#IWD2023: Inside the launch of our new Jam Sisters project
We were over the moon to launch our new Jam Sisters livelihoods programme last week, which is helping a small group of women refugees build food production skills and become financially independent.
In partnership with The Big Heart Foundation, the project provides a sustainable, income-generating opportunity for women, while simultaneously promoting the importance of food security, local agriculture, and reducing wastage.
To celebrate the project launch at Domiz 2 camp, we officially opened our new Jam Factory to tie in with International Women’s Day 2023. The four female participants will now make delicious jams from local products, such as figs, apples, cherries and apricots. They will then sell these jams and preserves to local markets, as well as managing the business and retaining profits for themselves and their families.
For the grand opening, we were joined by a delegation from CARE Germany and CARE Iraq, while our CEO Taban Shoresh was also on hand to welcome guests and ensure the jams were sampled by everyone.
We believe that Jam Sisters is one of the first livelihood interventions of its kind to be implemented for Syrian refugee women, and it includes business management and development skills training conducted by a specialist trainer.
The project is an expansion of our existing ‘Sisters’ programme line-up, and not only creates a viable food income generation opportunity, but also improves awareness of climate adaptation. This is urgently needed in Iraq, which is the fifth most vulnerable country in the world to climate change.
Happily, we are already in the process of enhancing the project, through our current She Leads in Food Security project (SLIFS). That project is in partnership with CARE, via funding from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implementation by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The additional funding will allow us to expand and support Jam Sisters further, benefitting more women entrepreneurs and supporting to local farming communities at the same time.
We have now been working alongside The Big Heart Foundation and NAMA Women Advancement for many months, and as well as providing financial support and business mentorship, our collaboration offers mental health support and community awareness sessions to help reduce and prevent gender-based violence.
We’ll bring you more updates as the Jam Sisters and their new factory hopefully go from strength to strength!
