Itar Foundation for Social Development, national nonprofit organization, was funded by UN Women to implement the “Piloting Displaced Women’s and Girls’ Humanitarian-Peace Dialogue in Yemen” project. The project recognizes that women and girls often bear the brunt of conflicts and displacement, experiencing heightened risks of violence, exploitation, and discrimination. Upon that, the project initiative aims to amplify the voices, of the women and girls, displaced and host communities, in calling for permanent peace and urgent humanitarian response.

Itar Foundation is the leading implementing partner working with Thakerh for Media Production, Yemeni Women Union, Youth Without Boarders, Enough for Humanitarian Protection, and Wa3i Foundation. Thakerh for Media Production, national nonprofit organization, is responsible for implementing and managing the communication activities of the project’s deliverables.

The briefing paper is organized around both explanatory and exploratory research methods. These two methodologies are applied in tandem to gain a holistic understanding of a certain theme, viable, or event, and the linkage between these factors. The methodology is entirely based on a is a desk review of various literature such as peer-reviewed journal articles, reports, and news articles related to social connections, social networks, and humanitarian assistance, as well as vigorous key interviews that provide a comprehensive understanding of a particular factor or event. The research team investigated the concept of reflexivity[4], which involves examining one's own taken for granted assumptions. These reports and datasets were derived from a variety of popular humanitarian websites, including Humanitarian Needs Overview, Humanitarian Response Plan, UN Women Publications, UNICEF, GIZ, and World Bank Publications. Further to these sources, the team consulted reports from internationally recognized humanitarian actors, journals, blogs, and reports from social and cultural humanitarian-related websites.

The briefing paper's format is based on drawing notes of pertinent observations, after which it sources the meaning and interpretations of these observations. Subsequently, the deliberation of these that address "why so?" is followed by disputations over the matter and conclusions. The analytical framework comprised both quantitative and qualitative analysis approaches. Descriptive and regression analysis were used in the quantitative analysis, while latent and theme content analysis and interpretive phenomenology analysis were used in the qualitative study. In addition, the use of discourse analysis to investigate how language impacts social interactions and structures, with a focus on power relations, identity, and culture. The entire analysis process is underpinned by ethical considerations, ensuring an accurate yet thoughtful examination of the humanitarian challenges at hand.

In terms of limitations, the research endured limitations such as potentially incomplete evidence, the absence or shortcoming of specific data for certain queries, documentation coverage limitations, potential bias, and subjectivity in stakeholders' perspectives, both retroactive and proactive. However, the impact of such constraints is mitigated by triangulating various sources and validating stakeholders’ general insights with other pertinent data at the same time.

Result One: Communities' Preferences and Dropout Concept!

In the context of Yemen, education system and quality encountered difficulties both before and after the conflict. Thus, families play a crucial role in influencing IDP girls' and female children and thus their educational experiences are greatly shaped and influenced by them. They often faced economic hardships that affected their ability to support their girls and children’s education, leading to increased dropout rates and limited educational opportunities. And due to the rising rates of poverty, many families—especially those of IDP people—have placed a heavy focus on taking care of their livelihood obligations before their schooling and other possibilities. Therefore, the state of education is getting worse, as evidenced by data collected before and after 2015. As a phenomenon, dropout is old and was not recent at all. For instance, in 2010, according to the UNICEF, the dropout rate for female students in Yemen was high in 2009, with an estimated 56% of girls dropping out of school before reaching grade 5, and 71% dropping out before reaching grade 9.[5] According to the HNO 2019, 36 per cent of girls have dropped out of education compared to 24 per cent of boys. Especially IDP girls are more at risk of dropping out of school “as families with limited resources de-prioritize their right to education.” (UN OCHA 2019: 17).[6]

