Over the past years, the SFD has developed and enhanced the aforementioned project funding criteria and the below operation approaches based on the best international practices that have yielded in remarkable operation progress—both quantitatively and qualitatively. Hence, the SFD has gained a number of international awards as well as confidence of the donors and external evaluation missions who frequently have stated that the SFD has become a development inspiring school and a model player in the national reform policies. Moreover, the SFD stands for an appropriate institutional environment for increasing the absorption capacity of foreign financing provided to Yemen. The most important approaches are:

• Expanding partnership in development

The SFD has expanded and strengthened partnership and coordination efforts with the government agencies, NGOs and international development agencies to achieve more effective development. The SFD also plays a key role in supporting decentralization and empowering local authorities, local councils and NGOs—SFD's main development partners.

• Special programs

The SFD develops special programs addressing poverty and needs such as low girls’ education enrollments, shortages of water and shortage of health workers in rural areas, in addition to other programs such as the community integrated interventions in the poorest communities, supporting microfinance programs, developing community labor-intensive works

• Decentralization

The SFD gives broad authorities to its nine branch offices, which cover all governorates, in terms of development of annual plans, and projects implementation and it offers the opportunity for competition in performance among them. SFD headquarters carries out strategic planning, monitoring, resource mobilization and coordination with donors.

• Evaluation and development

The SFD conducts several reviews and evaluations focusing on results and impact.. The SFD uses quantitative and qualitative  data from various resources such as its management information system (MIS), field studies at community, project and households levels as well as using data from the national surveys and studies. The evaluation results are used to develop the SFD policies, systems and interventions.

• Supporting national development plans

The SFD has developed its Mid-term Vision (2006–10) goes in line with, and contribute to, implementing the third five-year Economic and Social Development Plan, national sectoral plans to Reduce Poverty, the Public Investment Plan and the government efforts to mobilize resources to implement these plan.

• Transparency & cost efficiency

The SFD represents a model of a government institution governed by efficient administrative and financial systems, practicing transparent and clear procedures in resource allocation, project selection and implementation. Moreover, SFD's administrative cost is much lower than that of other social-investment funds in other countries—reaching less than 5% of SFD's total financial resources.

• Focusing on service delivery and impact

SFD's focus on service delivery and the results have earned the SFD excellent  reputation   in rural communities and  won their confidence. The independent evaluation indicates that during 2003–06 the number of rural students, enrolled in SFD-built schools, rose by 122% for girls and 91% for boys. The evaluation also found that SFD-supported feeder roads reduced the time of access to services and markets by 50%, microfinance programs' active clients rose from 3,282 to 25,588 (86% were women)—with these programs improving the living conditions of 84% of beneficiary families.