Next on the agenda: absorbing Yemen’s massive donations

As the Riyadh conference came to a close on Sunday, Yemen’s donor countries departed with the hopes that they made another step forward towards the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It was estimated that for Yemen to achieve their MDGs by 2015, the country must establish a $48.4 billion rehabilitation program.

With the $150 million air force package the US is giving to Yemen in order to increase its offensive on al-Qaeda and the $1 billion Saudi Arabia donated to stimulate economic development, it’s easy to think that bestowing such grants would immediately. But, as previous experiences have shown us, you can’t just throw money at a problem. A main concern for everyone, especially the donors themselves, should be whether Yemen can effectively absorb the large donations that it is receiving. Many countries that are awarded funding are only able to use a fraction of the allocated money, due to lack of infrastructure and inadequate resources to put the money into motion.

Fortunately, Yemen has made drastic steps to improve progress in productivity in the government and economic sectors. To fight internal financial corruption, Yemen successfully established a Supreme National Authority for Combating Corruption, an investigative office that has sent over 80 corruption cases to prosecution this year alone. Instead of hiring foreign managerial staff to replace the ill equipped, Yemen is achieving cultural and long-term success by recruiting Yemeni nationals with international education backgrounds. With the military aid that Yemen received from the international community, Yemen will be concentrating the fund on training its 70,000 plus troop army and buying 10 MI helicopters. Yemen has taken the necessary steps to allocate ahead of time the specific purchases and educational expenses of the aid.

Through the aid and support of Yemen’s international donors, the Yemeni government is currently on the path to recovery. The only way to continue this success is to pursue objectives with clarity and consistency. The investment of large grants from donor countries is only the beginning. Yemen must maintain a well-thought agenda to distribute the funds, gaining the trust of its contributors and its citizens.

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