By Danielle | EBF Lead
A warm 2022 welcome from the High Atlas Mountains!
We wish you a happy and healthy year ahead. It has been a productive start to the new year, preparing the craft centres.
Tansghart Woodwork Centre was set up in 2015 to help tackle youth unemployment in the High Atlas Mountains and the lack of vocational training for young men who have dropped out of school – with an overall aim of addressing the skills gap.
Thanks to you, beneficiaries of this project have been able to increase their woodworking knowledge and continue to learn carpentry throughout the pandemic. Trainees now have the skills to create bespoke furniture and artisanal crafts with trainer support. Each new trainee has undergone rigorous health and safety training in machinery and tool usage.
In turn, the scheme is helping to support the local economy, leveraging the link between traditional crafts and cultural tourism. The team have been in good spirits and see the centre as a unique place in the mountains to learn a trade and to be able to earn money by selling their crafts in the nearby EBF Shop.
Two trainees have successfully found employment in carpentry in Casablanca and Marrakech. The remaining participants have been studying the wood properties of different tree species and gaining practical experience of processing and refining lumber.
Your support has helped the centre to purchase raw materials to work on larger projects. The trainees have been practicing how to interpret working drawings, using arithmetic and geometry to calculate sizes for furniture-making.
With sustainability at the heart of EBF’s mission, the programme is developing a sustainable wood supply, re-sawing fallen trees, preserving roots, using offcuts and pruning branches from local orchards. This has led to the creation of a stunning walnut root table which has been showcased in partner hotel Kasbah Tamadot, instilling a great sense of pride in the woodworkers.
The centre advocates good working principles and encourages a deeper understanding of the woodworking business cycle, beyond technical skills. There has been greater opportunity to use technology alongside practical training. Each trainee is taught how to budget for materials and labour to give products a fair market pricing. Trainees are encouraged to open their own bank account to help manage their earnings for the longer term. The centre is teaching important life skills to build confidence and self-esteem.
Tansghart Woodwork Centre - Looking forward to 2022
We are working on new designs which include sustainable gym equipment and a range of home decor (watch this space!) Funds will also help to build a solar kiln so that local wood can be dried at the centre. A critical next step is to engage more young school leavers to enrol once international tourism resumes. This will ensure a sustainable approach to expanding the programme.
Trainee Abdellatif says “It can be difficult to find skills training and work in the High Atlas Mountains and I am thankful to the many champions who help this project. I feel satisfied here. Tansghart Woodwork Centre means I can live and work near my home village.”
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