The “Productive Training Kitchen”: a Saudi initiative to help Syrian refugees in Lebanon

The National Saudi Campaign to Support Brethren in Syria” launched within the framework of “Brother, you hold your future in your hand” program, a new initiative entitled “The Productive Training Kitchen”. The initiative targets young Syrian woman aged between 17 and 25 years and seeks to train them to produce various types of food, sweets and pickles with the aim of helping them find work opportunities which would allow them to secure income for them and their families. The director of the national Saudi Campaign office in Lebanon, Waleed Ben Ali Al Jallal, told Al Mustaqbal newspaper that the campaign has decided to add cooking skills to its various technical and handicrafts training currently on offer and which include mechanics, sewing and graphic design. He added that the first batch of students have started producing food and have benefited from the material made available by the Productive Training Kitchen.  As such, they are cooking daily meals for needy Syrian families as well as for the trainees’ families. (Al Mustaqbal, 28 July 2016)