Gender Equality Morocco Project #47743

Help Empowerment Facilitators Reach 700 Teen Girls

by Project Soar

Project Report | May 23, 2022
Kaltouma: From school dropout and child bride to Soar Facilitator and law student

By Victoria Di Gaetano | Communications Assistant

Kaltouma (right) with a Soar girl

Hi Friends!

Project Soar is sending gratitude to you, our dedicated supporters, and positive wishes for continued good health and happiness for you and your loved ones.

Our incredible Soar Facilitators have been leading many exciting initiatives and activities for teen girls over the past four months. In February we launched a new project called the BIGGER Movement (Building a Greater Girls’ Rights Movement), which aims to close all legal loopholes to child marriage in Morocco by 2025. In April, we conducted a week-long advocacy training led by 6 Soar Facilitators and our partner Mobilizing Rights Associates (MRA). Soar Facilitators are, and have always been, at the very core of the Soar feminist movement. Many Soar Facilitators wish to empower girls in their own communities since they themselves have faced challenges and setbacks because of their gender. We reached out to Kaltouma El Mostaghni, a new and resilient Soar Facilitator this year in Ouarzazate, Morocco, to learn more about her powerful story to share with you:

In 1998, Kaltouma was a child bride at 15 years old, forced to drop out of school. Unfortunately she endured intimate partner violence which later led to a divorce. Twenty years after her school drop-out and re-building her life, she returned to school and passed her Baccalaureate exam. This was just the beginning. Kaltouma is now pursuing a law degree and is enrolled at Ibn Zohr University in Agadir in the faculty of Legal, Economic and Social Sciences. Her ultimate goal is to help protect girls’ education and fight child marriage. Recently she updated Soar Program Coordinator Kaoutar Arhenbou that she passed all of her exams of the first semester with flying colors!

“After 20 years of suffering, I had to make a change. Now I want to help Soar Girls avoid underage marriage and dropping out of school.” - Kaltouma

Kaltouma is not only a brilliant student with an important objective, but also a great Soar Empowerment Facilitator helping 18 Soar Girls from underserved areas in her community of Ouarzazate to understand their Value, Voice, Body, Rights and Path. This week she is currently facilitating the 23rd of 25 weekly Soar empowerment workshops. She has also helped the girls launch their own Soar Club, and during the 2021/22 academic year she has organized 2 Soar Community Dialogues with her co-facilitator and the girls in her squad. 98 community members and stakeholders in total have attended their dialogues which addressed themes of women entrepreneurship in Ouarzazate as well as the community issue of child marriage. Kaltouma planned guest speakers at the events including female entrepreneurs, law students, and the Vice-President of the Commission for Equality and Equal Opportunities in Ouarzazate as well as the Vice President of the Regional Council of Tinghir. Their second dialogue also connected two of their Soar Girls with writing opportunities with the Association of Women Writers of Morocco in the Draa-Tafilalet region. These dialogues are bringing key community leaders in the same room with Soar Girls to push the needle for better girls’ education outcomes to protect them from child marriage.

Women leaders like Kaltouma are truly vital to the mission of Project Soar. We will continue to amplify the stories, commitment and energy that facilitators like Kaltouma bring to their communities as Soar Facilitators.

We are close to our campaign goal thanks to all of you. Your generosity has supported 76 facilitators to deliver the Soar program to over 1,150 girls in two cohorts since we launched this campaign in July 2020. Facilitators like Kaltouma remind us why it is so important to support local women to be role models, mentors and advocates for teen girls in any community.

Stay tuned for more stories from these incredible women, and never doubt you are making a difference!

Warmest Wishes,

The Project Soar Team

Kaltouma, Soar Facilitator in Ouarzazate, Morocco

Kaltouma (5th from right) w/ Soar Girls @ dialogue

Permalink

Jan 25, 2022
"Now my joy is their joy:" Insights from a Soar Facilitator

By Tess Dunn | Program Manager

Facilitator Oumaima (white shirt) with Soar Girls

Dear friends,

Project Soar is sending its gratitude to you, our supporters, and positive wishes for good health and happiness for you and your loved ones.

Project Soar is now full steam ahead with our programs, operating 37 squads across 7 regions of Morocco with a total of 71 active Empowerment Facilitators at this time. This year, as with every year, Project Soar is privileged to have strong, feminist, women mentors leading Soar Girls through our five module Empowerment Curriculum focused on Value, Voice, Body, Rights, and Path.