How can people achieve high levels of social and economic growth without education? Indeed, education is essential to people development and to a better existence. It can be interpreted that every member of society is assigned a social role depending on their gender, along with the associated behaviors and acts, whether they are acceptable or bad. This would impose community preferences in the hopes on boys as family backbones and on girls as a housewife which are merely stereotypes. The two stereotypes are prevalent in Yemeni society: the male's role of providing for the family by pursuing careers that align with his masculine traits such as having occupations that are of economical benefits for their families. While, the female's role is of taking care of the home. Here, the benefit of a committee member lies on these kinds of stereotypes that socioculturally form his / her personality and what kind of socioeconomically contribution both he / she can make. Deep within the IDP family environment, the role of women was very weak, as they give priority to their domestic responsibilities over their education and the education of their sons and daughters. However, there are also exclusions or modifications to the standards used to evaluate these positions in light of various cultural perspectives and humanitarian programs.

The traditional gender roles and social norms are the same in both host and IDP communities that can create impediments to IDP girls' education and perpetuate poverty cycles in any communities. It is where the dropout concept is evident in the high dropout rates among IDP girls, children, and women students, along with gender differences in enrollment and retention, which has an effect on the country's educational system as a whole. In conflict-affected areas, schools remained nearly completely devastated, and IDP families were not willing even to send their daughters to schools in the new locations, regardless of how inadequate or nonexistent the educational services were there. It can also stem from the shame and stigma parents might feel due to the lack of societal awareness around girl's education. This issue exacerbated since decades. For instance, in 2005, according to the National Document to Promote Girls' Education in Yemen, "in addition to the inequality that appears in education, urban-rural differences were also significant: 84.8 percent of urban and 68.9 percent of rural males aged 10 and above are literate, compared to only 59.5 percent of urban and 24 percent of rural girls."[7]

Of course, there were and are a lot of programs addressing the education issues, but rarely focusing on students dropping out of school. In 2010, the World Bank launched the “Yemen Emergency Education Project,” which focused on building and rehabilitating schools, providing learning materials, and training teachers to enhance the quality of education. Overall, UNICEF’s initiatives before 2015 were multifaceted, addressing both the immediate barriers to education as well as the broader social and economic factors influencing school dropout rates in Yemen. However, among them, UNICEF plays a crucial role implementing many programs that focused on students dropping out of school: (01) School Feeding Programs: since the 1960s - 2018", (01) “Out-of-School Children Initiative: 2015", (01) “Yemen Education Resilience Project: 2016”," (01) Community-Based Interventions :2017"

Another factor of dropout is that the IDPs encountered difficulties such as losing all of their identity documents during their initial and subsequent displacement, which made them rejected by school administrators. Due to displacement as well as damaged civil infrastructure, 3100 IDPs faced significant challenges in maintaining their identification documents and accessing education, resulting in children and girls dropping out and being denied access to basic services and employment, exacerbating their poverty and vulnerability.[8]

Social and cultural constraints have inculcated strong barriers in some parts of Yemen. As an attitude, girls should prioritize domestic duties and marriage over schooling or higher education and that education for girls is not a priority. Otherwise, it is a shame. This can have resulted in females being pulled out of school too soon and being denied the opportunity to finish their education. This trend perpetuates gender inequality in education and hinders the overall development of IDP women in Yemen. the impact of the deeply rooted tribal system in Yemeni society on livelihoods and the economy, including education. "The chastity of girls has great importance in rural areas; therefore, parents are unwilling to send girls to mixed gender schools. Also, negative social attitudes towards girls' education, and a lack of female teachers contribute to low female enrollment."[9]

