Local Partnership for Tourism Development (Shams) is one of Partners for Good’s (PfG) projects.
Funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Jordan, SHAMS aspires to create jobs and economic opportunities through establishing linkages between local community members and private sector actors.
By design, Shams project works on enhancing specific skills-based capacities within women and youth and assisting local communities in developing in-demand Jordanian products and services.
Implemented in both Ma’an Governorate and the Dead Sea area, the project celebrates all that is unique and authentic in focus on areas’ culture, heritage, and natural resources. For Shams project, the traditional identity, cultural values, and biodiversity of the Dead Sea and Ma’an are the core of the development process.
Since launched in November 2019, Shams has touched the lives of many. Opening doors, developing local capacities through quality training, and engaging and mobilizing communities. As a result, project components are growing as beneficiaries both individuals and CBOs, hand in hand with PfG, embarked on a journey of growth, learning and mostly appreciation and acknowledgment.
Main SHAMS Project Components in Dead Sea Area:
- Dar AL Shouneh
- Shouneh (Long Shelf Food Products)
- Al Ramah Compost
In Ma’an:
- Al Alia Track
- Ma’an Heritage Trail
- Al Alia Camp
- Brri Herbal Products (From the Wilderness)
Dar Al Shouneh – Jordan Village Experience
Dead Sea- South Shouneh
Dar Al Shouneh, one of Local Partnership for Tourism Development (Shams) project components is Located at Southern Shouneh beautifully nested within and created in partnership with Greening the Desert Projerct- Jordanian Association for Environment Quality.
Developed to enrich the region’s tourism product while creating sustainable linkages between local communities and private sector actors, Dar Al Shouneh, contributors to the value chain of the tourism industry in the area.
The development concept celebrates Al Shouneh’s culture, heritage, natural attributes, and local community talent and deems those aspects key catalysts for achieving desired change.
The facility, located within proximity to Dead Sea hotels and attractions in South Shouneh, offers an authentic setting that celebrates permaculture and traditional environmentalism presenting experiences rich with knowledge and ingenuity. It offers an abundance of memorable interactions with Al Shouneh community where true hospitality, timeless traditions, flavors, and tales of the past await.
To visit Dar Al Shouneh is to live the Jordan Village Experience, cook traditional Jordanian dishes, play traditional games, relax, and enjoy folkloric and culture activities.
A trip to Dar Al Shouneh also offers visitor the opportunity to learn and see firsthand the “Permaculture” practices offered by Greening the Desert Project and learn about this innovative farm work that is helping create sustainable way of living and growing crops.
Shouneh Products
Dead Sea – Southern Shouneh
Shouneh Products are rich with traditional flavors, prepared by the women of South Shouneh using locally grown fruits and vegetables and the region’s unique flavors to economically empower local women. They are a celebration of Al Shouneh’s culture a sustainable economic enabler for its community.
Shouneh Products are one component of Local Partnership for Tourism Development (Shams). A Partners for Good’s project funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Jordan. Shams aspires to create jobs and economic opportunities through establishing linkages between local community members and private sector actors.
Main Shouneh products include Sun Dried Tomato, Tomato Sauce, Jams and Pickles.
Al Ramah Compost
Dead Sea – Southern Shouneh
Al Ramah Compost is part of Local Partnership for Tourism Development (Shams), project aspires to create sustainable partnerships between local businesses and hotels to establish and promote environmentally friendly practices that benefit both the private sector and local economy.
Al Rama Compost is designed to assist hotels and local farms in food and farm waste management by collecting and using waste to produce organic compost that is to be sold at affordable prices to local farmers through CBOs.
Additionally, the facility serves as an educational model raising awareness and offering an insight into composting while shedding light on its environmental and economic benefits. Local youth received training allowing them to duplicate model and apply it on small scale and to work within the facility.
Ma’an Governorate
Ma’an Heritage Trail
Funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Jordan, Ma’an Heritage Trail is part of Local Partnership for Tourism Development (Shams), one of Partners for Good’s (PfG) main projects.
Ma’an Heritage Trail component involves the creation of tourism/ adventure track that allow tourists to enjoy the natural splendor of the rich history of Ma’an and the community’s traditions and customs. Together with Al Alia Track and other Shams components in Ma’an and coupled with the numerous training and capacity building delivered to targeted youth and women, this will help promote Ma’an as a tourism destination, support job generation and the economic empowerment of youth and women.
Additionally, PfG aiming to maximize the benefits of the trail and guarantee tourists an enjoyable well-rounded experience, added a Bidwin tent and camping site equipped with needed furniture and necessities. Camp guests are offered traditional dishes prepared by local women and youth in a setting that radiates Arabian hospitality where tourists can enjoy local music and folkloric dance.
Brri (From the Wilderness)
This component is envisioned as a step towards creating a range of opportunities for Ma’an women and youth through commercializing a selection of natural desert products. It entails developing a production facility, delivering intensive capacity building programs, establishing sustainable partnerships with CBOs and reliable marketing and sales channels.
Naturally grown wild herbs in Ma’an desert are transformed into Brri’s quality herbal products by the women of Maan’s local community. Through a partnership with a local CBO, PfG introduced an herbs production facility, offering local women training on planting and extracting herbs. Relying on the natural resources available in the area, Brri revives ancient traditions and recipes associated with drinking herbs and using them in traditional cooking.
Sustainability is key to the success of Brri. Therefore, as products are continuously being enhanced, PfG is creating numerous promotion and sales channels to ensure products are available for sale online and in selected stores.
Al Alia Track
Al Jafer – Ma’an
Funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Jordan, Al Alia Track is part of Local Partnership for Tourism Development (Shams), one of Partners for Good’s (PfG) main projects.
Located in Al Jafer – Ma’an, PfG redesigned and upgraded Al Alia Track to increase its capacity and readiness to host regional traditional camel racing competitions and desert sports functions. It is renovated into a promising tourism component and community enabler that captures all that is unique about the Jordanian desert experience and the exceptional heritage its community carries. Complementing other Shams components in Ma’an, the track is envisioned to generate employment as well as support services business opportunities for both women and youth.
In partnership with a local CBO, the Track is managed and sustained. Local youth are receiving capacity building training to enable them to organize events, promote track, offer quality hospitality services.