A Message for America: Your Contribution to Yemen

Anna Armao and Hannah Duckworth

Overview:

Project Location: Digital/Internet Campaign in the U.S.

Proposed Starting Date: 12/9/2018

Project Duration: 7/1/2019

Budget: $150,268.65

Other Resources: Working space, access to hiring connections, access to information for research

1
Budget Justification

Budget Item Justification Cost Calculation Source Total

Website Main platform for $599 for setup and https://www. $2,153
Hosting delivering content to $259 *6 for six prontomarke
the public months ting.com/pri
cing/

Meltwater Software used to $3,500 for six- https://bestco $3,500

monitor product and month mpany.com/
news surrounding subscription press-
Yemen release/comp
any/meltwat
er

Social Media Raising awareness of 1.7% of total https://www. $2,500

Promotion campaign in order to budget including webstrategie
catalyze Facebook Ads, sinc.com/blo
involvement/Congressi Sponsored g/how-to-
onal pressure Instagram Ads, set-a-
Sponsored Twitter realistic-
Ads social-
advertising-
budget

Full-Time Pay for the people who 8 hours per day See $92,160
Employee spend time working *128 days * calculation
Salary on/maintaining the $30/hour * 3
project over the two people
month engagement,
including Social Media
Manager, Project
Managers (Anna and
Hannah)

Technology Expert who would Flate rate for See $10,000

Consultant advise on technological agreed upon scope calculation
needs in effective and of work
broad implementation,
including a strategic

2
 technology plan

Political Expert who would help 5 hours per week https://www. $12,800
Consultant to create strategic for duration of business.co
partnerships between project at $100 m/articles/pri
organization and per hour cing-and-
current members of costs-of-
Congress and advise on government-
relationship-building, consultants/
communications,
legislative schedules,
and effective lobbying

Graphic Design website and Flate rate for See $10,000

Designer content to be shared on agreed upon scope calculation
social media of work

Copywriter Write website content Flate rate for See $10,000

and content to be shared agreed upon scope calculation
on social media of work

SUBTOTAL $143,113

5% Overrun $7,155.65

GRAND TOTAL $150,268.65

3
Background and Justification

The Yemeni Civil War is a complex conflict that has been happening for over three years

and has a basis in the events in the 2011 Arab Spring. The center of the conflict is the Houthi

rebels opposing the Yemeni government, with Saudi Arabia supporting the government and Iran

supporting the Houthis. The Houthis are Shia Muslim, and the Yemeni government is Sunni

Muslim. Saudi Arabia seeks to limit the power of Shia states and is especially concerned by the

involvement of Iran as a Shia supporter of the Houthis. The United States is operating as a major

supporter of Saudi Arabia and the “Saudi-led coalition” through the provision of weapons, moral

authority, military plane refueling, and intelligence. In 2017, the U.S. provided 65% of Saudi

Arabia’s weapons (SIPRI). Overall, the conflict has led to what amounts to a major humanitarian

crisis for civilians in Yemen, as air strikes have targeted their communities and violence has cut

off humanitarian aid, leading to mass famine and disease (BBC). Over 10,000 Yemeni people

have been killed by the violence, especially air strikes, while over 3 million Yemenis are

displaced internally and over 280,000 have sought asylum in countries like Djibouti and Somalia

(Al Jazeera), and over 85,000 children have died, particularly from starvation, malnutrition, and

cholera (Kristof). The U.S. has stood by Saudi Arabia even as the humanitarian violations mount,

with one particularly notable event being when a U.S.-made Lockheed Martin bomb struck a

school bus full of children. Only recently, when journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by the

Saudi government, did Congress begin to take concrete steps toward possibly ending the U.S.

involvement with the conflict in Yemen (Slovic).