Talking about the IDP forced women to prioritize their domestic responsibilities is a complicated topic. Families ingrained in the patriarchal society of the country. The societal norms and expectations place a heavy emphasis on IDP women prioritizing their domestic responsibilities over their education, leading to high dropout rates and limited access to educational opportunities for IDP women. This demonstrates how much society values and celebrates masculinity, favoring it over femininity, as well as how significant it is compared to femininity. Here, the preference is based on Gender roles and sociocultural norms. IDP families are not allowing women and girls to complete their higher education, be it in mixed education or single-gender education. This influences the IDP women empowerment and change its role to be an inactive member of the society. While, on the other hand, men's role is not of taking care of the home. This prioritizing is a result of strongly embedded gender norms and conventional duties ascribed to IDP women in Yemeni society. According to a recent study commissioned by Johns Hopkins University and the Women’s Refugee Commission for the Global Programme, "the prevalence of child marriage among girls is higher among internally displaced persons, with about one in five displaced girls aged 10–19 currently married, compared with one in eight in the adjacent host community. Displacement was seen by the respondents in the study as the main reason for growing economic insecurity among families, and internally displaced respondents noted that their economic instability made them more inclined than their host counterparts to relieve financial burden by marrying off their daughters."[10]

According to the UNICEF, in its Education in Emergencies (EiE) programme, that "As part of the emergency response for IDP children, a nationwide Education in Emergencies (EiE) programme was rolled out in the last quarter of 2021 targeting 40,000 out-of-school children (60 per cent girls) with education and child protection services, with a particular focus on children in Ma’rib." This was only launched in Marib city, regardless of the other cities in which there millions of IDPs girls and children.[11]

 Despite these efforts, the situation is still challenging. The conflict thereafter continues to obstruct girls' and other vulnerable groups' access to education in Yemen. More resources and a long-term commitment are required to ensure that all Yemeni children have access to a high-quality education. And at some point, it seems to be there is inclusion of support from the ministry of education towards private school than public school. It could be a business. Economic limitations also play a crucial role in forcing women to prioritize domestic responsibilities over schooling. Due to traditional gender roles and employment expectations, families may prioritize investment in the education of male offspring. This unequal distribution of resources reinforces Yemen's cycle of limited educational chances for women. According to UNICEF that "Multiple displacement, distant schools, safety and security including explosive hazards, lack of female teachers (80% male) and gender-sensitive and accessible WASH facilities are drivers to increased vulnerabilities. Dropout among girls is risking early marriage and domestic violence, while boys are at a higher risk of being recruited into armed groups."[12]

Result Two: Race between Education and Child Marriage!

Child marriage refers to any formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of 18 and an adult or another child.[13] It is a phenomenon as old as Yemen's history, culture, and traditions and an obvious and flagrant violation of their educational and children rights, and unfairly equating their children having rights with the children to whom they will give birth. There will be two children in one house: the mother, who is a child, and her child, who is also a child, and both are mentally equal. A question addressed to a society that still allows practices such as the child marriage as part of its social norms How can a child take the responsibility of taking care of another child?

In describing the race between education and child marriage in the IDP community, one should involve capturing the essence of the competing entities, their impact on the IDP community, and the dynamics of their interaction. The issue of education dropout and child marriage in this context requires an exploration of the dropout rate and factors, as well as shedding light on why this very issue of dropout within the IDP community. As it is reported that the IDP community faces numerous challenges, including limited access to education and the prevalence of child marriage. These numerous sociocultural challenges have significant impacts on IDP girls, children, and women, shaping their school dropout leading to the lack of their present and future opportunities. There are various factors that could persuade IDP families in Yemen to prefer child marriage over education for their children. In research, it was reported that, among married girls, 73.7 % of displaced girls did not complete secondary education, compared to 65.6% of host girls.[14]

Despite all humanitarian programs made, significant challenges remain in reducing the phenomena of dropouts and child marriage. Indeed, education has benefits for the individual since it contributes to reducing child marriage, improving health, strengthening social inclusion, and offering a greater chance of entering the labor market. Of course, the provision of safe water and sanitation facilities in schools creates a safe and healthy physical learning environment, benefiting both the education and health of schoolchildren. As It's commonly known that the humanitarian action's function is to promote a humanistic mission rather than a purely utilitarian one in the rehabilitation of infrastructure in Yemen. However, it is evidential that they have failed to completely provide tangible intervention solutions to this issue of the high rate of dropout child marriage and providing he restoration/ rehabilitation/ building schools' walls and classrooms, and providing WASH services, instead of focusing on raising awareness of the importance of education quality, such as education quality programs. In the Transitional Plan (2019/20 - 2021/22) Yemen, it is reported that Yemen ranked 168th out of 188 countries assessed, and Yemen also ranked 141st out of 144 countries in terms of gender disparity in educational attainment, and in 2016 and 2017, Yemen ranked 4th in the Fragile States Index (FSI).[15]

