Under the USAID Building Alliance for Local Advancement Development and Investment (BALADI) project implemented by RMF, works under the Jounieh municipal-community development activity have significantly advanced, where 100% of the construction is now complete, the equipping of the boat repair workshop is done, and the installation of the fishery equipment is finalized. The fish selling and cooking stations are now prepared with all the needed equipment and appliances to meet food safety and handling standards for selling fresh fish and cooked fish. The fish and chips production component has also been added to increase the sales of the fishermen’s coop.

The project is now preparing the fishermen coop for the operational phase and facilitating a public-private partnership for operating the cooked fish station. This will ensure that this new fishermen’s entrepreneurial hub in Jounieh is ready for business by August 2015.

The USAID BALADI project is supporting Jounieh municipality in implementing this local community development activity which directly increases the sales and income of more than 150 persons including fishermen and their families, women who will operate the cooking station in Jounieh and surrounding fishing towns of Tabarja, Okeibe, and Bouwar in Keserwan district.  The entire USAID BALADI assistance for this activity consists of establishing a fish auctioning center, rehabilitating the fishermen’s operational premises, their boat repair workshop, and upgrading the fish selling and cooking station.