Women cooperatives take part in HORECA’s 2023 exhibition

Joumana, Marie and Samira came all the way from their villages to Beirut city to join HORECA, the yearly hospitality event for four consecutive days in April 2023.

Each one of the three women represented a different cooperative that is currently benefitting from the support of the FAO Lebanon project “Support to Women's Cooperatives and Associations in the Agri-food Sector in Lebanon” implemented in coordination with the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and the General Directorate of Cooperatives (GDC) and funded by the Government of Canada.

This year, the General Directorate of Cooperatives offered a number of cooperatives the chance to display their products and innovations in a uniquely designed space at HORECA exhibition; where more than 150 various food and hospitality companies participated.

Displayed on rustic wooden shelves, the products shared with the public of the exhibition ranged from jams, syrups, peanut butter pickled eggplants to Kishk and many other traditional preserved foods known as "mouneh" items prepared with love by the women cooperatives.

Visitors flocked to the GDC stand to learn more about the work of the participating cooperatives. They also tried out the latest products displayed for tasting and explored collaboration opportunities with the cooperatives.

 “In this exhibition we are creating our brand awareness and giving the attendees the chance to discuss live networking opportunities and gain useful insights” said Joumana Challita, from the Cooperative Association for Agricultural Production in Qartaba, while offering the three different mixtures of Kishk she prepared on a soft bread to one of the visitors.

With a large smile on her face, Joumana could not hide her enthusiasm to be part of this experience. “I am happy to be meeting a new and different clientele than the one we are used to in our village. We have met so many new faces who loved our products and shared their contact details with us”, she added.

Same feelings and opinions were shared by Marie Nehme from the Andaket Cooperative Association for Development and Manufacturing in Akkar. “Visitors are happy with the products we are offering for tasting and we are even happier that we are able to apply all the trainings we attended in the framework of the FAO project,” she said, while displaying on the shelves a new batch of the peanut butter jars prepared by the cooperative.

For Samira Zougheib from the Cooperative Association for manufacturing and packaging of agricultural products "Atayeb" in Kfardebian, this exhibition boosted the self-confidence of all the cooperatives members. “It proved that also small producers can meet and compete with big manufacturers. It reminded us to always stay updated on the market of innovation and exportation,” she said.

“In its continuous endeavor to support the cooperatives work, the General Directorate of Cooperatives provided cooperatives with this important networking platform,” said Eng. Gloria Abouzeid, Director General of Cooperatives. She added: “We recognize the importance of exportation for cooperatives to attain international acclaim adding that this exhibition is considered a gateway for cooperatives to connect and network face to face with more than 10 000 visitors.”

Cooperatives are an important contributor to the economy and active player in advocating for rural social changes, including women economic empowerment and access to financial and productive resources.

About the project "Support to Women’s cooperatives and associations in the agri-food sector of Lebanon"

Funded by the Government of Canada and implemented with the Ministry of Agriculture and the General Directorate of Cooperatives, this project aims at empowering and improving the livelihoods of rural women in Lebanon through capacity building, grants and cash for work. Since its launch in 2019, the project was able to build the capacity of more than 250 women groups (cooperatives, associations and informal groups) by enrolling them in Cooperative Business Schools (CBS) raising their awareness on gender equality and training them on business, marketing, communication, gender and other subjects. Coached and followed up by the trained project facilitators, they were able to develop business plans in a feasible and sustainable way. In parallel, the General Directorate of Cooperatives is supported through the development of a Management Information System that will host all the sex-disaggregated data of cooperatives for improved analysis, management and coordination.