Women cooperatives, associations, and informal groups from Lebanon on Friday, February 4, signed deals with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations that would financial and in-kind grants to implement their business plans, the local body of the UN entity has said.
The grants were disbursed under the framework of the project Support to Women’s cooperatives and associations in the agri-food sector of Lebanon.
It is said to be funded by the government of Canada and implemented by the FAO, and Lebanon’s 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, said FAO in Lebanon.
This ceremony reportedly marked the launch of the signature process for 150 grant agreements with women groups.
The FAO in Lebanon said this was an important milestone in the project because it came after a two-year capacity-building program in which more than 250 women’s groups were engaged all over the country.
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), said the local arm of the UN body.
This raised the women’s and their group’s awareness on gender equality, and trained them on business, marketing, communication, gender, and other fields.
Coached and followed up by project facilitators, they were able to develop business plans in a feasible and sustainable way, said the UN body.