Inequalities have long been recognized as barriers for Yemeni women and girls, but for nearly half a decade, Yemen has been in violent conflict that has exacerbated their situation. They are now forced to shoulder the burden of displacement, starvation, broken education systems, job scarcity, economic insecurity and little or no water, electricity and sanitation. 

UNDP with the World Bank and its national partners — the Social Fund for Development and the Public Works Project — has made women’s empowerment and protection central to its projects.

Nearly 800 of these projects generated work and much-needed cash for over 63,000 women. These opportunities enabled them to not only contribute to their communities, they also provided much needed income for water, food, shelter, health and education. Yemen, March 2020.

Read more at Providing hope and support for Yemeni women as conflict drags on.

In March 2020, over 330 students, women champions, government officials, NGO members and community members from around Kampot and Kep gathered in an effort to plant 3,000 mangroves and conserve Cambodia’s coastline. Shoes were abandoned on the sideline as people waded into the mud and shallows – the mission was much more important than worrying about dirty feet. 

The activity took place as part of a larger mangrove planting and marine exhibition under ActionAid Cambodia’s 100,000 Mangroves campaign, supported by UNDP. The campaign aims to plant 100,000 mangroves in eight community fisheries by May 2020 and raise awareness of the importance of marine ecosystems.

The Youth and Stabilization for Peace and Security in the Far North of Cameroon, is a joint project between 3 UN agencies UNDP, UNFPA, and UNICEF. 

Bernadette Weyme, 29, shared, “I want to be a peace ambassador, because I want to live in harmony with my community, and I want peace to return to our town. In Meme, there were Boko Haram suicide attacks in 2018, leading to the death of three people. I was going to the market when my dad called me and told me to run away. I am so afraid that such attacks are coming back to our city.” Mora, Maroua region, Cameroon, March 2020.

“There are a lot of displaced people in Meme. Some take water from our well, and sometimes we don’t have enough water for our family, so we need to walk to the backwater and it’s very far. With this peace ambassadors training, I would like to organize peace and educational talks to discuss this water problem. If we give water to the people, we give peace.” Mora, Maroua region, Cameroon, March 2020.

UNDP with support from DFID and the Bangladesh government, is rolling out US$1.5 million in emergency support for 50,000 poor urban families. Around 1200 community workers, with full personal protection, are working on the ground to promote coronavirus prevention awareness, and distribution of hygiene packages that include soap and hand sanitizer, among poor urban households.

The project has started installation of 2,500 hand washing facilities in poor settlements and is working to sensitize and build capacities of health officials and volunteers in 20 cities.

Malaria is a leading cause of death in Burundi. COVID-19 threatens to hamper the malaria response in many ways. Both diseases have similar symptoms, leading to potential misdiagnosis. A massive upsurge in people seeking healthcare will result in shortages of testing, hospital beds and medicines. And lockdowns could prevent community health volunteers carrying out critical malaria control.

Containing the potentially rapid spread of COVID-19 is an urgent priority. Scaling up health programmes, helping governments buy the health products and ensuring strong supply chains must be done in a way that builds national capacity and innovates while also using existing systems where possible. UNDP, with funding from the Global Fund, has been supporting the Ministry of Health in Burundi since 2017. This understanding of the country context is imperative as the health landscape is constantly evolving.

Read more at: When health crises collide–tackling malaria, COVID-19 and Ebola in Burundi.

With COVID-19 inequalities are exacerbated. In response to increasing COVID-19 cases, Panama imposed rigorous restrictions to contain the disease. People were limited to six hours outside the home each week, with men and women allowed out on alternate days. The measures had some success, leading to a gradual easing of restrictions, but concerns regarding the impact of lockdowns on marginalized groups, particularly those most at risk of HIV, have been mounting.

Read more at "We are a forgotten population".

Over the past two months, more than 150 men and women from the Karbala volunteer network, have provided help to the most vulnerable citizens enduring the lockdown – ensuring that they can remain safely indoors, while the fight against the pandemic continues.

Read more at: A spirit of volunteerism: A united Iraq under COVID-19.

The coronavirus has ravaged the economies of great cities such as Istanbul, which rely heavily on tourism. In contrast to what would normally be bustling streets filled with vendors, traders and shoppers, the grand and ancient markets are shuttered and the restaurants are empty.

Through a GEF-UNDP programme, Heimy Arguedas Madrigal and 22 other women received training in an ambitious project of organic production and stingless-bee honey production. Heimy believes that many women now have a valuable income for their family economy, but are also empowered, as well as, having and greater awareness about caring for the environment. The project has resulted in economic and political autonomy for them.

