Income from the sales of honey allows a mother to send her daughter to university

Um Hadaifa’s husband lost his job in Israel two years ago. Since then, her family of 6, living in Salfit in the West Bank, has been among the 1.6 million food insecure people in the occupied Palestinian Territories, struggling to make ends meet. ACTED’s beekeeping project in the West Bank, implemented in partnership with the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department, has provided Um Hadaifa and over a hundred other families an alternative source of income, which has allowed Um Hadaifa to send her eldest daughter to university.

Um Hadaifa smiles as she takes off her beekeeping suit in the beating sun. As she speaks, her expression darkens: “My husband used to work in Israel, but he lost his job two years ago. It was our main source of income to feed our family of 6. Now, my husband is only hired 4 to 5 days a month for construction work in the village.”

In the occupied Palestinian Territory, almost 38% of the population is food insecure. Over the last 10 years, increasing access and movement restrictions have been causing difficulties for vulnerable families to maintain their main source of income. Often, these families resort to negative coping mechanisms like forgoing educational expenses, especially of girls.

ACTED is conducting a beekeeping project in the West Bank to provide alternative livelihood assets to those most in-need. ACTED’s intervention focuses on households who have handicapped or incapacitated family members, students in university, and no or irregular sources of income. In places where there is flora for pollination and honey-making, ACTED is providing people with required tools for beekeeping and is building their capacity and knowledge on beekeeping.

This year, ACTED has distributed beekeeping kits to 120 vulnerable, food-insecure households and carried out a combination of practical and technical trainings on health and management topics, such as seasonal approaches to managing beehives and the marketing of beekeeping products.

Now, the main source of income of Um Hadaifa’s family is the honey collected from the beehives. “I received beehives from ACTED in April, participated in trainings in May, and collected my first honey in June. It’s my first time beekeeping and I’m very happy with it,” she exclaims. In one harvest, she has produced 26 kilogrammes of honey, which she sold to local shops or kept for the family. “With the income from the sales of honey, I am now able to pay the university fees for my daughter,” she proudly declares. Thanks to the beekeeping, Um Hadaifa’s 21 year old daughter now studies at Al-Quds Open University in Salfit.