18 September 2022: The political track of the National Reconciliation Movement hosted Dr. Ali Al-Jabal, Director of the Technical Office in Marib Governorate, and Chief of Staff of Vice President of the Presidential Leadership Council Sheikh Sultan Al-Aradah. The meeting was dedicated to update the members of the NRM on the experience of the local authority in Marib during the period from 2015 to date and to share reflections from the learning exchange visit that a delegation from Marib’s local authority conducted to Rwanda to learn from Rwanda’s unique and inspiring experience in public administration and in post-conflict recovery.
Dr. Al-Jabal highlighted the unprecedented growth in Marib governorate during the past few years, with its population increasing sharply to reach approximately 3 million people following waves of internal displacement to Marib from across Yemen. This growth has been accompanied by significant expansion in basic services such as education, health, water, infrastructure, and electricity delivered by the local authority. As an example, the governorate currently is provided with over 130 MW of electricity compared to pre-2015 levels at only 7 MW).
Dr. Al-Jabal presented the challenges that local authority has been facing in the field of public service delivery and development of infrastructure, and the concrete steps that the local authority has undertaken to address these challenges and achieve relative stability and tangible improvement in these areas.
Dr. Al-Jabal also explained the value of the local authority delegation’s exchange visit to Rwanda, and its impact on expanding the horizon of the directors of executive offices in the governorate by building their capacity and learning from the experiences of countries that have faced similar challenges to those facing Yemen and Marib. The meeting explored the key lessons learned from the exchange visit, and the plans by the local authority in Marib to reflect these lessons in their work in the coming period.
At the conclusion of the meeting members of the NRM exchanged with Dr. Al-Jabal a number of ideas and initiatives to support the efforts of the local authority in Marib in the field of higher education, health, planning, and other fields. It was agreed to take forward these initial discussions and establish clear mechanisms to enable the NRM members from contributing to the development efforts in Marib and other governorates in Yemen.