Education Morocco Project #15324

The Bernard Mejean Fund for Girls' Education

by High Atlas Foundation

Project Report | Sep 25, 2020
MOBILIZING YOUTH TOWARD GENDER EQUALITY IN MOROCCO

By Katie Bercegeay | HAF Director of Development

The topic of gender in Morocco is one of considerable debate among the people, and it can often be controversial. In order to make progress toward a Morocco that values and makes strides toward prosperity, progressive policies that have already been adopted by the government must not only permeate throughout society at the institutional level–they and the values behind them must be known, understood, respected, and also valued among Moroccans of all walks of life. The IMAGES study conducted by UN Women and partners in Rabat-Sale-Kenitra uncovered and proved a conflicted identity and stance among its participants who are found caught between progress and traditional outlooks in regard to gender, gender norms, gender equality, women’s rights, relationships, health, work, and education. Nearly half of participants indicated that gender equality has no part in the traditions and values of Moroccan society; however, more than half agree that more needs to be done to promote egalitarianism. Among several alarming figures, 58 percent of men and 49 percent of women believe that gender equality has already been achieved in Morocco.

Because the IMAGES study found little to no delineation in beliefs between the older and younger generations, it is imperative to engage young people in awareness raising activities which promote understanding of: (1) the importance of gender equality to achieve a better Morocco, (2) the necessary role that men and boys must play in the effort to achieve gender equality, and (3) the reevaluation of what is means to be a man in Morocco (and globally). To achieve this, it is also necessary to speak to the true role of gender in Islam and its sacred texts. As the Qiwamah study conducted by UN Women in partnership with Rabita Mohammedia des Oulamas demonstrates, for example, often traditional interpretations of Islamic law, which are commonly preached and internalized by the people, contribute to false notions of gender that result in a widespread socio-cultural mindset which ultimately impedes true progress for an egalitarian Morocco, regardless of the adoption of national policies that aim to advance this very concept. HAF advocates for gender equality and women’s rights in Morocco based on its empowerment methods and the Islamic approach, combining human rights and promoting personal growth and socioeconomic independence. Gender equality isn’t solely a women’s issue. It’s a human issue which will guarantee basic human rights for all people once achieved. Thus, youth (and adults) of all genders must organize and advocate for a stronger, healthier society.

The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) seeks to engage all people in the process toward Morocco’s sustainable development. It works primarily, but not exclusively, with rural communities who rely on agriculture for livelihood. HAF programs are diverse and engage people of various backgrounds and levels of influence, from their own local and household-level spheres to that of the national policy making level. It works with cooperatives, associations, and education institutions, targeting women, youth, farmers, and students of all ages–from the primary to the university level (and maintains eight university partnerships across the country). HAF eagerly promotes a gender-equitable development landscape in the country by prioritizing women’s role in development and holistically engaging communities in empowerment efforts. It aims to amplify voices that have been traditionally excluded from decision-making in their homes and communities, and even at the national level.

HAF has, since 2017, conducted 28 Empowerment workshops that are 32 hours each. A total of 755 participants, predominantly women, have benefitted from workshops in Marrakech, Al Haouz, Azilal, Boujdour, Essaouira, Mohammedia, Oujda, Taroudant, and Magouna. As a result, nine new cooperatives were established, which together include 106 members. The program is designed to empower women and girls resulting into sustainable development activities, by focusing on the following categories: money, work, emotion, relationships, sexuality, body, and spirituality. After the personally strengthening and vision-expanding experience, the participants are in an improved position to analyze their social and environmental conditions and identify opportunities that reflect their individual and group interests to which they will dedicate themselves.

Evaluation results show that of the 106 jobs (in the agro-food, artisanal, and clothing sectors) that have been created, 103 (97 percent) are women. These women have said that the cooperatives’ economic activities help them cover their household expenses, such as food, clothing, and utilities. In addition, the workshops created nine jobs for teenage girls in the private and public sectors. Seven girls returned to school due to their participation in the workshop. Since 2009, HAF conducted experiential training workshops with students of eight Moroccan universities in participatory development and empowerment, legal aid delivery, and project management and evaluation, strengthening the capacities of 3,000 people. HAF projects and work result in employment, increases in household income, social inclusion, education, well-being, and lifetime skills, impacting the lives of more than 150,000 people, mostly in the agricultural sector.

Because of its success to inspire underserved women and youth to build income-generating cooperatives, the organization has begun to integrate these workshops across its programs. Recently, the workshop curriculum has also been adapted for a male audience in an effort to promote a more holistic approach to gender work and rights-awareness in Morocco. It is also currently being adapted for an adolescent audience to be facilitated in Child Protection Centers. HAF’s staff boasts three female and two male staff members who have not only been trained in this empowerment curriculum, they have also experienced transformations within themselves and their workshop participants around Morocco.

The organization aims to create a network of motivated Gender Youth Advocates in target regions across the country who understand themselves and are galvanized to play an active role in the process toward a more egalitarian, and thus prosperous, Morocco.

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Sep 10, 2020
THE WOMEN OF TAKHRKHOURT COOPERATIVE IN TASSA OUIRGANE

By Amina El Hajjami | HAF's Director of Projects

After building an organic tree nursery and a well, and after facilitating participatory meetings and trainings concerning environmental protections with the farmers and the men’s association in Tassa Ouirgane village (Al Haouz province, Marrakech-Safi region), a project financed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and managed by the High Atlas Foundation (HAF), a new approach was decidedly developed and implemented to maximize the impact of the project on the people of Tassa Ouirgane. This gender approach was encouraged and supported by National Coordinator Microfinance Program FEM - UNDP Morocco and the High Atlas Foundation.

