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Online Youth Survey: Summary of the Findings

In partnership with the EU, UNESCO and RNW Media conducted an online youth survey to collect data on perceptions of cultural heritage promotion and protection among young Yemenis.

The survey reached a total number of 2573 Yemeni participants, of whom 70% were men and 30% women, and 75% of the respondents fell into the target group (15-30 years old). Responses were drawn from across Yemen’s major cities including the 4 target cities of the Cash for Work Project: Sana’a (34%), Aden (12%), Taiz (21%), Hodeidah (5%), Hadhramout (5%), and Ibb (9%), and other towns (14%). The wide outreach of the survey is thanks to its promotion through Manasati30’s Facebook campaign and page, Manasati30’s direct network, its email list, and through other social media networks.

The survey’s most important findings are a cause for optimism: 97% of respondents support the idea that young men and women are able to promote cultural heritage, 91% agree that cultural heritage can be a good source of income for youth, and 98% believe that Yemen’s heritage sites are a global heritage for humanity.

Among the respondents, most stated they had previous experience in the cultural heritage sector in Yemen. 75% had invested in income-generating cultural heritage work in Yemen, 69% had experience in cultural heritage protection and 43% in cultural heritage promotion.

When asked to identify the sources from which they learned about Yemeni cultural heritage, 86% selected the Internet, 49% selected radio and broadcast television, 44% selected their education curricula, and 42% learned from family and relatives. As there is room for heritage education to be further promoted within academic and learning spaces including schools, universities, and civil organizations, 87% of respondents agreed that such awareness programs are useful.

The most serious threat to Yemeni cultural heritage was identified as lack of government care, by 80% of respondents, followed by armed conflict and airstrikes at 72% and 71% respectively and personal/collective neglect at 61%.

In the face of these challenges, two-thirds (67%) of respondents identified historical and cultural buildings and 16% identified religious monuments deserve the highest protection priorities. Of note, the youngest respondents (below the age of 20) were over twice as likely to believe that the protection of religious monuments should be prioritized (22%) over the relatively older respondents (older than 35) among whom only 8.9% selected religious monuments.

Similarly, though 86% of respondents agreed that the loss of cultural heritage and resources affects the lives of Yemenis and youth in particular, respondents who were less than 20 years old were more likely to disagree (21.7%) than youth aged 25-29 years old (12.1%).

To address the severe and ongoing risks to cultural heritage, most respondents laid responsibility for safeguarding Yemen’s heritage on the government (86%) and citizens in general (76%). Around half identified local authorities (51%), the private owners of heritage buildings (49%), international heritage protection organizations like UNESCO (47%), and, to a lesser extent, local CSOs (41%) as responsible for safeguarding.

Here, the younger respondents (less than 20 years old) were significantly less likely than the older youth (25-29 years old) to view responsible for safeguarding the central government (72% versus 83.6%), local government authorities (29.4% versus 57.2%), local CSOs (23.1% versus 45.7%) and international heritage protection organizations like UNESCO (36.9% and 48.6%). The trend across the data may suggest the effect of disillusionment among youth from the years of conflict and deterioration in public services – which renews the importance of supporting the provision of heritage education and awareness-raising programs to young Yemenis.