The ongoing conflict persists in the light of the phenomenon of the high rate of school dropouts among IDP girls and children, but still there is no consideration given to any education programs. All of those infrastructure projects should be in the mainstream of public action. All of the humanitarian programs have been designed after they're instructed by The Supreme Council for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and International Cooperation (SCMCHA). SCMCHA's pressure consistently forces the humanitarian action to provide a conditional support by focusing on infrastructures. It's reported by Afrah Nasser that any civil society groups trying to undertake aid work must abide by SCMCHA's rules and requirements, and must submit to total supervision.[16] This takes us to the fact that Yemen has no governmental support, clear goals of Identification of dropout, nor any strategic policies to raise the awareness of the importance of all levels of education! They have only rules and requirements with a stereotype of the NGOs that they provide only the services of infrastructures only. It indicates that the current educational collapse situation alerts to a future disaster, if they don't consider the education collapse and its horrible indicators, as they don't have any awareness of the importance and value of education. The dropout still exists, in spite of the huge amount of fund supported to the education programs in Yemen. This emphasizes Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies's describing SCMCHA as an institution for revenue streams available to the Houthi government.[17]

The frequently change in education curricula is another factor that leads to the collapse of education quality and the failure to contribute to decrease the dropout and child marriage rate. The school curricula were affected by the many political changes and events that occurred in Yemen before to the north's union with the south, and education in Yemen was ranked as one of the lowest primary school enrollment rates in the Middle East and North Africa region. After the conflict, the educational crisis exacerbates and the dropout rate still continues increasing too, among IDP children and girls resulting at the collapse of education as a whole. Changes were made only for political and ideological purposes. Changes should be made for matching with the current technology needs and education quality purposes. One of the advices mentioned by the University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) was ""If the current curriculum within a school is outdated and doesn’t employ current technology or utilizes obsolete methods, it requires revamping."[18] The impact of change of curricula forced people to escape to the private schools where they found the same old curricula out of any ideological changes. However, with their vulnerability, poverty and weak financial capacity, the IDP families were unable to enter their girls and children any private school at the time of the rise of private schools that are made to offer an educational service with expensive tuition fees, resulting in increasing the high rates of dropout and child marriage cases.

Result Three: Safe and Viable Learning Environment! A Regard to the Displaced Children with Disabilities!

Before and after the conflict, Yemen was already and is still facing challenges in providing safe and viable learning opportunities for (IDP) girls and children. These challenges included threats to security, natural hazards, and inadequate psychological and social support. In terms of the threats to security, Yemen has a history of political instability and armed conflicts, which have created an unsafe environment for children and their families. This has limited the access to many humanitarians' actions to education for many, especially in areas affected by violence and conflict, according to a report by UN RC/HC Yemen, "by blocking passage of roads, flooding also continues to impede the ability of humanitarian partners to deliver lifesaving assistance to people in need."[19]  Yemen is prone to natural disasters such as floods, droughts, and earthquakes, which have further disrupted the education system leaving damaged or destroyed schools, high rate of the dropout of IDP girls and children due to lack of resources and forced to child marriage. At the situational time of displacement, social stigma and shame associated and have negatively impacted their mental health. The poem serves as a reminder of the complexities and challenges faced by individuals and societies throughout history. By examining the poem’s themes in the context of the education crisis in Yemen, we can better understand the significance of collective action and the need for continued efforts to address the challenges faced by IDP children and girls. The poem’s message highlights the importance of recognizing the interconnectedness of human existence and the need for empathy and understanding in the face of adversity.

