NEF (Near East Foundation) -- 2007 Annual Report -- Country Report; Morocco

In the remote Moroccan village of Tamzrite, 13-year-old Mohamed Angmar and his eight-year-old sister stayed at home to help support the family by working in the fields and gathering wood. Their parents had difficulty raising money for necessary school supplies and limited awareness about the value of education. As a result, Mohamed attended primary school sporadically and his sister not at all.

This is one of many examples why NEF (Near East Foundation) works with rural villages in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco to address the critical, intertwined issues of education and poverty. Villages average 800 inhabitants in a region lacking water, electricity and adequate roads. The scarcity of water was most telling on my last visit in June, in which only I and another colleague were offered something to drink while the rest of the group had nothing. Families live on less than $10 a month in small mud-and-rock houses with traditional latrines. Villagers traverse over 20 miles of harsh terrain by foot or donkey to reach larger towns for hospitals, government administration, and markets.

OTHER BARRIERS

Traditional cultural norms limit the access of girls to education. Women usually do not travel outside their home without a male family member; many women have never traveled beyond the boundaries of their village; and few women undertake any kind of leadership role. Girls are kept at home to assist in gathering wood for cooking or other household chores. As a result, girls' school attendance rates range between zero to 10 percent, with an 80 percent dropout rate when they do go.

In addition, formalized education outside of Koranic schools is rare. When talking about the local primary school, one Parent-Teacher Council member told me: "At first we thought it was a government building, we did not know it was for the community. The only school we had heard of before was the Koranic school in the mosque. We did not understand what this new building was for."

While primary education is free and compulsory, most schools are in disrepair and lack funding to rebuild, as well as essential school supplies and teaching materials. Broken classroom windows, open latrines and lack of heating keep teachers and children away. While the school year officially starts in September, teachers often do not arrive until December, even March, deterred by the tough living conditions. Low school attendance has resulted in an illiteracy rate of 90 per cent, decreased access to jobs, and increased vulnerability.

NEF INTERVENTION

In response to these challenges, NEF has organized Parent-Teacher Councils to help parents take more responsibility for ensuring that their children attend school and receive the education they need; and to help parents and teachers mobilize resources to improve schools and make secondary education available in nearby towns. In addition to establishing over 20 Parent-Teacher Councils (PTC) in 21 villages, and involving women in decision-making positions, NEF has provided technical assistance and training on association and financial management, strategic planning, awareness raising, and partnership development.

To build awareness, Parent-Teacher Councils convene community meetings and inform parents of the value of education for their daughters and sons. They encourage parents to sign a written commitment to send their kids to primary school; in exchange, families receive assistance with school supplies and membership in the local Parent-Teacher Council. NEF assists PTCs to raise funds to improve schools, purchase school materials, conduct women adult literacy classes, and host extra-curricular activities and summer workshops.

BEYOND EXPECTATIONS

The results of NEF's work have been extraordinary. Within three years, 100 percent of students attend primary school with 98 percent retention. Girls comprise 51 percent of the student body, and over 900 women have graduated from literacy classes. Women hold leadership positions and travel unescorted to nearby villages and the city center. A group of women even traveled to the regional administrative center to petition local authorities to implement the new national family code. Women and men have joined in political campaigns to support pro-education candidates for the September 2007 local elections.

In the past, school inspectors typically visited once a year; now they are in each village twice a month to conduct training or participate in Parent-Teacher Council meetings. There are the beginnings of income-generating projects, such as in Iminoulaoune Village, where NEF provided the local PTC with 10 goats. Over the course of a year the PTC bred 32 additional goats--worth $6,000 in revenue to support educational activities.

At the May 25th National Day of Children's Rights promoting education for all primary age school children, more than 1,000 children, 36 teachers, 20 school principals, two government inspectors, 97 Parent-Teacher Councils, and 42 women leaders participated. We had hoped for 400 graduates from literacy classes and achieved 919. The targeted number of Parent-Teacher Council meetings was 116; 545 were held. The number of community activities held at school surpassed our target of 94 and reached 352. There were 41 partnerships between mother and satellite schools instead of our goal of 21. And perhaps most startling of all, given the deprivation of the area, the communities and local government invested $415,615 in local education.

"This was a community completely isolated and ignorant of their rights. Now they discuss issues publicly about family planning and education. They work together to find common solutions and advocate to local government. They are curious and open," commented Abdelmajid Ouldhamra, school director of Ait Aafan, adding, "Before they were aggressive, hostile and resistant."

