Report: Morocco must involve women in development projects
2009-11-12
While Morocco's human development projects have gained ground, a recent study found that local efforts could benefit from more participation by women and young people.
By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat – 12/11/09
 [Siham Ali] Officials meet the press on Tuesday to release a report on the progress and shortcomings of Morocco's National Initiative for Human Development. |
Morocco's National Initiative for Human Development (INDH) has done a solid job of developing a charity network, but still needs more participation by women, children and local councils, according to a recent report by the initiative's oversight body.
"There is a need to resolve the lack of participation by young people and women in INDH projects," said Rachid Benmokhtar, chairman of the National Office for Human Development, which released the report on Tuesday (November 10th).
"How can we involve them [in the projects] if we can't reach them?" Benmokhtar told reporters at a press conference held in Rabat to coincide with the report's release.
Benmokhtar also said that the town-based projects of the INDH, which was launched in 2005 to combat poverty and social exclusion of vulnerable groups, do not suit urban settings, and that similar obstacles are found in rural regions.
To rectify these problems, the observatory's head is calling for "greater imagination" in setting up future projects, perhaps by uniting new efforts around a single theme such as public housing.
The report criticised the limited involvement of local councils and community representatives in INDH projects. According to the report, local councils only oversee an average of 14.2% of INDH projects every year. Urban local councils make an even poorer showing, participating in only 8.7% of INDH projects annually.
The observatory is recommending that local elected representatives, especially council chairpersons, attend a training programme on working with INDH projects.
Fatna Lkhail, an MP who chairs the rural council in Arbaoua in the Gharb region, seconded this recommendation, and acknowledged that few local officials and councils involve themselves in INDH efforts.
"That's due to objective reasons, particularly the lack of qualified personnel to set up projects, coupled with the very low levels of education among some council chairmen," she said, adding that a critical way to better support communities would be to provide training in these areas.
Lkhail also told Magharebia that, contrary to the report's claims, women and young people are getting involved in INDH projects. According to the MP, her community has created a co-operative to benefit women, and younger women receive the bulk of the benefits.
MP and Istiqlal Party leader Latifa Bennani Smires said more focus needs to be placed on INDH initiatives which also bring in revenue.
"You need to bring charities and young people together around major projects, rather than frittering the budget away on small-scale projects which are not viable," she said. Only 13% of INDH projects undertaken from 2005-2008 fit into this category. Smires also said that INDH regional committees, not larger charity networks, should take up the responsibility of launching these projects due to charities' lack of capacity to get the job done.
INDH projects were the object of another government inquiry earlier this year, which found them beneficial on the whole, but needing improvement in terms of sustainability.
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Acharif Moulay Abdellah BOUSKRAOUI Posted 2009-11-13
Morocco does not need a lesson either in human rights or in women’s rights. Simply put, this is because we are the ones who give lessons to others. His Majesty has taken important measures to reaffirm the democratic institutions and promote the freedom of justice and expression. Under His Majesty’s leadership, Morocco has made much progress in terms of human rights and women’s rights, establishing Moudawana, which guarantees women all their rights, and in establishing the family code. The family code, the outline of which was announced by His Majesty, the King during his speech to parliament on 6 October 2003, is considered by a number of observers to be a true political and historic revolution. This code institutes new relationships in the heart of the family based on equity and equality between the two spouses. The first results of the application of the family code demonstrate two years after its institution that certain developments have taken place. The family code is a true revolution. Another innovation, which is just as important and nothing less, is the adoption of the family code according to a modern formula, which eliminates terms that objectify and degrade women. In order to guarantee good conditions for the application of the family code, family courts, which are courts qualified to deal with the material, the people and the proceedings, were created along with a common fund for families. Women have full rights, just like their brothers, the men. As such, we have established fair courts, which guarantee rights to all members of the family: women, children and men. We are a state of law.
ازكاو Posted 2009-11-14
Sir, the success of the national initiative for human development and its noble goals is not limited to the programme alone and efforts made all parties to make it succeed. But it depends on eradicating some phenomena which contribute to deepening poverty especially amongst women in rural areas. They are usually subject to robbery of their properties (example of the robbery to a beehive of an old woman in Kasbah Tizragane, province of Chtouka Ait Baha). How can women be encouraged to participate in such initiative while most men and women immigrated from these villages, there is no one to protect them or help them. About this topic the association of Tizert Idaougnidef have already sent the governor of the province of Chtouka Ait Baha, the prosecutor of the king at the court of first instance in Inezgane, the head of royal gendarmerie in Ait Baha about the issue of robbery and stealing which targeted the properties and houses of residents in this region. It has witnessed a high increase in recent years of robberies. If the programme outlined by authorities in this region is a comprehensive and constructive programme, its success depends on putting an end to robbery of houses and properties.
Moroccan Patriot Posted 2009-11-18
Who Cares about Women? Why is there so much focus on increaing womens rights in Morocco? Do people really care about the rights of women? The answer is NO. I repeat: I do not care about womens rights. Womens rights imply that mens rights and childrens rights do not matter. When you isolate one group for protection, what you are really doing is targeting other groups. Either you have Human rights or you have a Despotic Dictatorship. When you surrender your religious values to try to look good on the international stage, all you end up doing is creating even more poverty and isolation on the international stage. This whole womans rights thing is absolutely out of control. You can very clearly see that the goals that women have, stability, a family, respect, prosperity do not have any basis in any of the garbage initiatives that are discussed in the article. If you really want to help women. Help them by enforcing the laws currently on the books in Morocco when it comes to inheritence. This is where many women in morocco are victimized regularly. The Uncles and Brothers of these women steal all of their inheritences. The women have no access to the courts, because women are not treated with any real respect in Moroccan govt buildings. In fact, they are victims of abuse from their families and the court systems... but then again, so are men, and so are children. The poor, which comprise about 80% of the country are constantly victimized by the rich and the institutions which are supposedly there to help protect them. It is simply mind boggling how much corruption exists.
سمية Posted 2009-11-24
Women and Moroccan development.
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