Citizen centres come to the aid of Morocco's underprivileged

2007-08-09

The new Dar Al Mouwaten facilities provide citizens from the country's poorest areas with social assistance, meeting space, and training to help bring them in step with mainstream society.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 09/08/2007

[Sarah Touahri] The mission of citizen centres is to provide information and orientation on social and administrative organizations.

Local communities in Morocco have come together to fight the social exclusion of their most vulnerable citizens. With support from the National Initiative for Human Development, 80 "Dar Al Mouwaten" citizen centres have been established throughout Morocco since 2005, particularly in underprivileged districts and rural communes. According to the Communications Department of the Ministry of Social Development, Family and Solidarity, the creation of these institutions is the result of community initiatives, to respond to citizens' needs for meeting places, consultation, and work.

The government determined that existing social organizations (youth clubs, women's clubs, culture centres and training centres) could not satisfy all the social needs of a diverse and growing population and decided to launch the "citizen centre" programme.

The mission of these centres is to provide information and orientation on social and administrative organisations (health, training, micro-credit, etc.). The centres offer social mediation for those in difficulty, education courses for adults, non-formal education for young people, academic support and citizenship education.

Deputy Director for Social Action with the National Mutual Aid programme (Entraide Nationale) Abdeljalil Cherkaoui said that the Dar Al Mouwaten projects are part of a national strategy to fight poverty and social exclusion, and to promote culture and education and establish partnerships with civil society.

Rachid Allali, provincial delegate of National Mutual Aid for Errachidia, affirmed that the Dar Al Mouwaten is intended to provide an interactive space, concentrating community-based politics on the development of social action and the promotion of socially responsible governance that responds to the needs of the target population.

Mohamed Sarghini, a young law student, told Magharebia that the creation of the citizen centre in Ain Sebaa last June was a praise-worthy initiative: "It's a first for the disadvantaged people of the district who, from now on, will be able to benefit from workshops on social action, awareness-raising and orientation. Furthermore, Dar Al Mouwaten guarantees the organisation of meetings and debates to integrate the inhabitants of Hay Mohammadi-Ain Sebaa into the social fabric."

Many are expressing their satisfaction with the creation of this structure. Samira Benabbou, who holds a degree in economics, pointed out that besides these educational benefits, the centre offers employment-seekers and young people training, to facilitate their entry into the working world, particularly skills training geared toward television professions and new information and communication technologies.

The citizen centre also allows women to learn a trade. This was the case for Hadda Bent Mohammed, who is in the process of learning sewing at the citizen centre of Casablanca. "My husband is a taxi driver and his income is limited. I am learning sewing here to be able to help him support the home. I have no problem because I leave my son in the citizen centre's day-care facility," she said.