Financial grants for women’s cooperatives, associations and informal groups participating in the FAO project to implement their business plans

On Friday 4th of February, women cooperatives, associations and informal groups signed with FAO, financial and in-kind grants to implement their business plans under the framework of the project “Support to Women’s cooperatives and associations in the agri-food sector of Lebanon”, funded by the Government of Canada and implemented by FAO, the Ministry of Agriculture and the General Directorate of Cooperatives.

Four women groups from the South, the North, Mount Lebanon and the Bekaa received these grants today in the presence of Eng. Gloria Abouzeid, Director General of Cooperatives, Mr. Etienne Careme, acting FAO Representative in Lebanon, Ms Rima Hajjar from the Ministry of Agriculture and Mr. Juan Ocampo, Senior Development Officer at Global Affairs Canada.

This symbolic signature ceremony marked the launch of the signature process for 150 grant agreements with women groups, an important milestone in the project, coming after a two-year capacity building programme in which more than 250 women groups were engaged all over the country.

Mr. Careme said: “These women groups are success stories. With the current crises, building a strong economy will require agriculture to be in focus again and women not be  left behind any longer. With the support provided by FAO and partners and the generous funding of the Government of Canada, these women will be able to run and sustain their businesses.”

Project Brief

Funded by the Government of Canada, this project is implemented with the Ministry of Agriculture and the General Directorate of Cooperatives and it aims at empowering and improving the livelihoods of rural women in Lebanon through capacity building, grants and cash for work.

Since its launch in 2019, the project was able to build the capacity of 255 women groups (cooperatives, associations and informal groups) by enrolling them in Cooperative Business Schools (CBS) raising their awareness on gender equality and training them on business, marketing, communication, gender and others. Coached and followed up by the trained project facilitators, they were able to develop business plans in a feasible and sustainable way.