Makken: Food-making Never Felt More Empowering

Makken is Arabic for "to empower", which is the sole purpose of this production unit. It is a place for women to be productive and lead a food making process. It has started from a simple idea to help refugee women in the local community and now, it has become an income-generating business that provides salaries for these families.



Located in Deheisha refugee camp, Makken creates employment opportunities for refugee women in the camp meeting the needs in the local market. Women in the refugee community are excited to find job opportunities that enables them to contribute in their family's income. One in three in the refugee's community is unemployed and a huge part of the women look for safe employment opportunities.
The unit consists of a modern bakery, a store and a factory where a production line of food products are produced including a variety of high-quality traditional Palestinian foods, meals, pastries, jams, and pickles, aside to organic and healthy products, spices, and fresh fruits and vegetables..
Makken is directly connected to the rooftop greenhouse project, as the project included supporting a social business for women. It is also place where the organic produce from the greenhouses can be provided and sold.
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Starting the unit required much effort focusing on a variety of financial, economic and marketing aspects.  Business development has been taken into account including; health and safety standards, branding, packaging, high-quality inputs and market competition/demands. Different marketing channels have been established, with different options identified during business planning stages. Connections with local stores have been made to place the women’s products in larger stores. The foundation is built to grow into a profitable social business that can support different households from the camp.

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