Project Overview
Islamic Relief launched the Orphans Sponsorship programme in Yemen in May 2006 in the governorates of Sana’a, Saadah and Taiz.

Sponsorship provides orphans and their families with enough money to cover their basic needs including food, shelter, healthcare and education.

Project Background
Widows and orphans are amongst the poorest members of Yemeni society. Men are the breadwinners of the household, so when there is no man in the family there is no sustainable income.

Widows often struggle to provide for their family because female literacy in Yemen is low, making it difficult for women to find work. Also, many women do not have any income generation skills, which makes it harder for them to sustain even a small income.

Project Objectives

• To improve the standard of living for orphans and their families;
• To ensure that all school-age orphans receive an education and attend school regularly;
• To ensure that orphans have access to adequate healthcare;
• To reduce the number of orphans engaged in child labour;

Project Activities

• Distributing monthly sponsorships;
• Monitoring sponsored orphans through school and home visits;
• Expanding the project to reach more orphans;
• Developing the Orphans Sponsorship programme so that orphans and their families benefit from IR’s seasonal Ramadhan and Qurbani programmes;
• Assessing how orphans can benefit from other projects, such as school supplies distribution;

Beneficiaries
Forty-eight orphans are already being sponsored in Sana’a, Saadah and Taiz, less than six months after the launch of the programme.

By 2007 IR Yemen hopes to expand the project to reach four more governorates of Yemen.