Beyond the hive in Kosovo

Novobërdë, Kosovo - In the rural villages of Novobërdë, where different ethnic communities live side by side, and beekeeping is creating opportunities for women to strengthen their livelihoods while caring for the land and natural resources that sustain their communities.

Through its work on people-centered land governance, the National Land Coalition (NLC) Kosovo supports rural women producer groups through policy dialogue, stakeholder coordination, capacity building, and economic empowerment.

One of these initiatives brings women beekeepers together around a shared resource: bee pastures and forest landscapes. For women living in isolated rural areas, beekeeping is more than a source of income. It is part of their everyday lives and an opportunity to build more resilient livelihoods.

The initiative emerged from discussions with the Private Forest Association (APFO) “Parku” in Novo Berde, which highlighted the challenges faced by women producer groups in remote villages. With support from the NLC platform, the women are receiving equipment and assistance to improve their beekeeping practices, strengthen honey production, and make better use of local natural resources.

For the women, the support is about having the right tools to make their day-to-day work easier and to improve the way they manage their hives. The support comes at an important time in their beekeeping efforts. Their plans are to make good use of the new equipment and some of the women have plans to gradually grow their business.

In this way, the initiative connects women’s economic empowerment with wider challenges affecting rural communities: climate change, inequality in food systems, and inclusive and democratic land governance.

Beekeeping also creates a space for women from different communities to share knowledge, address common challenges, and build cooperation. Improving bee pastures and honey production becomes an opportunity to strengthen social inclusion, protect biodiversity, and build more resilient rural communities.