The Souqona project was launched in April 2016, with funds from the Australian Government as part of the program “Palestinian Farmers Connecting to Markets,” which constitutes the third phase of the Australian Middle East NGO Cooperation Agreement (AMENCA) program in the occupied Palestinian territory. This project is implemented by a consortium of three organizations: Care International West Bank & Gaza as the leading party, The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ), and the International Centre for Agriculture and Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA).

Souqona’s main goal is to increase income, agency, and market opportunity for female and male Palestinian farmers through growth in pro-poor agribusiness and market development.

In order to lay down the benchmarks for project objectives, Care International commissioned Al-Sahel Company for Institutional Development and Communication (Al-Sahel) to conduct a baseline study.