U.S. Embassy Celebrates Earth Day with Neighborhood Cleanup

May 5, 2012

  U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Elizabeth Richard and 10 U.S. Embassy employees joined over 100 youth in Sana’a in their efforts to cleanup areas of a neighborhood close to the Embassy in honor of International Earth Day. The American staff picked up trash, planted trees, and mingled with the youth.

  The beautification project is sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Community Livelihood Project (CLP) through a partnership with the Social Fund for Development and the Sana’a mayor’s office. The youth were selected from economically disadvantaged groups from across the political spectrum, many of whom have participated in USAID training programs gaining the skills and understanding to enable them to resolve conflict, participate more fully in civil society, and contribute to Yemen’s future stability and growth.

  This activity aims to empower youth and improve local environments through street cleaning, road rehabilitation, and waste removal. Over the past quarter, 7,848 young men and women have participated in these programs in Aden, Marib, Sana’a, and Taiz. Earlier this year, the teams removed waste and planted 1,200 trees in Sana’a’s historic Old City.