Displaced from Taiz with three children and a husband who could no longer work due to disability, Fatima rebuilt her family’s life with cash assistance and onward livelihood support funded by European Union Humanitarian Aid.
Before the conflict, “Fatima” had a home in Taiz and a trade she was proud of: making pastries that neighbours would come to buy. When the fighting reached her city, she left with her husband – now unable to work due to his disability – and their three children. They arrived in Tuban district, Lahj Governorate, in 2019, and the struggle began almost immediately.
We started reducing the meals. First two a day instead of three. Then sometimes only one. You feed the children first. You pretend you are not hungry.
Fatima
Rent payments fell behind. Her two older children began selling small items near school gates to add a few riyals to the household. Fatima is still moved when she talks about this. She had not wanted it for them.
It was at this low point that the Cash Consortium of Yemen (CCY) – funded by the European Union – identified her household as a priority case. The Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) was unconditional: no instructions on how to spend it, no restrictions. Just cash, in her hands.
It was at this low point that the Cash Consortium of Yemen (CCY) – funded by the European Union – identified her household as a priority case. The Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) was unconditional: no instructions on how to spend it, no restrictions. Just cash, in her hands.
MPCA stabilised the household – not as a permanent solution, but as the breathing room a family needs to think about what comes next. When Fatima heard that CCY could support her further, she applied immediately, telling them: “I know how to make pastries. Give me the tools and I can feed my family myself.”
When the cash assistance came, the first thing I did was pay the rent. Then I bought proper food. I cooked a real meal for my children. That night, they slept without going to bed hungry. That was everything.
Fatima
CCY enrolled her in a financial literacy course and a small-business management course, then provided a two-tranche grant totalling 800 USD: 560 USD for fixed assets (an oven, gas cylinders, a refrigerator, and a solar system for Yemen’s frequent power outages) and 240 USD for her first stock of ingredients – oil, flour, sugar, cream. The oven arrived on a Tuesday. By Thursday, the neighbourhood smelled of baked pastries.
The community responded. Neighbours bought first. Then the local grocery shop asked for a regular supply. Then a bakery placed a bulk order. Her two older children, once selling at school gates out of hardship, now help deliver orders. The youngest simply knows that his mother is no longer worried at mealtimes.
The rent is paid on time. The family eats properly. There is, for the first time since leaving Taiz, a sense of forward motion. Fatima’s ambition has grown with it.
Every morning she lights the oven. Every month she sets aside a little for the future she is building. As for the support that made it possible: “They didn’t give me a fish. They gave me a way to catch my own.”
The beneficiary’s real name has been changed and her face withheld at her explicit request. All other details are factual. “Fatima” is a pseudonym she chose herself.
The Cash Consortium of Yemen (CCY) is led by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) in partnership with Acted, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Mercy Corps (MC), and SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL (SI), with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as a non-funded technical partner. Funded by the European Union (DG ECHO), CCY delivers Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance to vulnerable displaced households across 13 governorates in Yemen, and links beneficiaries to onward EU-funded livelihoods support in line with the European Union’s commitment to the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus.
This action is funded by European Union Humanitarian Aid (DG ECHO). Views and opinions expressed are those of the Cash Consortium of Yemen only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Sources: OCHA Yemen HNRP 2026; WFP Yemen Food Security Update, June 2025; IPC Partial Update, June 2025 (FAO, WFP, UNICEF). Produced in accordance with the DG ECHO Visibility Manual 2021–2027.