The Problem/Critical Issue

4
 The problem that we are addressing is the U.S. involvement in the Yemeni Civil War and

the subsequent humanitarian crisis that has arisen including the displacement of over 3 million

Yemeni people, mass famine, and major disease outbreaks. U.S. involvement has included

monetary investment, provisions of weapons and military intelligence, and the refueling of

military planes. Congress has not approved U.S. involvement in the war and could call for the

U.S. to withdraw its involvement by invoking the War Powers Resolution, which requires

Congress to consent to involvement in armed conflict. By being involved, the U.S. is providing

moral authority to the Saudi-led coalition, which has committed numerous war crimes and

violated humanitarian rights and is directly contributing to these humanitarian violations. Our

proposal seeks to educate U.S. citizens about the situation in Yemen and the extent of the U.S.

involvement and to motivate them to contact their representatives and call for an immediate end

to the involvement as well as understand how they are contributing to the crisis.

The Need/Determination

The need for this project was determined by the extent of this humanitarian crisis terms

of how severely it is impacting many innocent people, the lack of knowledge many have about it

and how little coverage it has gotten in proportion to the scale of the issue (Taibbi), and the

concrete ability that people have to participate in our representative democracy and push elected

officials to end the U.S. perpetuation of this conflict. In one article, a Yemeni doctor was quoted

saying “The missiles that kill us, American-made. The planes that kill us, American-made. The

tanks … American-made. You are saying to me, where is America? America is the whole thing”

(Taibbi). This project seeks to educate people about these facts and how they can mobilize to

move toward peace and a foreign policy that honors the dignity and rights of people around the

5
world. It seeks to catch the attention of U.S. citizens through a campaign that resonates with

them and clearly states why and how they should get involved based upon their specific

circumstances. Congress has already begun to mobilize somewhat toward a possible resolution,

but the movement is slow and civic engagement is necessary. This project will attempt to break

through the noise of the constant news cycle and allow people an opportunity to take action on a

major world issue by giving them concrete steps to take instead of bombarding them with

numbing statistics over which they feel they have no control (Slovic).

Involvement of Beneficiaries

If the U.S. refuses to continue providing for the Saudi-led coalition, Saudi Arabia will

have a much more difficult time prolonging the violence and may be more inclined to effectively

work through peace talks as have been attempted by the United Nations repeatedly. In this case,

the U.S. would also be able to help facilitate peace and compromise in the region as a leader in

voicing that the conflict and violence there does not need to be inevitable. In this case, the

Yemeni people would be the beneficiaries. Thus, an end to U.S. perpetration and subsequently an

end to the conflict could restore the human rights of the Yemeni people. To involve the

beneficiaries or those in close proximity to the beneficiaries in the project, we will work in

conjunction with organizations and journalists working on the ground in Yemen to gather our

information, stories, and real-time depictions of the effect of the conflict. This would help the

way the situation is portrayed to people in the U.S. become more human, as it is shown that

people who see statistics about famine and war violence in the news are prone to “psychic

numbing”, as deaths mount and we do not identify the numbers as people (Slovic). We would be

able to help people see that these numbers are people, that these deaths are not inevitable, and

6
that our tax dollars and investment are perpetuating the harm. We have a responsibility as U.S.

citizens to speak truth to power by demanding that our elected officials take all steps possible to

stop harming these individuals. Having the perspective of Yemeni people will help to humanize

this conflict for people who will mobilize to move Congress.

Project Implementation and Management Plan

Expected Results

a. The passage of H.Con.Res.138 - Directing the President pursuant to section 5(c) of the
War Powers Resolution to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the
Republic of Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/138
b. The passage of S.3652 Saudi Arabia Accountability and Yemen Act of 2018
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/3652
c. The passage of S.J.Res.54 A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States
Armed Forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen that have not been authorized by
Congress.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/54

Deliverables

The final deliverable will consist of a fully functioning website. The website will be easily

navigable to our two main foci of the project: education and mobilization. The education portion

of the website will host all of the information needed to solve the problem of constituents feeling

uninformed about the crisis in Yemen, some baseline psychology about the effect that seeing

mass tragedy has on us versus seeing individual tragedy, or psychological numbing (Slovic). The

mobilization portion of the website will also host some baseline psychology about calling

representatives, and the actual, tangible results that contacting their representatives can have on

this issue as well as script and paths to taking action (CallHub).

