The Rural Women’s Development Society (RWDS) as a Palestinian partner in MedSNAIL project  participated on July 24, 2020  in the bilateral training meeting conducted by Slow Food Foundation. This training activity comes to continue the  development of criteria on the basis of the  desk review that introduced the intended study areas in which the project will be implemented. In the case of Palestine, the area selected to carry out the project has been   Jenin Governorate Areas of West Bank Palestine,  one of the areas with vast agro-biodiversity needs to be preserved and registered.

Rural Women’s Development Society, as a partner of MedSNAIL,  works in accordance with  their  mission to create a women’s movement in rural areas to be capable of claiming and developing women’s social, economic and political rights. In addition to its rooted relations with the elder women, women clubs, and women production units of agro-food processing or cultivation in rural areas of Palestine, being sure  that the importance of preventing rural poverty (mostly affecting women) and limited investment capacity of rural entrepreneurs, comes from better understanding of agro-food diversity and its relation with the socio-environmental sustainability.

Slow Food Foundation, a partner in the project, is in charge of advising the partnership on how to implement a methodology to help local communities to save and preserve local agro-food products (varieties, breeds, processed food products) has conducted this training session, showing the role of empowering local farmers to contribute to a more socially and environmentally sustainable rural development. This was the fourth virtual training session in the series of bilateral meetings with partners, addressing Rural Women’s Development Society (RWDS) with the technical aspects that will guide the selection of the actors, producers and products that will be part of the project. In addition to establish a framework that allows choosing and identifying producer and product communities, and also visualizing the connections between producers, products and the pilot territory.

Rural Women’s Development Society (RWDS) will continue implementing the project activities, such as intended field visits and creating inventory of products or catalogue. The registry of traditional products and the production methods will be conducted within two phases, the first phase will intend to create an Inventory of products in the targeted area according to field interviews, and addressing the producers. Whereas the second will focus in depth on the products and producers, which can be part of  initiatives of Ark of Taste, and Presidia, moreover this activity will aim to establish better understanding of Environmental Sustainability.

The project has a total budget of  2.028.807,74€ and is funded by the EU under the ENI CBC Med Programme by 90% (1.825.926,97 €), it has a three-year duration and aims to foster socially and environmentally sustainable development of agro-food SMEs by valorizing traditional Euro-Mediterranean products according to a “slow” approach and short-chain principles.
For further information please contact, Mrs. Teresa Muela, Project Coordinator: tmuela@famp.es, tel +0034954659756