Success Stories
SHAMS and Greening the Desert Project are partners for Dar Al Shouneh sustainability
When Partners for Good (PfG) launched the Local Partnership for Tourism Development project, “SHAMS”, in the Dead Sea region, the organization looked for a local partner to develop the concept of the Dar Al Shouneh – Jordanian village experience, a community-based tourism initiative.
PfG selected the Greening the Desert Project in the Southern Shounah area, to implement the initiative, aimed at enhancing the local tourism product and building sustainable economic relations between the local community and the hospitality industry in the Dead Sea region.
Since its 2011 establishment, the Greening the Desert Project succeeded in attracting national and international visitors and students, who learned and trained about permaculture techniques.
Through this partnership, PfG developed project facilities, built a restaurant serving traditional and rural food, and enhanced project capacity to manage, sustain, and promote Dar Al Shouneh, in collaboration with other partners. Dar Al Shouneh has become a center of attraction, engaging local community members in various activities, and enriching the Jordanian village experience.
“My work at Dar Al Shouneh empowers and enables me to serve the local community,” says Amneh Tlaq, or Um Hayel, one of the Jordanian village experience pioneers. “It has improved
my living conditions and enabled other local community women to benefit from economic and job opportunities.”
Um Hayel
Dar Al Shouneh is not confined to traditional food made of vegetables and fruits cultivated at the Greening the Desert Project. Visitors can also play traditional games, learn about permaculture, and importantly, experience the life of Jordanian villagers, and interact with the local community.
At Dar Al Shouneh, Um Hayel, 54, arranges for hosting visitors, bakes fresh bread, makes kombucha tea, and cooks a verity of traditional dishes, with help from other local community women. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Um Hayel baked bread, and cultivated homegrown produce for her family.
“I did not feel we were in need of anything else. Today, I use my skills at Dar Al Shouneh, along my neighbors and other women in the community, to help maintain services to guests and visitors,” she says.
Greening the Desert Project President, Hayel Suleiman, who also supervises Dar Al Shouneh, has been a genuine partner. Over the course of two years, Suleiman helped develop the concept of Dar Al Shouneh, in partnership with other stakeholders, converting it into a reality.
“Dar Al Shouneh has the potential to develop into a tourist, green, and heritage site, attracting tourists from nearby hotels, as well as from Jordanian cities,”
Suleiman, 39, Predicts
Suleiman learned a lot working together with PfG in developing, managing, and promoting Dar Al Shouneh. “I look forward to seeing Dar Al Shouneh expand in the next years, with additional opportunities to the local community, and more partnerships.”
For 19-year-old Ahmad Dueisat, a Dar Al Shouneh beneficiary, the project “has exceptional opportunities for the local community.”
“Dar Al Shouneh empowers the youths, enabling them to be more productive, improve their livelihoods, and learn new skills,”
Says Dueisat
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