Severity of Humanitarian Access Difficulties in Yemen | Jan 2019

Method summary: severity of humanitarian access difficulties in Yemen

January 2019

In August 2017, February 2018, July 2018 and January 2019, OCHA undertook a structured process to systematically collect and distil the perceptions of UN, INGO and NNGO representatives to reach a consensus on the level of difficulty in reaching or operating in all 333 districts within Yemen's 22 governorates. OCHA-moderated focus group discussions were held in each hub to capture the perceptions and experiences of UN agencies, INGOs and NNGOs.The objective of this monitoring approach was to answer the following questions: 1. In each district in Yemen, what is the accessibility of districts for humanitarian operations, applied to a three-point scale? The access severity levels are defined as follows: - .Low access constraints (Level 1): Relatively few access constraints. Armed groups, checkpoints, airstrikes or other impediments such as administrative obstacles may be present and may significantly impede humanitarian activities. However, with adequate resources and clearances, humanitarian organisations can still operate and reach all or nearly all targeted people in need. - .Medium access constraints (Level 2): Armed groups, checkpoints, air strikes and other impediments are present, and often result in restrictions on humanitarian movements and operations. Operations continue in these areas with regular restrictions. - .High access constraints (Level 3): Armed groups, checkpoints, air strikes or other impediments are present and very often result in restrictions on humanitarian movements and operations. Operations in these areas face high difficulties and sometimes are impossible. Even with adequate resources, partners would be unable to reach more than a minority of targeted people in need. 2. Which access constraints do humanitarian organisations encounter (based on categories from the Access Monitoring and Reporting Framework)? 3. How difficult is it for various types of organizations (UN, INGOs, NNGOs) to operate in different parts of the country? What is the access severity level for each district, per organisation type? Which access constraints affect which organisations, by type? 4. How have access conditions changed since previous OCHA-led access severity focus discussions? Method: Separate focus group discussions were held for each organisation type to minimize bias. A minimum of three separate discussions took place in each of the humanitarian hubs: one for UN agencies, one for INGOs, and one for local NGOs.Most discussions had between 6-10 participants, each of which was asked to represent the experiences of their organization, not partners. The findings were then averaged and applied to a three-point severity scale, ranging from 'low' to 'medium' to 'high' access constraints, to indicate the overall access severities of districts in Yemen.In addition, in response to shifting conflict frontlines, several districts in Al Hudaydah and Taizz governorates were discussed in more than one hub. The results were compared, and those indicating the least access constraints were retained as the final score.