LocationsKSrelief and UNDP sign a US$1.5 million agreement to empower rural women in Syria
Bathraa Initiative: Planting the Seeds of Women-led Recovery Across Syria
June 29, 2026
Eng. Ahmed bin Ali Al Baiz, Assistant Supervisor General for Operations and Programmes at KSrelief and Dr Abdallah Al Dardari, UN Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator, and Regional Director of Arab States sign agreement to empower rural women in Syria
©UNDP Saudi Arabia
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 28 June 2026 – The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed an agreement to launch the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women in Syria project. Funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through KSrelief under the Bathraa Initiative, the US$1.5 million project aims to restore rural livelihoods, enhance food security, and advance sustainable economic empowerment of approximately 285,320 people across three of Syria's most vulnerable rural governorates.
"Through the Bathraa Initiative, Saudi Arabia is investing in livelihoods, resilience, dignity and leadership of rural women in Syria," said Eng. Ahmed bin Ali Al Baiz, Assistant Supervisor General for Operations and Programmes at KSrelief. "In partnership with the Syrian Ministry of Agriculture and UNDP, we are transforming humanitarian support into sustainable economic opportunities that enable communities to recover, produce and thrive."
Launched in October 2025, the Bathraa Initiative is a global initiative designed to empower small-scale rural producers in crisis-affected countries by transforming local agricultural potential into sustainable livelihoods. Its approach combines productive infrastructure, technical skills, access to markets and community-led economic opportunities, with a particular focus on women and vulnerable rural households.
Implemented in partnership with the Syrian Ministry of Agriculture, the Bathraa Initiative will rehabilitate and equip four women-led community production hubs in Zabadani and Hajeera in Rural Damascus, Al-Ghab in Hama Governorate and Safsafeh in Tartous over an 18-month period. The hubs will turn agricultural resources into sustainable livelihoods for 520 people, including 395 rural women and their families.
“Syria lost four decades of human development to fourteen years of crisis, and that loss falls hardest on rural communities, particularly women. Built from the ground up, the Bathraa Initiative is giving rural women the platform to rebuild their communities and contribute to Syria’s recovery. We thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and KSrelief for their partnership with UNDP and for bringing to life the commitment of turning crisis into opportunity for rural producers in Syria. This is the kind of investment that changes trajectories”, said Dr Abdallah Al Dardari, UN Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator, and Regional Director of Arab States. “As Syria advances on its path to recovery, UNDP remains committed to supporting nationally led solutions that restore livelihoods and build prosperity for present and future generations ahead,” he added.
The hubs will provide an inclusive and functional infrastructure for rural women to produce, package, and sell high-quality agricultural goods at scale. Through the project, the hubs will be equipped with food processing and composting units, renewable energy systems, veterinary services, market kiosks, and local sales points to improve market access within and in surrounding communities.
In addition, the project will train 440 rural women and community members in food safety, business management, marketing and quality assurance, regenerative agriculture, beekeeping and sheep breeding. It will also provide productive kits to support market linkage and self-employment.
Matching local needs and capacities, each hub will be anchored to the specific agricultural profile of its location. In Zabadani, for example, women will produce fruit preserves, dried goods, and herbal products. In Hajeera, where home-based dairy production is already widespread, a processing annex will allow women to formalise and scale yoghurt, labneh, and artisanal cheese production. Safsafeh’s greenhouse economy, on the other hand, will feed into a value-added processing centre for vegetables and citrus products, while Al-Ghab’s hub will restore a veterinary unit critical to the sheep-breeding communities that depend on it.
Nearly 90 per cent of Syrians live in poverty. In rural areas, the situation is particularly acute, where the combination of a protracted conflict, economic decline, and climate-related shocks has further eroded rural livelihoods, reduced agricultural productivity, and pushed communities, particularly women, youth and persons with disabilities, into greater vulnerability.
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Media contacts:
Fanar Alshehri | International Communication and Media | King Salman Humanitarian Aid And Relief Centre | F.i.Alshehri@KSrelief.org
Dania Darwish | Communications Specialist | Syria Country Office | dania.darwish@undp.org
Borhene Eddine Fakhfakh | Senior Communications Analyst | KSA Country Office | borhene.fakhfakh@undp.org