“Attayeeb ( delicious) Bakery, for making the finest pastries and desserts” is a signboard that might attract your attention to stop and think to eat some dessert from inside this bakery to reward your empty stomach.

It would not be strange that such signboards will lead you to taste some delicious food in the streets of Gaza Strip , crowded with such pastry bakeries, but what is distinguishing in this bakery is to have a manageress ,and the same applies for all of its females workers.

Muna Al-Ijjlah ,the chairwoman of Females Muslim Youth association, and manageress of the bakery said that it was established on 2004 , responding to the will of a number of women who gained some training in the association and wanted to practice their skills to make some money.

Muna added that the starting of the project was with just one woman who was making all these kinds of pastries and marketing it through all the association branches.

She pointed out that the business of Attayeeb Bakery started to flourish step by step, and year after year with the increasing number of women beneficiaries, who became investors through this income generating project.

She went on saying that the first stage of the project witnessed a kind of independent management after being provided with some modern equipment to contribute in pushing forward the Palestinian economy.

She underlined that many customers of the bakery are from the educational institutions like schools and universities, in addition to the Palestinian families .

As for the problems that are facing the bakery , she said that the oppressive Israeli siege and the crossings closure are the main obstacles, pointing that “ the siege is restricting our capabilities to obtain the suitable raw material that are necessary for our products”.

Muna also explained that recruiting women is one of the main strategies of the Female Muslim Youth association, while trying to empower them and integrate them in small projects.

She went on saying that “ under the prevailing difficult economic situation , we found that thinking of such small projects and implementing them would contribute in improving the economic situation , alleviate the unemployment rates, and decrease poverty figures”.

From her part, Om Haitham, the bakery’s director said that “ the main objective behind the idea of this project was to recruit unemployed women and help them to become self dependant.

She added that “ in order to realize the economic progression, we need a safe political situation and stability “ hoping that this will happen in the near future on all levels.

She concluded by saying that the association is organizing periodical training courses on the art of making pastries and desserts that attract a big number of women and young ladies, hoping to develop the project to match highest degree of levels.

AB.