Read more at In Costa Rica, rural women grow their own business.

Globally, about one half of the population lives in rural areas, but most nurses and doctors live in cities. The very few medics who do work in villages usually have thousands of patients under their care spread across several villages. 

Nadezhda provides services to seven villages with a total of 400 residents in the Viciebsk region of Belarus. The destinations can sometimes be far, but she used to have to walk. 

Now, thanks to an electric bike provided by the UNDP joint project, she can carry out her work with ease, reaching patients in emergency situations faster than usual. Especially crucial in this time of coronavirus.

UNDP is supporting Armenia to build climate change resilience and achieve its carbon neutral ambitions in sync with EU’s Green Deal. Some of Northern Armenia’s most beautiful landscapes include thousands of hectares of forests and trees that are protected by sustainable management, including the Noyemberyan forestry, in Armenia’s mountainous northeastern Tavush region.

Read more at Treating the forest like family.

Since March 2020, UNDP has worked alongside the Government of Iraq and the international community on combatting coronavirus. Measures under UNDP Iraq’s response package include increasing the testing capacity of laboratories, providing personal protective equipment to healthcare workers, establishing isolation wards, and undertaking assessments to establish post-COVID-19 recovery strategies. Focusing on the most vulnerable communities in Iraq, activities will be rolled out in 13 facilities selected by local authorities in the underserved areas of Anbar, Dhi Qar, Diyala, Dohuk, Babil, Basra, Karbala, Najaf, Misan, Ninewa and Salah Al-Din.

Read more at: COVID-19 in Karbala: The faces of the frontline response.

Mauritius is transitioning to a low carbon economy. Determined to break its dependence on imported fossil fuels and reduce its emissions, the Government of Mauritius has set ambitious climate targets under the Paris Agreement. 

 With the support of UNDP and funding from the Green Climate Fund, and in partnership with the Agence Française de Développement, the country is working to increase its share of renewables and strengthen the existing power grid.

 The economic crisis triggered by COVID-19 reinforces the urgency of the country’s climate targets and provides Small Island Developing States with an opportunity to restart the pillars of their economy with less reliance on fossil fuels. 

Read more at How Mauritius’ energy transition will support its COVID-19 recovery.

Abdo Pharaon looks at ruins of his home and Beirut in the aftermath of the 4 August explosion in the Port of Beirut, which resulted in the destruction of over 300,000 people’s homes. He was in his home when the explosion happened.

Abdo was born there and has lived there all his life. His great-grandfather built this house 200 years ago. “All is gone, and nothing is left but me. I am still here,” he says.

UNDP focuses on inclusive recovery as it supports Lebanon following the Beirut blast catastrophe.

 “With just US$66, we started our journey of more than 665 miles by foot. It was better to die in our own village than here in Mumbai.”

Drupti, 26, and her husband Anil, 28, lost their jobs in Mumbai when India went into lockdown on March 22. Lacking money, they were left with no choice but to walk to their home village even though Drupti was eight months pregnant. After 12 days they reached their destination, and Drupti was immediately admitted to a hospital. Tragically, she suffered a miscarriage.

They are surviving with the support of their extended family. With unbearable pain and tears in her eyes, Drupti says, “I will educate Anjali, that she steps out of the vicious circle of poverty.”

An estimated 800,000 Kosovars live abroad, many of them travelling back regularly. But it is the summer months and the “wedding season” and other cultural events that draw hundreds of thousands of expatriates.

Visitors to Kosovo* spent almost US$1.6 billion in 2019, around half of that sum in the months of July and August. Their absence this year has dealt a blow to the economy.

“The only guarantee for now,” manager Ahmed** says, “is that we still have booked celebrations for the coming year.”

Read more at Surviving a pandemic.

In March 2020, as soon as the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Kyrgyzstan, a state of emergency was declared, and the country went into lockdown. For people living with HIV, or those at risk of contracting the disease, the pandemic created a new challenge — how to get essential healthcare. 

This summer UNDP reopened two shelters for people living with HIV. The shelters are intended to support people in difficult situations who need to start or to continue to take life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART) and get back on their feet.

Read more at COVID-19 comes as a double blow for those living with HIV.

In the last decade, tourism has grown as a source of income for the Sary-Mogol population—almost everyone here is connected to the industry in some way. As the pandemic spread, the hit on tourism was felt across the country. Receipts from the export of tourism and travel, which represented almost six percent of GDP in 2018, have been forecast to almost disappear in 2020. Revenues are predicted to fall as much as 90 percent.