February 2024 ” Agricultural Training and Input Provision for 200 HHs in Bethlehem Governorate-Palestine to Ensure Food Security in a time of Livelihood and Supply Chain Crisis”

Contracting party: Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
Funded By: Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
Starting Date: December 2023
Ending Date: February 2024

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This project is essential in response to the severe socioeconomic challenges faced by individuals who were previously employed in the tourism sector in Bethlehem Governorate. In a time of livelihood and supply chain crisis and the closures have led to widespread unemployment, particularly impacting Bethlehem Governorate. Issues such as mobility constraints, disruptions to daily life, and restricted access to natural resources exacerbate the economic hardships faced by workers in the tourism sector. The project aims to address these challenges by providing home gardening tools and inputs, empowering affected families to cultivate crops, enhancing food security, and mitigating the economic impact of the ongoing crisis.

This project will assist 200 of these workers, especially jobless women workers, by providing them with suitable inputs for cultivating home gardens, leading to the production of essential crops. This initiative aims to enhance their access to self-produced food, bolster food security, and reduce their dependence on external food sources in a time when access to food is being severely weakened for these HHs. By doing so, the project seeks to alleviate the impact of the current crisis (closing boarders resulting in lost livelihoods and supply chain constraints, increase crop production, and expand the cultivated land area, especially during the winter season when irrigation requirements are minimal to nothing.

The project has two outcomes:

Outcome 1: 200 HHs increase their own HH food production and ensuring food availability for HH members.

Outcome 2: The project’s 200 beneficiaries (households) have enhanced their capacity to sustainably manage home gardens and produce more food themselves.

The inputs are enough to cultivate home gardens with an area of 250 m2 per each family. Therefore, the project beneficiaries will cultivate up to 50 dunums (5 hectares) in this winter season.