Fourteen women from the Tassa Ouirgane village attended a 4-day Imagine Empowerment workshop January 2019. The purpose of Imagine workshops is to enable women to create the life they most want. It is considered one of the foremost personal growth trainings available. The program focuses on seven areas of life: Emotions, Relationships, Body, Money, Work, Spirituality, and Sexuality. Below are the testimonials of a girl and a woman, both of whom attended the workshop:

"My name is M. I’m divorced, and I have a daughter. I live with my father and my mother. I want to work to help my daughter, and I’m afraid to get out of the house because of society's contempt toward me and their lack of trust. I thank God because my family has helped me a lot, but I wish I could be independent.”
After 4 days of the empowerment training, she confirmed “I will not pay attention to the opinion of others. I will be working toward my vision to be independent, build my own home, and live with my daughter.” This woman is now the leader of the Takhrkhourt agricultural Cooperative.

“My name is L. I dropped out of middle school during the last school break. I started training in artisanal craft, but I don’t feel comfortable with the decision that I made, and I don’t know how I can tell my father.” On the second day of the workshop, she told the other women participants: “I informed my father about how I felt, and he agrees with my decision to return to school.”

One of the results that came from the empowerment workshop and the participatory approach meetings that were conducted afterward with the same women was the vision to create an agricultural cooperative in order to capitalize upon the village’s great natural resources. To reach this vision, the women needed technical and managerial training. This is why the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) provided them with training on the creation and role of cooperative statutes, democratic voting for decision-making in the cooperative, organizational management, environmental protection, how to plant seeds and cuttings of trees, and how to irrigate trees.

Throughout each training and workshop that the women received in 2019-2020, HAF supported them to create Cooperative Takhrkhourt, an agricultural cooperative whose membership includes one woman and four girls. Two of the girls are studying in high school, and they want to continue their studies at university. In 2020 alone, Cooperative Takhrkhourt planted 40,000 olive and walnut trees in a nursery that they manage. The nursery is supported by the Ecosia-HAF partnership.

To achieve these results means that the women of Takhrkhourt Cooperative have:

Made decisions about their own lives, as demonstrated by starting the cooperative that they themselves chose and created;
Learned how to manage their time between studies, work at the nursery, and work at home;
Made initial visits to the bank, local authorities, ODCO (Office du Développement de Coopération), and met other people outside of the village to promote their initiative;
Opened a bank account, possibly for the first time in their lives, in order to receive income and manage cooperative finances;
Started to receive income;
Begun to experience and enjoy independence and autonomy;
Voted for administrative members; and
Created space for communication between them and other visitors to learn about the project.

The women’s cooperative now wants to expand the project. They are thinking about beekeeping and growing medicinal plants in the future.

This project has become a great example to other women and the girls in rural areas that women can change their situations for the better in the ways they want--if only they have the determination and the support to make it happen.

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Jul 27, 2020
INTEGRATIONS REVEALED BY PARTICIPATION

By Yossef Ben-Meir | President

There are a number of reasons that explain the ascendency over decades, and now the mainstream, of participatory approaches to meaningful development. We often see that when people decide upon the project or change that they most want, that they will give their energy and time to help ensure its continuity and success. We widely appreciate that each local context has comparable similarities and differences from the others. Environments, relationships, and many other factors come together to make each location special and unique, and in regards to what is specifically appropriate and desired by its people.

But there is another indelible quality to participatory action for enduring change: that is, the experience and process itself helps to reveal the bound connections between the project sectors of life and how they impact our different social and economic groups.

For example, it sadly remains so that clean and accessible drinking water remains the most common priority that rural communities in Morocco determine for themselves. We certainly need to acknowledge that in recent decades there have been important improvements, but we also cannot deny that girls’ participation in education is seriously undermined by the lack of water and sanitation systems at rural schools and that the harsh burden of fetching water from kilometers away primarily falls upon girls and women. Accessible clean drinking water not only reduces infant mortality and enhances quality of life with less disease, but also directly and measurably (up to 16% according to the World Bank) enables girls to study with basic comfort and without shame. Thus, water access and girls’ education are positively linked.

Here is another example: Let us consider the enormity of the national demand for fruit trees, and in requiring an effective investment. What is the plan on the national level to generate trees as farming families transition from traditional barley and corn to organic fruit that can be cultivated and sold in lucrative markets, particularly as raw products are processed? It takes two years for a seed to grow into a sapling, and farmers must sow and grow crops each year in order to make most basic ends meet. The provision of land for farmers to build their nurseries as a contribution where rural communities cannot meet their needs, is one essential criteria for overcoming poverty conditions.

Partnership with government agencies that can provide land in-kind for farming communities is therefore vital for the nation to achieve its goal of billions of trees. The Department of Waters and Forests, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, provincial authorities, public universities, and thoughtful civil society groups are all in a position to grant the use of land for communities to build their nurseries. At regional levels, all these agencies have done so, which underscores the point that the interplay at all sectors, faiths, administrative tiers, and components of society, together have an inescapable and undeniable role within the sustainable development process, without which, the most critical needs of the people cannot be met, even when they are empowered, determined, organized, and committed to achieving change. Unity of all strata and sectors, when combined with the community’s own unity and consensus around their plans for actions and projects, are essential to the building of better days that we need.

Part of natural resource management is about gender and youth empowerment, just as agricultural growth is tied to social solidarity, and actions that are in unison. Financial independence of women’s cooperatives is as much bound to markets as it is to water and self-discovery, justice, and participation. The High Atlas Foundation embraces the participatory approach and participatory activities for development, because it reveals these interconnections and the multifaceted plans required to bring along all sectors, individuals, groups, and layers toward a shared fulfillment.

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