Noting that the only unifier of Moroccan communities across the country may be their intense contextuality gives great exigence to HAF’s role here; participatory methodology is perhaps the only way forward towards community flourishing in the presence of such diversity. However, while it provides a necessary answer to Morocco’s many contexts, participatory development may also exacerbate the challenges of there being so many contexts because it requires so much patience and listening. In other words, a band-aid, one size fits all development approach would be far less effective– but easier– to apply across Moroccan contexts. 

Discussing the trials of the participatory development approach this morning, my initial conclusion was one of being stuck, admitting that perhaps participatory development was too idealistic (with regards to time, mostly) to be married with Morocco’s contexts. Thankfully, some of the GMU students’ framings for conflict resolution pose a solution to my too-quick resigned defeat. As they defined “conflict resolution” for us, the GMU students described how students’ interests within this area of study cover many levels of conflict– ranging from between two people up to international relations. However, they argued, this vast array of “conflict” can still be grouped together into this area of study because there is something continuous and generic across these conflict levels. In even the largest of conflicts, decisions and meaningful factors remain interpersonal. 

Just as the GMU conflict resolution program teaches their students, skills, efficiency, and tools can be developed to operate in multiple contexts because each context is indeed, at its base level, interpersonal. At the High Atlas Foundation, the solutions from community to community will not be transferable, but the interpersonal skills and tools they develop along the way can be, making the participatory approach both highly specific and more skill and resource rich than I had originally thought. In sum, I would argue that participatory development is not just a beautiful vision but also a practical way of engaging with varied Moroccan contexts.