On February 12th, HAF concluded the series of capacity building workshops and post-training activities on Participatory Democracy with 35 locally elected officials and students from Hassan II University’s Faculty of Law, Economics, and Social Sciences in Mohammedia. A one year program that was in partnership with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) came to an end. However, the partnerships, commitment, pursuit of developmental knowledge, and the local community initiatives that were all catalyzed during the program still very much continue – and HAF is a dedicated partner to fully implement the community actions plans for development that were created during the experiential training workshops.

The post training activities, which were conducted at HAF’s Center for Community Consensus-Building and Sustainable Development, included monthly meetings, consultative sessions, and roundtable discussions. Among the workshops that took place included: facilitating participatory community planning activities, resources available to local communities for implementing development projects, negotiating partnership agreements, fundraising for community-based projects, and strategic planning.

The High Atlas Foundation is extremely grateful to the highly experienced presenters of the workshops: Dr. Driss Aassi, Economist and Consultant Professor at the Faculty of Law Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Cadi Ayyad in Marrakech and a representative of the INDH; Dr. Badr Fadli, Professor of International Finance Management, and Financial Communications at the Faculty of Law, Economics and Social Sciences in Mohammedia; and Mr. Mohssine Tadlaoui-Cherki, Director of the Environment Program at the United States Peace Corps in Morocco.

The High Atlas Foundation would also like to thank its own Projects and Training Manager, Mr. Abderrahim Ouarghidi, for his incredible dedication to the mission and expertise in the participatory approach. Also, of course, a heartfelt thank you to Nabila Jaber, HAF’s Center Coordinator, for her excellent professionalism while organizing the workshops and special abilities she brings to the field.

The capacity building program on Participatory Democracy was a success, for it transferred to the participants the essential participatory facilitation skills to achieve sustainable development projects, and also provided them the opportunity to interact and build relationships with each other and the local communities they serve.

Next up: A NED supported program to train 55 leaders and community members of the Rural Commune of Toubkal, with the goal of applying the participatory approach with each of the 43 villages of the Commune to the point of a village-based plan of action to implement priority projects – and then of course the implementation of those plans. This experience will highly inform the Commune’s development plan that they submit to the ministries of Finance and Interior, and will create a national example of how Commune’s can fulfill their Charter through the participatory development approach.

Click here to read about this training program in the news.