Funded by the US State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), the formally-titled MEPI Primary Education Reform project had its closing workshop June 1, 2007 hosting 60 participants, including the Director of National Education in Ouarzazate. NEF has created such a buzz and energy that everyone wants to be involved. After speaking with almost all government officials attending, I can confidently say NEF has established a successful model of rural educational reform--engaging all partners and providing the tools and resources to move that model forward.

This success has been recognized with a new $1.5 million, two-and-a-half year MEPI grant for Moroccan community involvement in primary education--the next step in formalizing and institutionalizing the NEF approach learned in the 21 rural villages of Ghessate and Iminoulaoune region. The new project will work with local and regional governments to develop a comprehensive strategy on rural education and build local government capacity to train civil servants, develop partnerships, and manage financial resources.

BACK TO THE ANGMARS

For 13-year old Mohamed everything has changed, "In the past I often stayed at home, particularly when it was cold. There was no heat in the schools. The (school) rooms were empty and dirty. The teacher was often absent. No one seemed to care. There was little for us to do. When the project started, my mother told me she wanted me in school every day. At school, I found that things were changing. (The) teacher was there and we had new books and paper to write on. When I took my work home, my parents were proud of me. I felt like I was doing something and wanted to go back. Maybe I can even continue on to secondary school in the town nearby." This is an inspiring comment since on average only two graduating primary students of 30, actually attend secondary school. Secondary schools are often located in distant towns more than a day's walk and where students must live in dorms.

Ahmed has plans for his future too. Before he thought he would simply follow in the footsteps of his father and help take care of the animals and small farm. Now with a government scholarship to continue on to secondary school in a nearby village, he has different plans. "I want to be a teacher, and invest in my community when I get older. This means that I will have to go to high school and college, but I can do it." His mother was so proud of his scholarship, she went in person to the city to pick-up the paperwork--the first time she had ever traveled outside her village.

COMMUNITIES HAVE THEIR SAY IN SLUM UPGRADING

Over five million Moroccans live in shantytowns, surviving on less than $1.25 a day in crowded makeshift houses with no access to water or electricity. The country has an urbanization rate of 44 percent with one out of every five Moroccans living in a shantytown.

In 2003, the Government of Morocco launched its City without Slums Initiative with the aim of building 100,000 apartments a year, as well as providing basic social services, such as a health care, schools, and public baths, for shantytown residents. With community rehabilitation, slum dwellers should overcome the frustration, exclusion, delinquency and extremism that flourishes in these impoverished urbanized neighborhoods.

To ensure that citizens' views are heard and their concerns addressed by local officials in this restructuring, the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) and NEF are collaborating on a United States Agency for International Development-funded program to provide social support and mediation mechanisms to the community and technical assistance and training to local civil society organizations.

Since its launch in 2005, the three-year project's Citizen's Participation in Slum Upgrading Component, one of five, has trained local non-governmental organizations and public sector entities to improve their performance in addressing social issues in slum upgrading; assisted over 2,000 residents by establishing local coordinating units to provide social support; and coordinated over 50 dialogues between local government and the community.

ENNAKHIL SHANTYTOWN

In Noucer, Morocco's largest growing hub for shantytowns, the shantytown of Ennakhil houses more than 5,200 residents. The Ministry of Housing and Urbanism plans to re-house residents into 910 new apartments. NEF has worked closely with the community to raise awareness, engage citizens in the decision-making process and build the capacity of local associations.

BUILD CAPACITY

Before NEF started working with this neighborhood, residents did not organize, build community consensus, or represent their concerns to local government. They were resistant to resettlement, which threatened to shift their rural lifestyle into an urban environment. With training and one-on-one facilitation, residents have become aware of the benefits of moving and have engaged in defining their new living conditions in collaboration with partners.

In 2005, Al Omrane, the technical operator, announced that all apartments would be 60 m² in size and will be a sold at a fixed rate of $6,600 per unit. Recently, the community associations discovered that the apartments in fact varied in size from 45 m² to 64 m². With their newly-gained skills, residents advocated for a change in pricing.

Through NEF's mediation, the community and government agreed that the smallest apartment, at 45 m² would be fixed at $6,000, and each additional m² would cost $72. Although this increased prices overall, the community preferred a more equitable solution. As one community member articulated, "We are satisfied; this is fair." Community members started moving into their new homes starting July 16, 2007.