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Harnessing the Sun in Deir Al-Balah Gazan women work with a natural resource to manufacture traditional products I mm Hussein piles the
bags of produce in front
of her. The direct result
of the GEF Small Grants
Programme (GEF/SGP) in

Deir Al-Balah is there on the table
for all to see.

"I like to try everything," she
says as she shows off bags of
dried apricots, dates, molokhiyya
and za'atar that have been dried
in a new solar powered machine
installed in her own back garden.
Imm Hussein leads one of six
women's cooperatives in Deir al
Balah just south of Gaza City,
which are working with new solar
drying techniques to produce dried
agricultural and medicinal herbs.

Traditionally women have dried
herbs in the sun, but this can
take away colour and freshness.
Through assistance from UNDP/
PAPP and the Palestinian Union
of Agricultural Work Committees
(UAWC), Imm Hussein is
benefiting from the support of
a GEF/SGP grant to develop a
successful new business. The
machine is small and simple, yet
highly effective. Herbs and other
agricultural products are placed
in trays inside a solar panelled
machine that generates heat. In
More Palestinian women, young and old, are working to contribute to the family
income.