Meet Nohemie Rizk from Qaa Rim and one of our future workers in the established agro-food processing facility. This project was selected based on community needs, given that many women within the village of Qaa el Rim already work in agro-food processing from their homes but they lack awareness of standardization products and food safety to try to market common unified products.
On February 7 2019, as part of the technical assistance provided under the USAID-funded BALADI project, the Rene Moawad Foundation trained 15 women from Qaa El Rim Women Cooperative on the full process of jam preparation including jars sterilization. Nohemie is currently unemployed as most of her time is dedicated to fill the role of a housewife through taking care of her 2 children and managing all the household chores and responsibilities. Her husband owns a small land in which he invests through farming and growing crops. The training she attended under the BALADI program funded by USAID was very helpful and valuable because Mrs. Nohemie sometimes prepares jam and other homemade products in order to sell them within Qaa Rim village. For that reason, the training gave her a brighter image about agro food processing including proper personal hygiene, food safety and jars sterilization. Most importantly, this training has motivated Nohemie to be a working mother and today she encourages all women to purchase their goals, develop their skills and believe that they can make a big change.