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Supporting civil society in Yemen
14 May 2010
On 5 May, 6 leaders from Yemen civil society visited Euclid Network (EN) and ACEVO to learn more about the UK third sector and the power of leaders' networks.
Organised by the Humanitarian Forum, the leaders represented organisations such as the Yemeni Red Crescent, Humanitarian Forum Yemen and the Al Saleh Foundation (the second largest NGO in the country).
About Yemini civil society
Yemeni civil society is still relatively weak, as is expected in a new country (the north and south were unified in 1990) where tribalism is still strong. The number of CSOs has risen from a few hundred 10 years ago to about 5000 now, but many of these are small and weak. There are a few networks but they tend to be issue-specific.
The conditions are ripe for a CSO network, especially one that is explicitly about building trust between communities.
Next steps
EN will be working with the leaders and the Humanitarian Forum to support the creation of a network in Yemen. EN have already established such networks in Italy, Slovenia and Portugal.
This is part of EN's wider strategy to connect civil society in the Mediterranean.