As the economic situation in Lebanon worsens, income sources are becoming scarce. Women in the mountainous village of Bkassine used to produce agro-food from locally grown products to make a living.

However, this sector, which was already suffering from limited sales due to modest marketing capabilities and difficulty in sustaining optimal produce quality, has only been declining due to Lebanon’s recent socio-economic circumstances.

Thus, the USAID-assisted agro-processing center in Bkassine comes as an enormous contribution to the village, as it will help women collectively standardize and homogenize their produced jams and pickles in line with food safety and market standards, and to access new markets that increase their sales. One of the project’s beneficiaries, Mrs. Jacqueline Moussa, was quoted in an interview saying:

“I am so excited for the launch of this project that will immensely improve the lives of many of our community members, especially the women of Bkassine who will find themselves greatly empowered by the employment and market expansion opportunities that it will provide. This project will give us a chance to maintain our ability to turn in a decent individual income in these difficult times.”

Mrs. Moussa is a single mother of five, four of which are currently married, while her 16-year-old is still living with her, and depends on her income. She became widowed after her husband unfortunately lost his battle with cancer 7 years ago. She currently produces various kinds of jams and other homemade products to sell within her village of Snaya in Southern Lebanon. This earns her around 600000 to 1000000 L.B.P monthly, depending on local market demand.

Mrs. Moussa represents one of many other people who rely on similar projects to manage their struggle with Lebanon’s ever-expanding plight of poverty.

Fatri is a beautiful rural village in the Jbeil district (Mount Lebanon, Lebanon) that is renowned for its natural sceneries which constitute a big asset for potential eco-tourism activities that can in turn boost local economy and generate jobs.

As part of BALADI project implemented by Rene Moawad Foundation in partnership with Fatri Municipality, two local CSO/NGO (municipal youth committee and Aie Confience) and one private sector (Adonis Valley- an organic production farm), RMF under the BALADI program funded by USAID supported the municipality at a total cost of $200,000 to implement an income-generating rural tourism project. The latter comprises a sociocultural and recreational center, a camping site, and a 3.5km trail that links the different sites of the project and other parts of the village. The municipality has also contributed $45K in several works in the center and trail.  In January 2020, RMF completed the full rehabilitation and signage of the old trail that the community ancestors used to march to reach their agricultural lands and work. The trail passes by several community landmarks starting from “Ain El Dayaa” (the village spring) then heads East towards “Dahr El Faras” (an ancient stairway) and down to the Olive orchards and then passing through the new project camp, an old carving press and finally reaching Adonis Valley farm. A total of 2,640 persons are expected to benefit from the various project activities including 77 people of small and medium local businesses which will benefit from the influx of visitors. Approximately 63 job opportunities are expected to be created. The trail will be officially operational starting March 2020 after the end of the rainy season. The recreational center and the campsite are already completed awaiting equipping from the municipality which will be ready by March 2020 as well.

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.

Mahmoud Kanjo is one of Tal Abbas farmers who is engaged in agriculture since 1997. He is the head of a household consisting of a wife and 2 kids. Before the new water conveyance network was established by RMF under the BALADI program funded by USAID, Mr. Mahmoud used to rely on barley farming and grains only with an average seasonal income estimated 200 L.B.P during the past years due to the inefficient irrigation canals. Since the completion of the project, the production has improved by approximately 50% since he is now able to plant different kind of crops such as potatoes and vegetables. Therefore, the seasonal income has increased as well to reach a minimum of 500 L.B.P during winter and 1000 L.B.P during summer season considering that he couldn’t provide us with exact financials concerning the yield and harvest because the numbers are not stable as they are fluctuating over the years and that’s due to inconsistent temperatures and precipitations leading to early or late harvest and different yields each year.