability at the district and governorate levels were enhanced due to the participation of community members along with local authorities and security forces in producing and implementing proposals and solutions and also following up on the results.
The program, in addition, enhanced the capacities of 23 high-level security forces at the national level and 370 local security forces and law enforcement officials at the governate level on international & Yemeni laws, legal & regulatory capacity, and trust building with the community to restore and maintain safety in their areas with proper institutional support. 100% of trainees who were interviewed during the end evaluation said that their knowledge, skills, and practices is improved and they had started applying what they had learned in reality.
The program activities contributed to increasing trust between the community members, local authorities, and security forces. This was confirmed by safe space participants who were interviewed during the program end evaluation. According to 93% of participants of the Community Dialogues, 94% of participants of the Local Forums, and 100% of participants of the Governorate Level Roundtables, these safe spaces successfully built the trust between the communities and the local authorities and security forces and supported the formulation of security regulations and practices that are responsive to local needs while reflecting international best standards.