Education

a. Conflict Explained

i. An extensive history and explanation of the Yemeni Civil War

7
 b. Impact on Innocent Lives: Starvation, Disease, and Children Bombed on School Buses

i. The impact of individual citizens of the United States

c. U.S. Complicity

i. The impact of the United States as a whole

d. Why It’s Hard to Care but How You Can

i. Psychological numbing and ways to combat it

Mobilization

a. Why It’s Hard to Get Yourself to Call Your Representatives but How You Can (Do It

Effectively)

i. Nervousness/Social Anxiety

1. Who is on the other end of the line?

2. Low time commitment

3. Unprepared/uneducated

a. Script

b. Redirect to extensive information on other parts of website

ii. My Call Won’t Matter

1. System: Explained

2. Pathways to Progress

a. Contact: Calls or Emails

b. Attend a Town Hall

c. Spread the Word

d. Design Your Own Social Action

8
i. Integrate chat function into website where project managers

can work with individuals who want to start their own

grassroots action

9
Project Activities and Work Plan

10
11
Project Beneficiaries

If the project succeeds and the Congressional bills pass, millions of people will benefit. Over

50,000 people have been killed due to Saudi military attacks and over 14 million Yemenis are at

risk of starvation due to blockades of aid and resources. If U.S. support ceases, there will not be

nearly as much military power for Saudi Arabia, there will no longer by moral authority, and

there will be sanctions on anyone blocking humanitarian aid. Beneficiaries will be represented in

this project via the proxy of humanitarian agencies working on the ground in order to gain

insight into stories and realities that can be communicated to the public. This would help to

insure that portrayal of the conflict is accurate and based on the reality on the ground there. Due

to the nature of the project being to mobilize people in the U.S. to act and engage civically,

beneficiaries will not be very involved in monitoring and evaluating the project as a successful

outcome would be the bills passing.

Project Monitoring and Evaluation

In order to monitor project implementation and ensure that activities occur as planned, the

project tracker plan will be followed as outlined above. The Project Managers will ensure

adherence to the plan and will revise as necessary as well as oversee the work of the other

employees and consultants. The software Meltwater will be used to monitor keywords, social

media interactions, replies on the website, and activity in the news surrounding the Yemen crisis

and the project. Pronto, the website hosting service also provides analytics and search engine

optimization for our website. The stated objectives are to engage people civically in order to pass

the Congressional bills ending U.S. involvement in Yemen, so all activity should be geared

12
toward these goals and will be passed through the lens of whether they further these goals during

decision-making processes.

Works Cited

Al Jazeera. “Key Facts about the War in Yemen.” GCC News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 25 Mar.

2018, www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/06/key-facts-war-yemen-160607112342462.html.

BBC. “Yemen Conflict Explained in 400 Words.” BBC News, BBC, 13 June 2018,

www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-44466574.

CallHub. “How To Get Constituents To Call Their Representatives.” CallHub, 17 May 2018,

callhub.io/get-constituents-call-representatives/.

Kristof, Nicholas. “Your Tax Dollars Help Starve Children.” The New York Times, The New

York Times, 7 Dec. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/opinion/sunday/yemen-famine-

war-saudi-arabia.html.

SIPRI. “SIPRI Arms Transfers Database.” SIPRI, www.sipri.org/databases/armstransfers.

Slovic, Paul, and Andrew Quist. “Why Congress Suddenly Cares About Yemen.” POLITICO,

POLITICO, 5 Dec. 2018, www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/12/05/congress-

yemen-psychology-222759.

13
Taibbi, Matt. “Why We Know So Little About the U.S.-Backed War in Yemen.” Rolling Stone,

Rolling Stone, 27 July 2018, www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/yemen-war-

united-states-704187/.

Appendix

Sample Call Script

Hello, I’m __________ (caller’s name) from __________ (caller’s town/city/county). I’m

appalled at the reports of starving children in Yemen, people being forced to move from their

homes, and innocent people being killed by U.S.-made bombs. I am urging

________________(senator/representative’s name) to vote in support of

___________(applicable bill name) in order to end U.S. support of Saudi Arabia and

involvement in Yemen. Thank you.

*Feel free to add supporting details or talking points based on education section or personal

knowledge. This sample script can also be adapted for use in emails, letters, or text messages.

Sample Social Media Post

14
15