Support Small Entrepreneurs in Lebanon & Jordan

Sticky sweet fingers and laughter fill the kitchens of Muna and Hanadi, two neighbors and Syrian refugees who live in Zarqa, Jordan.

Muna and Hanadi first met when Hanadi moved into the same building as Muna and her family. The two women became more than just good friends—through an NEF networking event Muna and Hanadi soon became business partners.

Both women were housewives before they were forced to leave their hometown of Aleppo in Syria. Hanadi, a mother of three sons and a daughter, fled the violence in 2012 after her house was bombed in a series of airstrikes. Muna, a mother of two sons, fled Syria with her family when the violence destroyed her village.

Like many refugees who were forced to leave Syria, Muna, Hanadi, and their families were financially unstable after resettling in Jordan. They didn’t know anyone who could lend them a helping hand and their husbands, who had served as the main breadwinners, were unable to work as a result of strict labor laws in Jordan.

Many refugee and poor Jordanian families find themselves without good options, and they are forced to resort to harmful coping strategies just to get by. This may include child labor, begging, early marriage, engaging in exploitative work, or taking on extensive debt.

NEF's work in Jordan seeks to offer refugees and vulnerable Jordanians opportunities through business trianings, financial literacy, and start-up grants—options that support participants to attain self-sufficiency and reject strategies that may harm them in the long-run. 

Impressed with Hanadi's cooking skills, Muna asked Hanadi to go into business with her after attending an NEF-business training session together.

Through trainings in business planning and financial literacy and a project grant, Muna and Hanadi started a home-based catering business featuring Syrian pastries.Their kuba, a fried croquette, is a particular favorite among their client-base—which grew after Muna sent her son to school with a tray of kuba. His teacher liked it so much she asked Muna to make it for her. From then on, the reputation of their great service and delicious dishes began to spread by word of mouth.

NEF provided Muna and Hanadi with the tools and skills they needed to generate a stable income to provide for their families. Through their business, they make a profit of about 100 JOD per month ($140), which allows them to purchase necessary household items. They plan to expand their business in the future by buying a refrigerator to help produce more food and provide ready-made meals for clients on-the-go.

“Participating in the project and starting our own business made us feel part of the community because we got to connect with the people here.”

Muna continued, “I feel more confident than ever because our clients trust us.”

Thank you for your continued to support to make stories like Muna's and Hanadi's possible! 

As we marked International Refugee Day this summer, many paused to reflect on the state of our world today—where families are forced to flee their homes due to war, conflict, and persecution.

In Syria, half of the country’s pre-war population, more than 11 million people, have been killed or forced to flee their homes—largely finding refuge in neighboring countries.

Intessar, a 37 year-old woman and single-mother of five, had to flee Syria with her children as violence intensified in her home country. To escape, she and her family had to walk from Syria to Jordan along the Yarmouk River. Families tend to make their journey on foot during the night to avoid being shot by snipers or being caught by soldiers.

When Intessar was asked if she could envision a future in Jordan, she replied, “Yes, because there is no hope to go back to in Syria.”

While immediate humanitarian aid is important, NEF remains focused on implementing innovative and cost-effective solutions in Jordan and Lebanon to help refugees survive in the short term, and thrive in the long term—enabling them to meet their own needs with dignity and to become productive members of their new communities. NEF does this through skills trainings to encourage economic opportunity, financial literacy, social networking, cash-assistance grants, and training in urban agriculture so that families can become food secure.

Living in Zarqa with her children, Intessar was struggling to provide for her family. Through a local community-based organization she found out about NEF’s program that provides opportunities to reduce negative coping strategies among poor, vulnerable, urban Syrian refugees and Jordanians through business trainings, financial literacy, and start-up grants.

Through NEF’s program and a project grant, Intessar was able to set up a small clothing shop and start earning an income to support her family. She said that the best part of the program was “meeting and learning from other women in similar situations.” She is now able to enroll her children in school, and is taking a course in English herself so that she can continue to develop her network.

With diminishing humanitarian aid, we need your support now more than ever. Thank you for your continued support of the Near East Foundation, and for helping women like Intessar and her family find safe and sustainable solutions to achieve food and financial security!

Links:

• http://www.neareast.org