Marketing & Capacity Building For Dryland And Medicinal And Aromatic Plants (Map) Project Cooperatives; Funded By The Undp

Atayeb AL Rif cooperative worked on delivering Vocational training on food production and marketing access.
The niche products made by the cooperatives within the Atayeb Al Rif network require a specific marketing approach which caters to the promotion of traditional artisanal foods and goods. Through this project, Atayeb Al Rif (AAR) will implement different marketing strategies on both a national and international level to increase public awareness of the products and services of the participants in the AAR Cooperative. The target audiences for these marketing strategies are the Lebanese government, local civil society groups, and consumers in Lebanon and abroad. The beneficial contributions of this grant are threefold; first, it will provide funding for the essential equipment, the production materials, and will help to facilitate the capacity building aspect of building the AAR cooperative network. Second, it will provide funding to develop the appropriate marketing strategies to promote the products to the widest audience possible to the benefit of all the cooperative participants. Third, the funding will increase the capacity of AAR to expand its scale of operations through credit facilities to local production cooperatives and small vendors.

In regards to the Rural Dry-lands Development project, AAR will work to empower rural women living in these areas through marketing support for their existing products as well as by aiding in the development of possible new products. The project will increase market linkages at the local, national, and international levels by serving as a central point connecting the cooperatives to vendors and other parties which help in the promotion and sale of their products. The buyers are also benefited by gaining the opportunity to visit the cooperatives to see the production sites and meet the women. AAR will also develop new product packaging and provide small credit facility for buyers. The 6 Dryland Cooperatives involved in this project are DeirQanounRas El Ain, BintJbeil, Hariss, Kfardebian, Aita El Fokkhar and Deir El Ahmar.

In regards to the Mainstreaming Biodiversity Management into Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAP) Project, AAR will perform all of the above activities, and also focus on building the capacity of the target groups. In many cases, the cooperatives are still in the developmental stages of growth. By focusing on improving their basic skills, AAR will increase their chances at long-term success. The four cooperatives involved in the MAP project are Mrusti, Assia, Hsarat and Mejdel.