highly skilled<\/a>\u00a0in the region \u2013 by supporting women in growing small businesses, it also helped to boost their self-reliance and access to equal opportunities.<\/p>\nSuch business training can be a powerful tool to fight poverty in Gaza, where more than six in 10 people are food insecure and cannot access a healthy, balanced diet.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Gaza and similarly vulnerable contexts, there is an increasing need to support and promote small and home-grown businesses as a source of income, employment and a stimulant to local markets,\u201d says WFP Representative and Country Director in Palestine Samer Abdeljaber.<\/p>\n
Sahar, her husband and the five female co-workers she hired during better times enrolled in the programme in a WFP collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).<\/p>\n
Skills they learned included food processing, finance, quality control and marketing. Each of the modules designed by WFP and FAO aimed to complement the others. The training targeted vulnerable women in underserved communities, offering them new career prospects in food production.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese businesses are hope for a future where people are less dependent on traditional humanitarian assistance, are creating job opportunities for their communities, generating a steady income and ultimately benefiting a struggling economy,\u201d says WFP\u2019s Abdeljaber.<\/p>\n
Following the trainings, WFP provided participating businesses with laptops to facilitate the digitalization of their management and accounting, and to scale up their social media capabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe training helped us update our marketing strategy and material to a more customer-friendly and attractive output,\u201d Sahar says.<\/p>\n
WFP also organized a networking exhibit between businesses like Sahar\u2019s and local shops. Thanks to these links, the young entrepreneur managed to spread the word about her products across the Gaza Strip, from Rafah in the far south to downtown Gaza City.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe exhibition took my business to the next level. I had already worked on packaging and marketing, applied everything we learned to my business and saw the impact through profits and sales,\u201d Sahar says<\/p>\n
Indeed, Sahar\u2019s sales have almost doubled since the training. FAO also helped her and other entrepreneurs through the hurdles of formally registering with the Ministry of National Economy\u00a0\u2013 a process that\u2019s helped to increase local trust in their products and services.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy team and I found the training programme enriching\u201d, Sahar says, adding, \u201cwe were keen on attending the sessions\u00a0\u2013 and spreading our new knowledge to others working with us.\u201c<\/p>\n
The training course ran from July 2021 to March 2022 – a joint effort by Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Women, the Food and Agricultural Organization, the United Nations Development Programme and WFP to mitigate the socio-economic impact of COVID-19.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n