Information technology working for human rights in Morocco

25/08/2006

The Tanmia.ma association has produced a CD-ROM to promote women's and children's rights in Morocco. The "Know Your Rights" project has been largely financed by the EU.

By Rachid Jankari for Magharebia in Casablanca – 25/08/06

[File] Tanmia

The Tanmia.ma association has produced a CD-ROM to promote human rights in partnership with several NGOs and EU funding. The programme includes six Flash-animated series aimed at raising awareness about women's and children's rights in Morocco. The teaching resource is based on true stories from focus groups of men, women and children.

The CD-ROM, part of the "Know Your Rights" project, can be accessed online and will be available to human rights organisations beginning in September. Tanmia has decided to distribute it openly, knowing it can be freely copied and distributed by other parties. The association also hopes to distribute the CD-ROM to schools so the next generation will learn about the new Moudawana family code, which protects women's rights in marriage, divorce and child custody. The code, as well as the principle of children's rights under current Moroccan legislation, is explained via simple concepts. The series is available in Arabic, Amazigh and French.

The other three series focus on the need to stay in school, the right not to have to work and protection from domestic abuse.

Tanmia has worked with the Moroccan Association of Assistance to Children in Precarious Situations, the Moroccan Association of Family Planning, Afoulki, the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women, Association Annakhil, the Initiative for Protecting Women's Rights, and the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour to ensure the appropriateness of its messages to its target audience and to write the scripts for the series and descriptions of the characters.

Through its involvement in the project and its interaction with EU experts, Tanmia director Majda Bessaih said on the EU website, the organisation has found a way of "sending this resource out to reach the whole public -- educated and illiterate people alike".

Since its creation in 2004, the association has worked to promote new technologies in Morocco. Apart from "Know Your Rights", Tanmia has recently launched a Web kit for creating tailored Internet sites for associations in French and Arabic. Each subscribing association will be entitled to a Web site hosted on: www.assodev.ma/association, a search engine, discussion forums and e-mail addresses. The Web kit costs 1,999 dirhams for the first year and 899 dirhams for each subsequent year.

Tanmia's overall stated mission is to re-enforce the capacities of and help sustain civil society organisations in Morocco and increase networking and communication through user-friendly technology.