FormaJO Dairy was established in 2018 in the village of Ader, in the Karak region, one of the poorest in the country, with the aim of supporting Jordanian women from vulnerable groups through training in the production of Italian sheep’s cheese.

Habibi’s dairy is entirely female-run: six women are in charge of production and one is in charge of supervision. Two shepherds work on the farm and manage the flock of sheep, purchased initially through a self-financing campaign and support from the Bulgarian Embassy in Amman.

In 2020, thanks to a grant from USAID, we renovated premises in the Latin Parish of Ader for the dairy, adapted an underground cave for aging sheep’s milk cheese, purchased professional refrigerators and equipped ourselves with a transport vehicle with cold storage for product delivery.

Our cheeses are mainly used in the Mar Yousef Pizza project. either for direct consumption or, in the case of ricotta cheese, for the production of fresh ravioli by a group of Iraqi women. In Amman we set up a small workshop and trained other young people in mozzarella and first salt production sold and served sempre at Mar Yousef Pizza.

Our goals are to grow the sheep flock, increase milk production and increase cheese sales. Help us to make the project self-sustainable and give continuity to the work of the women of Ader.