Yemenis benefited from training when in January 2009 the JTP conducted two concurrent workshops in investigative journalism in Yemen for 20 print and 10 broadcast reporters and editors as a part of a government campaign to combat corruption.

The journalists, from every corner of the country, were selected on the basis of balanced regional representation of the various governorates in keeping with political sensitivities.

The Yemenis, guided by JTP director Magda Abu-Fadil and co-trainer Sanaa El Jack, an editor with the pan-Arab daily “Asharq Al-Awsat,” tackled assignments on a number of subjects especially sensitive in a conservative, patriarchal society—rape, the smuggling of children, the prevalence of arms (increasingly among minors), financial corruption within government ranks, the proliferation of illegal medical centers, negligence in hospitals, the sale of expired medications, torture in prisons, and questionable construction standards.

In a proposal for tackling the issue of child nabbing in Yemen, workshop participants Yehia El Hazzar and Fahd Al Mahyoub wrote, “We aim to familiarize listeners with the danger of this social phenomenon, the reasons behind it, and appropriate solutions to deal with it.”

Kafa Al Hashli, an editor at “Al Ayam” newspaper, investigated the “rape of women by relatives and its social implications,” aiming at “outing” the subject and exposing its detrimental long-term effects on the country. She planned to familiarize Yemeni women in five provinces with their legal and social rights in order to win acceptance of them and their children through civil society organizations.