It's observed that most of IDPs have displaced from the warmer regions to other warmer regions in Yemen which both were affected by the Climate Change. The effect of the climate change is crystallized in rising temperatures, water scarcity, and extreme weather events which directly and indirectly influence on the dropout rates of IDP students and the overall education process. In warmer regions of Yemen, high temperatures can make learning environments uncomfortable and even unsafe, especially in schools without adequate cooling and ventilating systems. In describing the scene of the impact of climate change and the number of affected IDP families, according to a report by UN RC/HC Yemen, "The annual rainy season brings heavy rainfalls, high winds and flooding, particularly to coastal areas. In 2020, at least 13 governorates were impacted by adverse weather, affecting over 62,500 families, while thousands more families have already been impacted in 2021."[20] This could result the high rate of school dropout and the risk of waterborne diseases and illness among IDP girl and children students, as they struggle to adapt with the rising temperatures while the whole place turned into a hell on the earth. The climate change crisis exceeds the capabilities of humanitarian organizations to deal with this emergency crisis. But there remain hopes and desired efforts to mitigate the severity of this global crisis. Greta Thunberg, a Swedish environmental activist once said, describing this crisis as the climate crisis is a human crisis, and its impacts are being felt most acutely by the world’s most vulnerable populations, including IDP girls and children in Yemen.”[21] Under climate crisis, which is a threat to education as well as to many IDP girls and children who are attending schools, they're at risk and need an urgent global call for all humanity to live safe and sound.

Apparently, the current status of both school applications in labs as well as in qualified female teachers exposes that there is a of the lack. The lack is a critical barrier to providing a viable learning environment for the IDP girls and children in Yemen. It means that students are deprived of hands-on, practical learning experiences that are essential for understanding scientific concepts and developing critical thinking skills and has affected the education of both male and female students, but especially IDP girls and children leading to a high rate of dropout among them. Therefore, the improving of education environment and gender equality is an essential and urgent need. There were efforts attempting to fill in the gaps. However, those efforts aimed to create a more conducive learning environment that encourages retention and academic success for all students, regardless of their displacement status or gender. This is why it has had a detrimental impact on the learning environment for IDP girls and children in Yemen.

Result One Recommendation:

To address the need for a comprehensive approach is to address the high dropout rate reasons among IDP girls and children in Yemen, including investing in infrastructure, increasing access to education, and addressing socio-cultural barriers to IDP girls’ education. Increased access is the most significant to education for girls, particularly in rural areas and poor households. This can be achieved through:

1.  Providing awareness-raising programs for safe and gender-segregated learning environments for girls, as well as increasing the availability of female teachers and role models in schools and addressing social and cultural barriers to girls' education through awareness campaigns and community engagement.

2. The Accelerated Leadership Program has the potential to play a critical role in addressing the issues of child marriage and dropout among Yemeni IDP girls and children. The Accelerated Leadership Program can help to create positive change in the lives of these vulnerable populations by empowering individuals with strong leadership skills, particularly those who are directly involved in humanitarian efforts or policymaking related to education and child welfare.

Result Two Recommendation:

Child marriage comes first in the race between child marriage and schooling. This is due to the fact that it is deeply rooted and embedded in Yemen's history, culture, and traditions. As a result, the following ideas can be taken to solve these problems in designing humanitarian projects:

1-     Sustainable education and awareness initiatives should be established to enlighten the IDP community head about the importance of education's positive future possibilities and the negative implications of child marriage. This can be accomplished through various types of training/workshop sessions that take into account media tools such as short films, songs, and paintings while avoiding touching on their cultural components in order to assure the success of long-term programs.

2- A call to local governments and international organizations to make significant efforts to adopt legal reforms that raise the legal marriage age and impose harsher penalties on individuals who engage in child marriage. Of course, Article 15 of the modified Yemeni Personal Status Law 1999, which would have established the minimum marriage age at 18 years, was never passed. Legal reforms should also ensure that girls have the right to inherit property and an education, as these rights can help minimize the possibility of child marriage.

