Stimulating Markets and Rural Transformation (SMART)

In our collective effort to reform the existing global food chain linkages, we implemented an integrated production-processing-marketing supply chain program in partnership with the YMCA of the USA and with funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The SMART program created job and income generating opportunities for women in the rural areas of Lebanon through the establishment of 42 food processing centers/cooperatives* and production farms all built to meet Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) guidelines and standards.  The women were trained on how to produce, process and package premium foods and Lebanese delicacies.  They were also trained on how to manage their business as cooperative shareholders.  The SMART program succeeded in providing the women of rural Lebanon with the means for sustainable self-reliance, and not just a meager or non-existent income.

From Local-Level Cottage Industry to Sustainable Economic Development Venture

The program tapped into traditional, gender-based skills – the skills of food processing and preservation.  One goal was to transform the women’s cooking and food preservation know-how into scientifically-based, standardized food processing techniques while still maintaining the ‘traditional’ taste and feel of the products. 
The YMCA developed a process to convert a local-level cottage industry into a viable, national, regional and international sustainable economic development venture. An end product of the program was the establishment of the all natural, preservative and additive free, Atayeb Al Rif brand name products. The program developers worked closely with local producers, farmers and the women who process the goods, to create links with strategic partners and to assist in the set-up, establishment and ultimate marketing and sales of the Atayeb Al Rif brand name. 
The Atayeb Al Rif products are now being sold in supermarkets, with the help of the distributor company MAFCO, Inc., locally, throughout Lebanon, regionally in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, and internationally in the United Kingdom.  And they are even FDA approved for sale in the United States of America.
Today, the cooperatives have turned into fully operational – self-contained – businesses.  The women are producing their goods, Atayeb Al Rif represents the goods and MAFCO oversees the products’ distribution into the various markets.