Firstly, I would like to start off with the reason I decided to research Yemen for this project. Yemen is a country that is often forgotten about in the Middle East. Yemen came to my attention during the Arab Springs protests of 2011 when hundreds of thousands of citizens ousted the then president Abdullah Saleh. I believe that I will be interesting to see how the country has changed since his resignation and decide if is better off. Yemen is also interesting due to due to the fact that its neighbors on the Arabian Peninsula has been prospering while it has floundered. Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the East are considered wealthy, relatively safe nations to the international community. It is interesting to note that all three countries have access to vast oil deposits. So this question remains: Why is it that Yemen is the most backward of the three?

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One of the great benefits of this project is that it allowed me to gather a detailed understanding of Yemen. I think that it was important to first learn about the inner workings of the country through the Freedom House Report and the Heritage Foundation Index before we could start working on addressing the Millennium Development Goals. The Freedom House Report offered an interesting insight into Yemen as a county since it has an overall rating of 6 out of 7. This means that Yemen is one of the most unfree countries in the world with a civil liberties rating of 6 and a political rights rating of 6. The Heritage Foundation Index also proved that Yemen’s economy would have been much more vibrant if it had a better Freedom House Report rating since this deters overseas investors. Also, it shows that Yemen has high levels of corruption which often impacts projects that are supposed to benefit the larger population.

 

In relation to the Millennium Development Goals, Yemen is for the most part moving in a positive direction. It has achieved goal # 4 of reducing child mortality, Target 5.A of goal # 5 and Target 6.C of goal # 6. For the other goals, Yemen will likely achieve them by 2015 if current trends continue. Yemen is particularly lacking progress in goal # 3 of promoting gender equality and empowering women. This is due to the fact that Yemen is a traditional, tribalistic society where certain customs are hard to shed. Women in Yemen are typically voiceless and do not hold jobs that are designated for men. There is a low enrollment rate of girls in secondary schools and universities in Yemen. One of the main factors impact Yemen is that 74% of its population live in rural areas. This percentage is extremely high when compared to that of its neighbors Saudi Arabia and Oman. This means that residents typically have low access to health centers, proper sanitation and running water.

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This project was very fun and interesting since I was entrusted with an influx of cash and power to help Yemen achieve its Millennium Development Goals. I chose to make a website for my final product since I could made the design focus around a particular theme and I could include photo galleries and videos. I was able to make an appealing layout of the website to include detailed information about each goal and show corresponding picture.

Creating A Better Yemen For You And Me