Professional sewing machines complete with spare parts and accessories, to be used for the packaging of protective masks in washable multilayer fabric, useful for containing the transmission of the coronavirus, were donated to the women of the Social Development Center of Bint Jbeil, in Southern Lebanon , by the Blue Helmets of the Italian contingent of UNIFIL, the United Nations Interposition Force deployed on the border with the state of Israel.
Thanks to the Italian contingent, the "Laboratorio Italia" will be able to make masks for the population and offer new job opportunities to the women of the Bint Jbeil community, with earning opportunities for families.
Satisfaction with the success of the initiative was expressed by General Andrea Di Stasio, who underlined that in addition to the fight against Covid-19, “the project looks to the involvement of local resources and skills capable of generating positive economic effects in the area.
All this, with a view to strengthening participatory social development policies that are able to give impetus to the female employment sector and promote the state and capacity building in the South of the country.
A virtuous cycle of "self sustainability", Di Stasio defined it, "That the Italian contingent wanted to implement within UNIFIL and which is proving to be a winner".
The donation, financed with funds from the Italian Ministry of Defense, is part of the civil-military cooperation projects promoted by the Italian contingent to guarantee assistance to the population which, together with the monitoring of the cessation of hostilities and support for the local armed forces , is one of the main tasks assigned to the Italian contingent of UNIFIL in compliance with resolution 1701 of the UN Security Council.
