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UMW MissionJune 2015
Palestine: Grassroots International
Urban Projectsaugmenting food production and
income in times of siege
Building Women's Leadership in Palestine
Gaining independence and strength through food sovereignty
By Jonathan Leaning May 20th, 2014
A version of this piece originally appeared in Response: The magazine of women in
mission.
The Women’s Empowerment and Food Sovereignty Project in Palestine, sponsored by
Grassroots International and implemented with our Palestinian partner the Union of Agricultural
Work Committees, works to bring practical, locally controlled food projects to various
communities in the West Bank.
The project aims to increase women’s leadership in their communities while
improving the standard of living for women farmers and strengthening their rights to land, water and food. It plans to continue building vibrant models of food sovereignty through
the project’s successful women’s agricultural development enterprises, such as olive
production, bee-keeping, poultry-raising and vegetable gardens.
The project offers hands-on activities
that promote women’s engagement
in leadership development, local agriculture and
food sovereignty, including distributing 1,700 olive seedlings
to 29 women’s cooperatives
in 2013.
Confiscation of Palestinian farmland and barriers to farmland access create tremendous hardship for farmers.
Food Sovereignty, on the other hand,
offers a different path. By promoting
and building a thriving, locally controlled,
family-based Palestinian farming
sector, Food Sovereignty
offers a path toward Palestinian
self-determination and control over their own land and resources.
The project also offers assistance and training to women’s
agricultural development
enterprises, providing leadership and
vocational skills, project management,
marketing and establishing a
cooperative model.
Being a member of this women’s cooperative is so much more than learning technical skills, which we do,” said
Zeinab Mo’han, member of Beitin Women’s Cooperative in Palestine. “But we also learn about how to engage in
discourse, how to negotiate, effective communication skills and, just as importantly, the role of the rights to land, food
and water in our national struggle.”
In addition to the economic and cultural barriers faced by women in the region, residents of the West Bank face
enormous challenges imposed by military law.
“Early last year, the occupation authorities demolished five sheep hangars, confiscated
tractors and agricultural water tanks
and left notices for house demolitions,”
“[They are] preventing farmers from having access to their agricultural land after sunset. In addition to that, Palestinian farmers are under continuous harassment
from the Israeli military occupation forces at the military checkpoints during their transport of agricultural
products.”
Palestinians live under layers of laws that affect where they can live, how much
water they can use and which roads they can access,
among other things. Despite
these obstacles, Palestinian farmers remain steadfast in their commitment
to the land.
Technical assistance will continue to be provided, training and education on
gender issues and leadership, along with
spreading the practice of food sovereignty by
amplifying the voices of rural women and farmers as
they advocate for better agriculture and food production policies in
Palestine.