Canada-Lebanon-FAO Partnership Forum on Agriculture and Food Security

The Forum encompassed the closing event of the FAO project Support to Women’s cooperatives and associations in the agri-food sector of Lebanon (USD6.3 million, 2018-2024) and a roundtable discussion aimed at promoting key areas of collaboration in agriculture and food security in Lebanon.

It aimed at continuing to strengthen the partnership between FAO, Canada, and the Ministry of Agriculture as it relates to advancing women's empowerment and food security in Lebanon.

Key highlights of the event series included:

1. Closing workshop of the project “Support to Women’s cooperatives and associations in the agri-food sector of Lebanon”, funded by the Government of Canada: 

In the presence of His Excellency the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Abbas Al Hajj Hassan, the Ambassador of Canada to Lebanon, H.E. Stephanie McCollum, and the FAO Representative to Lebanon, Nora Ourabah Haddad, the closing workshop marked the end of project activities. The Director General of Cooperatives at the Ministry of Agriculture, Engineer Gloria Abu Zeid, senior Ministry of Agriculture’s staff, ambassadors, representatives of donors, United Nations agencies, and beneficiaries of the project were also present.

This event emphasized the important role of FAO as the implementing agency, in collaboration with Ministry of Agriculture, through the Directorate General of Cooperatives. The project aimed at empowering rural women and their cooperatives in Lebanon to enhance their livelihoods.

The closing ceremony featured a presentation highlighting the project’s main achievements and challenges, a discussion session involving beneficiaries, and a session on the project’s sustainability.

About the project

Launched in 2019 with funding from the Government of Canada, FAO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, implemented the project “Support to Women’s cooperatives and associations in the agri-food sector of Lebanon” over a five-year period. Canada, FAO, and MoA’s strong commitment to promote gender equality and empower women were at the core of the project. The project empowered 255 women's groups through capacity-building initiatives, while 143 of them received grants.

Project activities played a pivotal role in bolstering women’s self-confidence, skills, dedication, and willingness to actively contribute to Lebanon’s rural economy. Moreover, it laid the foundation for an improved cooperative model, fostering sustainable agrifood enterprises while ensuring that all stakeholders adhered to the highest standards of transparency, fairness, inclusivity, objectivity, impact, and sustainability.

2. Roundtable discussion on Canada-Lebanon-FAO Partnership in Agriculture and Food Security in Lebanon: The Embassy of Canada, the Ministry of Agriculture, and FAO discussed potential areas for collaboration within the framework of a project entitled “Enhancing Food and Nutrition Security in Lebanon”, funded by the Government of Canada, and implemented by FAO in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture.

The discussion focused on fostering collaborative partnerships in agriculture and food security to promote sustainable agrifood sector development and improve gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

It also discussed alignment of the project with the National Agricultural Strategy and the emerging national priorities, agreed on enhancing coordination mechanisms for selecting and targeting beneficiaries, optimizing value chains, identifying geographic focus areas, and promoting involvement and empowerment of women in agriculture with a special emphasis on rural women. 

The project aims at promoting the adoption of gender-responsive, nutrition-sensitive, and climate smart agricultural practices, as well as enhancing the performance of fruits and vegetables value chains and the enabling environment for value chain actors. Furthermore, project activities are designed to increase resilience to climate and economic shocks within fruits and vegetables value-chains, to ultimately improve food and nutrition security in Lebanon. 

The partnership forum served as a platform to showcase the achievements of the partnership and underscored its impact on agricultural development, food security, and the empowerment of vulnerable communities, particularly women. It provided an opportunity to reflect on accomplishments, outlined future collaboration strategies, and reaffirm the commitment of Canada, FAO, and the Ministry of Agriculture to fostering sustainable and food-secure Lebanon.