The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) is working on a “Regional Initiative for Promoting Small-Scale Renewable Energy Applications in Rural Areas of the Arab Region (REGEND)”, which is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). REGEND aims to improve the livelihood, economic benefits, social inclusion and gender equality of Arab rural communities particularly marginalized groups, by addressing energy access, water scarcity and vulnerability, climate change and other natural resources challenges in three targeted countries, Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia.
 
In this context, ESCWA is organizing a capacity-building workshop of rural women on packaging, customized trademarks adoption, and labeling of local products to improve their promotion, in partnership with the General Commission for Regional Development (CGDR) and the National Agency for Energy Conservation (ANME) in Tunisia, to build/enhance the knowledge and the practical capacities of a group of rural women in the region of Chorbane (Governorate of Mahdia, Republic of Tunisia) in the field of packaging by providing them with the necessary skills regarding techniques and modern types of packaging, especially ecological ones, packaging design, branding and labeling of local products, and their best use. The workshop also aims to raise the participants ’awareness/enhance their knowledge regarding sanitary legislation and standards regulating packaging processes and their proper application, and to carry out practical exercises in packaging design, branding, and labeling of local products. The workshop also aims to provide the participants with skills regarding the conduct of product quality and cost studies, and compliance with environmental standards, and others, by adopting modern methods of training that integrate theoretical and practical dimensions together.
 
The theoretical and practical knowledge and skills acquired will enable the trainees to develop their income-generating activities in agricultural sector and, therefore, improve their financial incomes.