World Bank, Netherlands, and UN Launch $150 Million ‘I-WISE’ Project for Yemen’s Water and Irrigation Basins
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The Arab Post
- . October 19, 2026
- . Update: October 19, 2026 2:45 pm
The massive financial cooperation of the international community has taken over to address one of the most serious environmental challenges in the Middle East. Yemen water and irrigation basins, The official launch of the ‘I-WISE’ project by the World Bank Group, the Netherlands and important UN agencies took place on Sunday, October 18, 2026.
The $150 million grant project is dedicated to protecting Yemen’s water and irrigation basins, which have been destroyed due to long-standing conflict and harsh climate change. This is the first phase of a long-term ten-year programmatic effort dubbed Yemen Improved Water Management and Irrigation for Sustainability and Efficiency (I-WISE).
Two critically depleted basins, namely the Aden-Tuban and Wadi Hajir, are the main focus for immediate implementation.
Who is Leading the ‘I-WISE’ Project?
The programme is based on a multi-agency, operational structure. Ground operations will be implemented in parallel by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) with the participation of the national stakeholders.
In particular, UNDP and UNOPS are working directly with the Ministry of Water and Environment and Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Fisheries in Yemen.
The UNDP will develop a groundbreaking National Climate and Water Information Management System (CWIMS), based on official project documents. This geographically distributed data network will enable the Yemen Government to monitor the drought status, manage integrated watersheds, and optimally use climate-resilient irrigation technologies.
At the same time, UNOPS is responsible for the physical reconstruction and enhancement of water supply and sanitation systems that are resilient. This is an infrastructure development project for urban, peri-urban and internally displaced persons (IDP) communities in the areas of the selected basins.
Why Yemen’s Water and Irrigation Basins Need Immediate Intervention
Yemen is still one of the world’s less water abundant countries. The current humanitarian situation has disrupted the traditional agricultural infrastructure and resultantly millions are suffering from acute food and water insecurity.
H.E. Eng. Yemen’s Minister of Water and Environment Tawfeeq Al-Sharjabi hailed the launch as a “structural milestone. He added that there’s only one way to achieve national water security in a long-term sense would be to combine climate-resilient infrastructure with sustainable use of groundwater.
The size of the World Bank Group and the grant from the Netherlands are indicative of the huge on-the-ground needs. The project is expected to directly impact more than 850,000 vulnerable people. Of these, about 375,000 citizens will return to having direct access to clean water facilities that will save their lives.
Empowering Local Communities – Yemen water and irrigation basins
This project has a strong focus on empowerment at the local level in addition to material and information. The World Bank’s initiative includes targeted skills training to position women in local water governance and climate-smart agriculture in a leadership role.
Moreover, international donors are pulling out of short-term emergency assistance and are decisively expanding the power of local Water User Associations and handing over the ownership of the systems to the Yemeni ministries.
In the end, the $150 million ‘I-WISE’ project demonstrates international partners’ dedication to sustainable recovery. Today, this coalition is helping to protect Yemen’s water and irrigation basins while helping to build a more stable and self-sustaining future for hundreds of thousands of Yemenis’ families and their livelihoods through agriculture. The on-going monitoring of national humanitarian response planning should be done through ReliefWeb updates.
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