Yemen's Jeel Albena Association wins UNHCR Award

Jeel Albena Association, A Yemeni humanitarian organisation that has provided a lifeline to tens of thousands of people displaced by the country's conflict is the winner of the 2021 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award.

The Jeel Albena Association for Humanitarian Development, founded in 2017, won the prestigious award for its unwavering support for displaced Yemenis, even as shifting frontlines brought gun battles and explosions to its doorstep, reads a UNHCR press release. 

Its founder Ameen Jubran, 37, has himself been displaced by fighting and nearly killed.

"The areas where we work are considered to be among the most impoverished, and also the most dangerous," Jubran said. 

"We felt the danger every day but, despite that, we had displaced people and others who needed our help. We couldn't just leave them behind without providing them with assistance," he added. 

The award to Jeel Albena draws attention to people displaced by conflict in Yemen, a country facing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. 

Four million people have fled their homes and are in dire need of protection and assistance.

Jeel Albena employs more than 160 people and is supported by an additional 230 volunteers, many of whom are displaced themselves. Based in the Red Sea port city of Hudaydah, it has provided jobs and around 18,000 emergency shelters for people who are internally displaced and living in informal sites in the provinces of Hudaydah and Hajjah.

The organisation also supports displaced women to become self-sufficient and renovates schools, benefiting both the local community and displaced populations.

The award also highlights the extraordinary work done by many local NGOs on the ground in Yemen.

The UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award honours individuals, groups or organisations for going above and beyond the call of duty to protect refugees, other displaced and stateless people. There have been over 60 global winners from different countries since the award was first established in 1954.

This year, there were 200 nominations for the Nansen Refugee Award. There are also five regional winners: Jorge Santiago Ávila Corrales from Honduras, Dr Saleema Rehman from Pakistan, Nikola Kovačević from Serbia, and Chief Diambendi Madiega and Roukiatou Maiga from Burkina Faso.

Jubran will receive the award on behalf of his team at a virtual ceremony on 4 October 4. The award will include a commemorative medal and a monetary prize of US$ 150,000. The five regional winners will also be recognised at the ceremony.

Established in 1954, the award celebrates the legacy of Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian scientist, polar explorer, diplomat and first High Commissioner for Refugees for the League of Nations.