Empowering Women for Democratic Participation

In the Maskarat village, the Farmer to Farmer program has expanded a cooperative’s beekeeping program, providing in-depth collaborative training for the community.

I recently visited Maskarat village for the second time, one year after my first trip there. My purpose in visiting was to complete an impact assessment of the Farmer to Farmer program, and visiting during the same month allowed me to gain a better understanding of the impact of the training programs conducted in the region.

Manahil Mallou is an agricultural cooperative founded in 2017 by Mrs. Khadija, who named the cooperative after the Mlalou River that flows through the Guercif region. The program holds special significance for Mrs. Khadija: married to an enthusiastic beekeeper, she also holds a rich history of living and working in agriculture. In 2020, Mrs. Khadija received a call from the Alkhayr Cooperative, the first host organization in the region to participate in the F2F program, inviting her to participate in a four-day workshop on beekeeping and queen rearing.

Through this training – facilitated by Mr. Elmassoudi, a local F2F volunteer – Mrs. Khadija was inspired and encouraged to breathe new life into her cooperative and expand the apiary with a new initiative focused on queen rearing. After applying for a small grant through the “Give Directly” program supported by USAID, she was awarded 90,000 MAD and was able to bring her dreams for the cooperative to fruition.

Over the past several years, the direct impact of the F2F program and its volunteers is clearly seen in the Manahil Mallou cooperative. Mrs. Khadija was able to greatly expand her community’s co-op, honor her husband’s legacy, and find personal fulfillment. With the grant money, she bought 30 new beehives and materials to expand the co-op’s production and queen-rearing program. Today, the co-op facilitates a thriving queen business and provides consultation on queen rearing to other farmers in the region.