In an attempt to alleviate the economic hardships, Silfeet women benefited from a small project provided by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) where each woman received three sheep.

Hanan Diok, from neighboring Marda says that she was one of the project's beneficiaries. Even though she is a mother of eight children, Hanan finds no problem in tending the sheep. She says that despite her eight children, she found no problems tending the sheep because she and her husband both have past experience in raising cattle and that her husband and also her children help her.
The only problem Hanan reports is the outrageous prices of the feed where it sometimes exceeds 100 Shekels ( $30) per kilogram. Hanan hopes that the FAO will help in subsidizing the feed prices especially in the winter where the animals totally depend on feeding.
Fayzeh Hammad, another beneficiary, says that the project helped her with the family essentials since her husband did not earn enough for the whole family. She added that she believed she will be successful because she came from a farming family and that even if she does not sell the dairy products, her family will achieve self-sufficiency.

Um Noor, from a neighboring village and a mother of seven, is also another beneficiary of the project. She was delighted to receive 3 sheep and reported that not only did she achieve sufficiency but sells the excess products to the local stores as well. This has helped her better her family’s condition.
Maisa Makooseh, project coordinator said that these projects are intended to help rural women achieve self-sufficiency and even contribute to their families income especially in light of the harsh economic straights families are going through. She added that she hoped that such projects will continue to receive donors’ support, especially because some of the beneficiaries need help with the cost of feed as well as retraining, counseling, and veterinary services.
Ms. Makooseh called for the continuation and expansion of this project to include a large number of Palestinian families so as to alleviate the economic hardships under Israeli occupation. She added that in determining eligibility, we take into consideration such factors as family’s need, past experience, and the ability to sustain such projects and availability of a place for the sheep.
Ms. Makooseh added that the sheep project was the third stage of a three-stage women empowerment project in cooperating the Food and Agriculture Organization. The first stage, named, Family Backyard, helped families create small gardens and dig artesian wells. 35 families from Silfeet benefited from this project. The second phase helped families package and sell home grown products to local markets. Another 25 families from neighboring villages also benefited from that project .