Al Atayeb (The Delicacies), a Lebanese women-led cooperative based mostly in Kfardebian city, north of Beirut, focuses on producing Lebanese native and conventional meals, akin to citrus marmalade, fruit jam, fruit paste, and the well-known Lebanese Makdous (Pickled eggplants in oil).
The 13 girls who make up the cooperative every obtain a share of the earnings, in addition to a wage, earned from their work getting ready and processing the meals. The native farmers who promote their crops additionally profit.
‘My means of empowering girls’
“Instructing meals processing expertise was my means of empowering girls”, says Samira Zoughaib Akiki, the chairperson of Al Atayeb. It additionally empowered me, provided that I used to be surrounded by beneficiant girls with a imaginative and prescient”.
Ms. Akiki began out within the meals business round twenty years in the past, working meals processing workshops and coaching periods for girls. This expertise led her and her colleagues to type Al Atayeb as a cooperative, create job alternatives, and be certain that all members would share within the success of the enterprise.
When Lebanon’s financial disaster was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Akiki realized that UN Lebanon was offering important assist to cooperatives akin to Al Atayeb.
“The UN offered month-to-month salaries for girls to maintain their revenue, the oil and sugar we use to provide our meals, and the jars vital for preserving produce,” says Ms. Akiki. “This addressed our monetary wants, replenishing our capital and compensated our losses: we had been in a position to resume our actions at a time when many companies had been shutting down”.
UNDP Lebanon
Samira Zoughaib Akiki, Chair of Al Atayeb Cooperative, selecting recent apples for processing.
In all, UN Lebanon has supported 94 cooperatives from totally different villages in Lebanon akin to Deir Al Ahmar, Fneidek, Qana, Harissa, and Lehfed, with a concentrate on girls. This assist has been within the type of money for work and in-kind assist akin to uncooked supplies, gear, and instruments. At the least 6,000 people have benefited from the $4.4 million undertaking, funded by the German Growth Financial institution KfW, by means of the UN Growth Programme.
Al Atayeb cooperative has been a key consider serving to many households in Kfardebian survive the crises, making girls pleased with themselves and their neighborhood. “Our cooperative represents the values we consider in”, continues Ms. Akiki proudly. “We work with ardour. We assist our neighborhood and serve the general public good“.
