As in all aspects of life, perhaps even every dimension of living, the family figures preeminently in our person-formation and is profoundly defining in the lives that we lead, the opportunities that we have, and even the opportunities that we even know about or understand. One thing I have come to realize speaking with people of different situations in life is that even when an opportunity hits us right in the face, we may not know it if we’re not brought up or trained to know it.

In the planning of sustainable development projects, the family unit, being composed of family members, and the family itself being part of the overall composition of community, figures so decisively in the planning of the future of development for a location or community area. 

What’s key is that projects that emerge from individual, familial, and community discussions and their analyses of their own needs have to suit at all levels the person, the family unit, and the community. That is why the empowerment experience that we facilitate over a four day period as a launch towards sustainable development figures so importantly into the process of projects being designed and adapted to meet the interests of the one, the family, and the community. In rural Morocco, where water is absolutely paramount, clean water systems directly meet the objectives of one and all. Water and waste management at schools, for example, suit the needs of a single person and all persons in that community. 

The family is made up of people, and families make up communities, and there families stand at  a singularly unique place to ensure that all of their members and among all the families of which they are part are the carriers of shared growth for generations to come.