3- To address direct support for IDP girls and children in terms of education, healthcare, and psychosocial support. This can assist lessen these IDP children's vulnerability to child marriage and improve their well-being. This can be achieved by offering scholarships, safe spaces, and mentorship programs to guarantee that IDP girls and children acquire the education they require to break the cycle of child marriage and poverty.

4- Collaborating with local organizations on the ground that are currently addressing child marriage and promoting education will assist ensure that humanitarian efforts are culturally acceptable and effective. These collaborations can help share resources, information, and best practices to develop more comprehensive and long-term solutions to the problem of children who are victims of child and forced marriage.

5- Providing Preparatory Year Programs prior to entering college will serve various essential educational purposes. This can be accomplished through an academic readiness program (offline or online) Academic Readiness Program, which assists students in developing the necessary academic skills and knowledge for success at the university level; language proficiency for students entering universities where the language of instruction is different from their native language; and career guidance, which can also provide career counseling and guidance to help them make informed decisions about their academic paths. This will increase the willingness of IDP girls who dropped out of school early and IDP young women who have not completed their college degree.

6- Providing programs such as curriculum development programs, educational technology resources, school labs, and teacher skill training in order to match contemporary technological needs and improve education quality.

Result Three Recommendation:

To address the issues associated with climate change's impact on high school dropout rates among IDP female students in Yemen, the following programs must be considered:

1.  Providing suitable cooling and ventilation systems to schools in hotter climates, which can make learning conditions uncomfortable and even dangerous, especially in schools lacking climate-resilient school infrastructure. This can be accomplished through collaboration between the MOE and international organizations, with the involvement of local NGOs starting first at displacement camps, where there is a high rate of dropout among IDP girls and children, disturbing the schooling process. This is because IDP females and children wear multiple layers of clothes in addition to their school uniforms even in summer.

1.      Incorporating climate change Incorporating adaptation and resilience into the education curriculum can assist students in understanding the causes and implications of climate change as well as developing the skills and knowledge required to manage these problems. This can be accomplished through collaboration between the MOE and international organizations, with the assistance of local non-governmental organizations.

2.     providing Psychosocial support should be provided to IDP girls and children who have been psychologically damaged by natural disasters such as floods or storms. This is because climate-related disasters such as floods or storms can cause them psychosocial stress and trauma, resulting in psychological discomfort, which may drive certain students to drop out of school entirely. The emotional toll of natural catastrophes or environmental upheavals can have a substantial impact on mental well-being and impair the ability to focus on studies. This can be accomplished by providing psychosocial support sessions and encouraging policy advocacy for climate-resilient education, as well as monitoring measurable indicators of success.

Result Four Recommendation:

To address the unique obstacles that disabled and displaced children experience in Yemen, it is critical to design specific educational projects that cater to their individual requirements while also protecting them from potential threats. This can be accomplished by implementing the following humanitarian design educational programs to assist these vulnerable children:

1. Trauma-informed and disability-inclusive teacher training programs: Many existing educators lack the skills to cater to the specific needs of disabled and traumatized children. Training programs could equip them with specialized teaching methods, communication strategies, and sensitivity towards diverse needs.

2.    Mentorship and life skills training programs: This could go beyond traditional educational curriculum and equip girls and children with practical skills for navigating daily challenges, such as self-care, hygiene, entrepreneurship, and livelihood development.

3.    Mobile and accessible education: For displaced or disabled children, traditional school settings may be impractical. To reach these targeted demographics, consider alternate methods such as mobile learning units, online or radio-based training, and community-based learning centers.

Psychosocial support and mental health services programs: The trauma of conflict and displacement can have long-term consequences. Integrating mental health services into school programs, together with peer support groups and creative expression workshops, can assist IDP females and children survive and build resilience.