The saving and credit association for feminine projects L.L in Nablus got the approval to obtain 4 school cafeterias for the academic year 2013-2014, which are: Beit Dajin High school, Burqa’s high school, Madma’s high school and Al Khaldia secondary school in the city, and the amount needed was secured through the loan given from the PFESP “Palestinian fund for employment”.
Within the knowledge that the association started obtaining school cafeterias three years before that, and the number of cafeterias varies each year for various reasons, including the lack of the association’s sufficient liquidity to pay the required amount for obtaining the cafeterias, or for distinct criteria regulated by the Ministry of Education. Despite the number of cafeterias each year, it was a real opportunity to employ women, and start an initiative for women involvement in the labor market, which made our employees in the cafeterias consider the idea of sustainability in this opportunity for the upcoming years, through the association or individually, and an example of that is: The association was not able to obtain Jama’een’s cafeterias in 2013, but due to the experience that one of our employees gained from previous work, she was able to obtain the cafeteria for the elementary children individually, and that is because of her experience in the past years, in addition to acquiring the needed amount for the cafeteria within her own capabilities.
In addition to the importance of this project by providing job and income opportunities for a number of the association’s members and their families, this project has covered part of the association’s expenses to ensure its sustainability and the sustainability of its work.
But the biggest and most important impact, from our perspective, is the big role the association has played through this program is by promoting the culture of healthy food, which is adopted by the school healthcare through helping students choose the right options, such as exchanging Chips and desserts for healthier options, and building a healthy food culture for the next generations, which will have an impact on families directly, and on the families of the students in their future. The fridges donation had a positive impact on maintaining the food fresh, and Preserving juices and acquiring the health needs of students to achieve this given goal.
This project’s success indicators, Burqa’s high school’s cafeteria won the award of excellence and creativity on the national level within the Palestinian Inspirational Level, whereas the health committee worked in cooperation with the school’s cafeteria to serve the needs of students in obtaining healthy food, and enhancing their awareness on healthy food inside and outside school, to make them fully aware of the importance of adopting those healthy thoughts outside school too. The cafeteria has successfully exchanged the old options for healthier ones: (Salep, Tabboleh, Belila, Popcorn, Lupine bean). In addition to the student’s participation in drawing on the walls of the cafeterias to express the importance of healthy lunch in cafeterias, those are the activities that got the school’s award.