Economy

The RWIGAT project
RURAL WOMEN INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES AND TRAINING PROGRAMS


RWIGAT LogoDuration of the project
October 2004 to September 2005

Partners
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
Ministry of Agriculture
Association d'Aide au Développement Rural (ADR)

Beneficiaries
400 rural women

Description

Benefiting from a loan by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture implemented the Irrigation Rehabilitation and Modernization Project (IRMP). RWIGAT, a component of the IRMP, targeted the improvement of rural women's socio-economic status. To implement the project, RMF worked in partnership with ADR.

RWIGAT was officially inaugurated on 21 December 2004 and was implemented in Northern Lebanon, Southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and Mount Lebanon. The objective was to empower rural areas by strengthening rural women's capabilities and promoting local rural women's associations and community based organizations. It targeted the food processing sector which includes food and agriculture production, agro-tourism, and other related activities.


Achieved objectives

Identifying local cooperatives and associations

Identifying 20 Income Generating Activities (IGAs) to enhance the productivity of select groups

Providing training in administration, marketing, accounting, etc. as part of the capacity building program.

Preparing technical documents in Arabic

Implement and supervise IGAs

Activities

A series of workshops and trainings were held from December 2004 till end of August 2005.

'Souk el Tayeb' was an agricultural products exhibition held every saturday in Ashrafieh and in Hamra, from April till the end of September 2005. The RWIGAT project participated actively in these weekly exhibitions providing a marketing outlet for the products generated from the Income Generating Activities (IGAs) part of the project.

RWIGAT was featured in the 'Garden Show 2005' exhibition held from 17 to 21 May 2005 at the Beirut Hippodrome.

The CoopNet project

After the successful completion of the RWIGAT project and to build on on its achievements, the CoopNet project was implemented for the period running from October 2005 to September 2006. The goals of the project are to provide organizational development for rural women's cooperatives and create a network amongst them to address their marketing and sales needs.