F.a: Strengthening Palestinian Women Livelihoods through Training and Market The northern governorates of the West Bank, oPT have historically been restricted in development due to the Israeli occupation. The communities in these governorates have lost a significant amount of their land, much of which was agricultural. Thus, many p
eople have turned to sporadic casual labour at low pay, while others have turned toward developing agricultural activities using whatever land remains available to them. Many remain without any stable source of income and depend on aid from local and inter
national organisations and the Palestinian Authority.Unable to reach their main agricultural plots, those who can do so are compensating for the loss of access to their farmlands by cultivating smaller, accessible plots, usually home gardens or something o
f similar size, if available. Additionally, those who do find casual work in Israel are in many cases taking a significant risk, since many work without permits, allowing them to be easily exploited. However, the implementation of the Women’s Bank projec
t during the past two and half years, helped many vulnerable women to sustain some stable income through the selling of their agricultural projects.  Discussion with beneficiary women of the targeted rural communities indicated that there is a need to expa
nd on the current activities and help promote marketing of their own products. Yet, further and additional support and input is needed, including material support, as well as training and capacity building. Additional support expressed was the need to help
 create linkages, especially with organisations that can help promote and market the beneficiary products.Objectives:• Improve the economic opportunity of 80 female households through support to help expand their agricultural project and marketing their 
products.• To create linkages for 80 female households through capacity building and establishment of women’s agricultural collective enterprises (cooperatives).Activities: • Coordinate with the local authorities and the village councils on the imple
mentation of the project• Selection of beneficiaries• In-kind support for existing home gardens and beekeeping projects• Around 60 capacity building training sessions will be conducted in marketing, cooperative works, etc.• Establish networking for
 marketing purposes• Follow-up with monitoring and evaluationRights-holders /beneficiaries: Estimated number of direct beneficiaries: 80 female headed-households (600 family members). The direct beneficiaries include female headed-households, family memb
ers including women, men children, university graduates in the household, elderly and people with disabilities. The process for beneficiary selection will be open and fair to all who are eligible to apply in the communities that were targeted under the Wom
en’s Bank project. The selection criteria will take into consideration women households who showed interest, desire and achieved success in their current agricultural project. Other factors will include women who want to expand their existing project for
 marketing purposes and their willingness to be organised within a cooperative.Implementing partner:International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC)