FAO signs project to enhance resilience of rural women through valorisation of forest products

AMMAN — The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has hosted an event in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture to sign agreements with six Community-Based Organisations with a total value of USD120,000 through the “Enhancing resilience of rural women communities through the valorisation of Forest Products” project.

The project is aiming to target 120 women through capacity-building activities and the distribution of necessary equipment and tools to establish income-generating projects, according to a statement to The Jordan Times.

The project aims to increase rural women’s engagement to enhance their income through forest products and to strengthen their skills. It will target 120 individual women in three Governorates (Ajloun, Balqa and Jarash) with a total project budget of USD400,000 fully funded by FAO and falls under the Technical Cooperation Programme.

The Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mohammed Hayari, praised the pivotal role played by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the importance of the project in raising awareness among local communities about the importance of forest products and the availability of economic opportunities that can be exploited to create income-generating sources while protecting forests, the statement said.

FAO Representative in Jordan, Nabil Assaf, highlighted that Forests in Jordan play a modest role in meeting the daily needs of woody products. Nevertheless, they play a more important role creating livelihoods opportunities for rural people. This contributes to poverty alleviation and unemployment reduction”, Assaf said, adding that the project will be mainly focused to empower women by providing tool kits that will support them in enhancing their livelihoods.

The project is achieving several inputs including conducting gender-sensitive value chain mapping and analysis of the forest products, the project is also conducting a comprehensive capacity building program for 120 individual females, the capacity building will be followed by providing tool kits to support women through the granting scheme, finally the project will improve the access to market through the provision of Microfinance for entrepreneurs and establishing three agricultural fairs in the three targeted governorates, namely; Balqaa, Jerash and Ajloun

The project is in-line with Jordan Country Programming Framework Priority number 2: Sustainable development and use of natural resources, including water, land, range and forests, Priority 3: Resilience of rural and peri-urban livelihoods, and priority 4: access to market. It also contributes to multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); such as SDG 1: No Poverty, SDG2: Zero hunger, SDG 5: Gender Equality, SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth and SDG10: Reduce inequalities.