Search
Search
Journalism from the heart of crises

The Yemen Listening Project: A case study

The Yemen Listening Project is a groundbreaking initiative aimed at amplifying the voices of Yemenis affected by the ongoing conflict.

By directly engaging with over 100 individuals from within Yemen and the diaspora, this project seeks to present an authentic and diverse range of personal experiences. These narratives, conveyed through emails, WhatsApp messages, voice notes, videos, poems, and pictures, provide a profound insight into the daily realities of living through Yemen's devastating war. This case study explores how The Yemen Listening Project offers a unique platform for Yemenis to share their stories, breaking away from the often faceless and geopolitical narratives that dominate international coverage.

Overview

Where Yemenis talk, and the world listens.

The people planning and funding wars, devising aid plans, and trying to negotiate peace all too often fail to talk to the people living at the centre of it all.

Long before Gaza hit the headlines, the term “world’s worst humanitarian crisis” often referred to Yemen. Its devastating war and economic collapse, which began nine years ago, has left hundreds of thousands of people dead from violence, disease, starvation, and a lack of healthcare. Tens of millions more have been caught up in Yemen’s conflict, but its story has mostly been told by journalists, aid groups, and politicians. Until now.

What has it really been like to live through all this? To find out, The Yemen Listening Project asked Yemenis one question: “How has the war impacted your life?”

More than 100 Yemenis ​​– from inside the country and across the world – answered. They sent emails and WhatsApp messages, voice notes, videos, poems, and pictures.

They include testimonies of loss, life in exile, and what it is like to live through bombing and ground battles. But there are also tales of love, family connection, and personal and professional persistence in the face of impossible-seeming obstacles.

When Yemen does make the news, it's too often reduced to faceless narratives. Close this window for a look into the lives behind the headlines, and to listen to Yemenis as they tell their stories, in their own words, in Arabic and English.


The Yemen Listening Project

Why we wanted to do this project

We had three main objectives for this project: 

  • Give Yemenis a space to tell their own stories. Throughout the war, their stories have either been ignored or told by foreign journalists who focus on angles relevant to their audiences, who are often focused on conflict and geopolitical narratives. At the same time, Yemeni media has been divided and decimated by the war, and it is dangerous for Yemeni journalists to do their jobs.
  • Engaging a broader audience on the nuances and lives behind the often repeated, but little understood, term the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis”.
  • Give members of the international aid sector, who often don’t get to speak in depth with Yemenis due to security constraints or other access concerns, a view from the ground.

Production and audience engagement

​​How did The Yemen Listening Project collect stories?

We asked people to submit their stories, in Arabic or English, on an online form, via email, Facebook, or a dedicated Yemeni WhatsApp number. Once the submissions came in, we asked local journalists to gather stories from some parts of Yemen that were not yet well represented in the submissions.

We worked hard to meet Yemeni people where they were, and to get as wide of a swath of submissions as possible demographically and geographically.

We chose to solicit stories on Facebook and start a Facebook group to maintain engagement with the project because people in Yemen strongly prefer the platform for their social media.

Likewise, we had a dedicated WhatsApp line for two-way communication between the Yemeni project coordinator, Nuha Al-Junaid, and contributors for maximum outreach. A native speaker of Yemeni Arabic, she was able to communicate with participants and answer their questions in their own language and dialects.

We sought participation from all over the country as well as diaspora communities. This meant a lot of leg work and follow through by the project coordinator, who worked to find stories from people who are not regular internet users, who may be concerned about speaking with journalists because of security concerns, or who may have been hesitant due to conservative social norms.

We also had a street team go to Yemeni coffee shops in large diaspora communities to distribute information about the project and get buy-in.

By working with many demographics and with many Yemeni-centred communication channels as well as allowing for flexibility in responses – from voice notes to photos, WhatsApp to Facebook – we aimed for participation that included as many voices as possible.

Additionally, we distributed the project in many formats to ensure different audiences had accessible entry points. For a broader audience, this included creating podcasts – both our own and external – and repackaging into easier to digest versions, like our partnership with Al Jazeera which highlighted only a few stories on a simple interactive map.

Accessibility

In order to be accessible to audiences in Yemen, particularly those with low internet bandwidth, we designed the interactive site to be mobile first and work with low connectivity.

Additionally, we sought to be inclusive in our outreach, publication, and distribution by being in both Arabic and English as well as having a Yemeni project coordinator who knew best the nuances of regions, demographics, and communications.

Reception

The project was incredibly well received internationally. 

Within two months, over 16,000 people viewed the project on our site, and countless more on other sites. It has been viewed over 11,000 times on Instagram, and over 120,000 impressions on Twitter/X.

We received multiple speaking requests and asked to hold workshops on participatory journalism.

  • Workshop at Berlin Human Rights Film Festival 2023 about YLP and “How Listening is the Key to Better Storytelling”
  • Workshop at re:publica 2024 about YLP and “How Listening is the Key to Better Storytelling”
  • Panel/workshop about YLP as a case study for participatory journalism at DW Global Media Forum

We also had positive reception from participants, they said they were proud that their stories were heard.

Project Coordinator, Nuha Al-Junaid, received requests to speak on Yemeni TV channels, indicating the project was spreading in the country. Additionally, Al-Junaid was asked to speak on a panel with an MP at the UK’s Parliament organised by Ceasefire International.

Through conscientious repackaging of the stories as well as preparing appropriate soundbytes, we worked with several partners and promoters on radio:
 

We had several republishing partners

We're currently exploring ways to expand this kind of empathetic, inclusive, and innovative storytelling for Yemen and beyond. If you have any feedback on the concept or the impact it has had, or would like to get in touch about supporting this work, please email: [email protected]

Become a member of The New Humanitarian

Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

Join