Proceeding from its tireless efforts over the past months to overcome the obstacles to the efforts of Yemeni civil society organizations to establish realistic partnerships with international organizations and build direct relations with donors, Tamdeen Youth Foundation held a meeting with national alliances of humanitarian actors in Bangladesh. The meeting was with the participation of numerous networks and coalitions representing civil society in a number of Arab countries to exchange ideas and experiences on the Localization of Humanitarian Action.

During the virtual meeting sponsored by NEAR International, the strengths of local CSOs were discussed to be invested in creating an active and strong local voice. That voice will reflect national aspirations for the localization of  humanitarian assistance in a conflict-affected context, reviewing contributions, initiatives and ideas in this aspect to enhance independence and sustainability, and to play a leading role in humanitarian response efforts.

The meeting concluded with an agreement to hold similar meetings in order to invest expertise to find the shortest ways to localize the humanitarian action. Local organizations are not only linked to international organizations in Yemen, but are also common in many conflict-affected communities.

The meeting brought together several civil society actors, represented by the Coordinator of the Humanitarian Action Localization Initiative in Yemen, Chairman of TYF, Hussein Al Suhaily, the Regional Representative for MENA Assistance, Wejdan Jarrah, the Representative of NEAR International Network in Asia, Shahida Aref, the CEO of the National Alliances of Humanitarian Actors in Bangladesh, Ahsiuner Rahman, and the Representatives of the Syrian Network League, the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network, and the Lebanon Humanitarian and Development NGOs Forum (LHDF).

Last August, TYF, with 77 local CSOs, and in collaboration with NEAR International, launched the "Humanitarian Action Localization Initiative in Yemen". This initiative led to several meetings with government, international and UN agencies, including a meeting with Yemen's Humanitarian Coordinator, David Gresley, to discuss the localization initiative as another step to activate and strengthen the role of local humanitarian actors in Yemen.