The United Nations Office for Project Services, funded by the World Bank, intends to implement a new project in the water and sanitation sector in Yemen, through which it aims to rehabilitate water, sanitation and hygiene networks, in an effort to help improve basic services and improve access to them for about 850,000 people affected by the war. That led to the deaths of 230,000 people, half of them due to lack of access to food and health services.

As part of the World Bank’s Yemen Emergency Human Capital Project, UNOPS will help increase access to water and sanitation services in urban, peri-urban and rural areas of the country. Over the course of two years, the office will work to rehabilitate the water supply, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure using a $30 million grant from the World Bank. As part of the project, water wells with solar powered pumps, as well as solar panels in underserved areas, will be procured and installed to provide a clean, cost-effective and reliable source of energy to support COVID-19 response efforts, in addition to personal protective equipment.