women cooperative

Al Mustaqbal newspaper published a report on Mouneh preparation in anticipation of the upcoming winter in Rashayya.  According to the report, producing homemade Mouneh has declined during the last five years with the proliferation of rural women cooperatives where tens of women work to produce a variety of items which are now sold in local stores.  According to the Board President of the Rashaya Gardens Association for Rural Development, Fares Fayek, several working women, especially young women who did not acquire local traditions and know-how, approach women cooperatives to buy their food supplies. He added that his association has created work opportunities for many women and girls from Rashayya.  He further noted that his association produces items that are in demand by local households, particularly during in the winter season, and even exports parts of its production abroad notably to Arab countries.  Sheikha Raba7h Jamal, from Nejmet el Sobh7 women cooperative noted for her part that homemade food processing now is only focused on certain dairy and pickled products as housewives prefer to buy their food items from women cooperatives particularly jams, juices, grains, molasses, syrups and herbal essences.  She added that Nejmet el Sobh7 enjoys access to markets in Beirut, as well as in some GCC and European markets.
On the other hand, and according to the same report, some women still insist on producing their own Mouneh as they are convinced that home production is irreplaceable as well as cheaper.  The report added that, according to these women, notably Um Wa2el from Kawkaba and Um Kassem from Rafeed, housewives know better about their household needs.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 26 November 2014

Al Akhbar newspaper published a report today on rural cooperatives to which farmers resort to in order to market their surplus local crops. cooperatives The report highlights the experience of a number of rural women cooperatives in South Lebanon who are involved in agro-processing and that use traditional know how to process local raw agricultural products into foodstuff of good standards that are marketable externally with reasonable profits. One such women cooperative is Deir Kanoon Ras el Ein cooperative which uses cracked wheat, sesame seeds, wheat and olive oil to produce traditional and healthy bread.  The president of the cooperative, Daad Ismail notes that the cooperative was created in 2005 and enjoys a large membership of women in the area who now are making products that have reputable locally and in countries of the Lebanese diaspora.
In Deir Mimas (Marje3yoon), the Cooperative for Organic Agriculture and Ranching has become the hub for producing tons of natural honey and extra virgin olive oil according to its president, Amal Hurani, who notes that the olive oil produced by her association competes with Italian products.  She adds that the organisation has become very important to tens of families as it creates opportunities to market products.  For her part, the president of the Cooperative Association for Agro-Processing in Deir Kanoun An Naher, Hanaa al Husseini, noted that women from the region are trying as much as possible to make use of all existing agricultural products to produce healthy food items free of chemical preservatives.  However, she complains that they do not get any official support from the part of the municipality or any other public party to help them market their products.  Khodr Sarhan from Kfarkella transformed his supply of olive oil which he could not sell because of competition and extra supply into olive oil soaps of different kinds after he participated in a training workshop organised by World Vision.
The report highlights the support to cooperative organisations and municipalities provided by World Vision which organised a number of training in agro-processing and marketing and has helped set up 5 groups of 170 people. In addition, WV is helping municipalities organise exhibitions such as the exhibition of Safad el Barikh in Bint Jbeil which was opened recently.  The federation of municipalities in Jabal Amel set up, for its part, a dairy production factory in Houla (Marjeyoun) and a pastry workshop in Tibeh.
Source: http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/202710">Al-Akhbar 17 March 2014

The ABC mall in Ashrafieh organsed a Christmas Bazaar called "Kan ya ma kan" (i.e. The good old days) in which ten organisations participated and exhibited food, handcrafts and accessories produced rural women, mothers and widows.  Revenues from sales will be used by each of the participating organisations.  The exhibition takes the form of small wooden houses set up for free within the mall.  These will be open to visitors until January 2nd 2014.  Amongst these is a stand called Lebanese Village which showcases products from “Atayeb el Rif” cooperative.  The President of the Atayeb, May Traboulsi, noted that the project started with funding from the USAID and was implemented by the YMCA but is now, according to her, autonomous, self sustaining and is exporting.  She added that the main aim is to find work opportunities to rural women and help them stay in their villages. For its part, “Caring for the Child At Home”(check the name), an association which helps children who lost their fathers through providing education and health care, exhibited for sale various pastries and food stuff produced by mothers.  Other organisations also took part in this bazaar namely associations that work wit children with cancer such as Tofoula, Basma and Children Cancer Center.
Source: Al-Nahar 20 December 2013

The office of Civil Affairs at the UNIFIL’s western sector organised in collaboration with UNIDO an exhibition of agricultural, food products and traditional crafts produced by local rural women cooperatives in Lebanon, and in celebration of the international rural women's day.
The representative of UNIDO, Ms, Solange Matta Saadeh noted that the UNIDO project which is implemented by the international agency with funding from the Italian government seeks to support rural women so as to strengthen rural and local communities in several parts of Lebanon and in order to sustain livelihoods and offering technical advice to support and develop local small and medium enterprises.  She highlighted the importance of supporting rural and agricultural cooperatives and their production capacity so as to increase local production level and ensure complementarity with commercial companies in the agriculture production field and, eventually, to support the Lebanese economy.
Source: Al-Diyar 19 October 2013