Irrigation Systems for Fruit Trees in Africa

On August 12th, representatives from the High Atlas Foundation (HAF), the Moroccan Alliance for Climate and Sustainable Development (AMCDD), and the Association of Teachers of Life and Earth Sciences (AESVT) held a meeting in order to finalize their new partnership and also to prepare and plan for the first regional meeting which is to take place in the fall of this year. This collaboration will help provide a better life for five rural communities in Morocco, located in the provinces of Youssoufia, Tinfidine, Setti Fadma, Ouezzane, and Rhamna. The program team will conduct participatory meetings, deliver empowerment workshops with citizens, listen to the people’s needs, and help them to identify their priorities, create action plans, and implement change. These geographical targets are just a first step, as all parties aim to also advocate the communities’ needs - and decentralized renewable energy projects - at the regional and national levels.

Each site will have a two-month visit dedicated to facilitating the communities’ data gathering regarding their conditions and about the area, and especially regarding their priority human development projects. These visits will be supported by experts who are knowledgeable about climate and renewable energies. In order to make this initiative more effective, HAF, AMCDD, and AESVT will continue to engage in partnerships with the relevant ministries that have shared goals. These partnerships give greater support and visibility to the local initiatives and will encourage more organizations to take the lead and catalyze similar approaches in their cities and regions.

A follow-up meeting was conducted on August 19th in order to further plan activities, assign roles, and answer the following questions: What are the actions that need to be taken? When should they take place? Who is responsible for what? Which regions, which ministries, and which partners are we to approach and when? This second meeting served as an opportunity to share responsibilities for the upcoming implementation of the program.

The conclusions and outcomes from the two meetings entail a template of the working methodology that will be used during HAF’s facilitation of community discussions and planning and a list of potential partners is being prepared by AMCDD. The determination of the two sites that will be focused on at the start during the first two months of the program are Marrakech and Ouezzane.