One such rockstar Empowerment Facilitator is Oumaima Bedduaf of Ouarzazate, who never ceases to impress us with her dedication to and passion for teen girl empowerment. A selfless leader in every sense, Oumaima has powered through the Soar Empowerment Curriculum, personally delivering 22.5 empowerment hours to 21 Soar Girls in Ouarzazate so far and is poised to host their second of three Community Dialogues that allows space for Soar Girls as well as community stakeholders to engage in conversations on gender equity challenges and brainstorm actionable ways to improve them.

Project Soar Empowerment Facilitators often times find that not only are they leaving an impact on the girls, but the girls are leaving an impact on them as well. "I find myself evolving and learning more about the girls more and more with every encounter. I make sure to treat them equally and support them when needed," Oumaima says, "I get so delighted when I hear my name is mentioned by one of their teachers or their coaches - this tells me that I am doing this right. I feel happy encouraging them to do well in their studies and I already see that their grades have improved. It is an honour for me and for Project Soar that we are able to help and guide these girls and leave a positive impact on them. Now my joy is their joy."

Faciliators like Oumaima take this inspiration and motivation to not only deliver the Project Soar programs with passion and patience, but also continuously exceed expectations by finding additional opportunities for Soar Girls that boost their exposure to cultural events, networking opportunities and more. For example this month, Oumaima initiated a field trip to a local history museum for her squad and even brought three Soar Girls to a public speaking workshop hosted by a local non-profit.

We are so grateful for your continued support of our Empowerment Facilitators, like Oumaima, who go above and beyond to ensure Soar Girls excel and succeed no matter the challenges they face.

Stay tuned for more stories from these incredible women, and never doubt you are making a difference!

Warmest Wishes,

The Project Soar Team

Permalink

Sep 27, 2021
Ready for a New Year of Empowerment

By Lela Macaire | Special Programs Assistant

Khadija Boulahcen, PS Empowerment Facilitator

Dear friends,

Project Soar is sending its gratitude to you, our supporters, and positive wishes for good health and happiness for you and your loved ones.

We are currently in the process of launching a new year of the Project Soar in a Box (PSB) Empowerment Curriculum in sites across Morocco. Our signature bags and boxes, full of all the supplies needed to implement the program, have been packed and shipped, and this year's new Empowerment Facilitators are wrapping up their in depth training. This is an exciting time of fresh starts and new beginnings for everyone at Project Soar, including all of our wonderful Empowerment Facilitators. 23 Empowerment Facilitators are in the process of completing their training virtually and, along with the 35 renewing Empowerment Facilitators, we are ready to welcome girls to our sites across the country and get started with the 2021/2022 edition of the Project Soar in a Box program!

Khadija Boulahcen is one of our amazing Empowerment Facilitators turned full time Program Assistant at Project Soar. Her dedication and relentless hard work are a constant source of inspiration for those around her. Khadija has successfully guided 20 girls through the Empowerment Curriculum and inspired countless girls beyond this with Project Soar values. Additionally, since joining Project Soar as a full time employee, she has played a vital role in organizing the rollout of a new year of Project Soar in a Box. Khadija shares some reflections on her time as an Empowerment Facilitator and her hopes for the future of Project Soar.

"I wanted to do something for the girls." Khadija says when asked about why she initially decided to become an Empowerment Facilitator. "When I was their age, I would have loved to have had someone to listen to me, to guide me, to give me advice" she continues. Khadija recalls how proud she was to witness the girls progressing in front of her eyes as she guided them through the 5 modules focused on Value, Voice, Body, Rights, and Path. She says that “comparing the girls from the first session to even just the middle of the curriculum, you can see the very positive changes taking place.” She shares how the girls became more confident and more comfortable speaking out and voicing their opinions, which she found incredibly rewarding to observe.

For the coming year, Khadija has hopes and aspirations, especially for the new Project Soar girls living in rural areas. Having grown up in a rural village in Morocco, she says “It is in rural areas where the program is most needed, as girls from these more remote places are often lacking the tools they need to express their thoughts and a safe space to do so.”

Khadija and all of our Empowerment Facilitators are an essential part of Project Soar. Without them, we would not be able to deliver the Project Soar in a Box Empowerment Curriculum. They are strong and inspiring women who serve as role models, guides, and confidantes to PS girls!

We are so grateful for your continued support of our Empowerment Facilitators, like Khadija, especially given the especially challenging times we now live in.

Stay tuned for more stories from these incredible women, and never doubt you are making a difference!

Warmest Wishes,

The Project Soar Team

Khadija with her Project Soar supplies.

Khadija poses with Project Soar girls.

Permalink

‹ 1 2 3 4 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.