Women's Empowerment in Africa

After nearly a year of working with the High Atlas Foundation on the development of a business plan for value added-walnut processing as volunteer consultants from the University of Pennsylvania, our team had the opportunity to visit several of HAF’s agricultural cooperatives and walnut tree nurseries in the Al Haouz province of Morocco. While visiting these sites, we spoke to local growers and processors in order to understand the progress of existing projects, goals for future development, and barriers that remain to maximizing economic and social returns for rural communities.

We began our trip with a visit to the House of Life Fruit Tree Nursery in Akrich. We were amazed by the innovative agricultural techniques that have allowed this nursery to sustainably grow and thrive. After a tour of the nursery and burial ground of a Jewish-Moroccan saint, we enjoyed a traditional Moroccan breakfast with the caretaker and another volunteer from Slovenia who has been in Akrich since January conducting anthropological research. In addition to issues related to sustainable agriculture, we discussed structural barriers to girls’ education in the region. 

From Akrich, we continued our journey and made our next stop at HAF’s walnut processing facility in Al Haouz. This visit was particularly meaningful as it imbued our work from the past several months with a concrete, perceptible dimension. Seated at the front steps of the facility, in a small courtyard with a breathtaking view of the High Atlas Mountains, we received a highly detailed account of the various steps involved in walnut-processing operations, from the initial purchase of raw walnuts from local growers to the packaging, labeling and certification of finished products. This conversation was invaluable to our finalization of the business plan, helping us to verify and adjust our assumptions to fit the specific social, economic, and environmental context of the local community.

Our final visit of the afternoon was to the Takhrkhourt Women’s Cooperative. After sharing some laughs over stories of their time attending primary school together, the young women emphasized to us the sense of inner peace and happiness that they had found in their work at the cooperative. They disclosed that after years of staying at home, the opportunity to go to work each day and to witness and enjoy the fruits of their labor has been enormously fulfilling.

The following day, we visited the Aboghlo Cooperative in Asni. The women here shared with us their experiences in HAF’s Imagine Workshop, an empowerment program that provides training in communication, coalition-building, and conflict mediation. We were struck by the strong sense of camaraderie among these women, and the candor and conviction with which they articulated their needs for improving working conditions.

At another cooperative higher up in the mountains, our conversations centered around the continued challenge of securing funding for solar panels and sustainable water systems to support the continued growth of tree planting initiatives in the region. We learned about HAF’s youth environmental training and educational programs which focus on the importance of planting trees for sustainable carbon reduction, food security, and stable income for village communities. Additionally, we spoke to a women’s cooperative about their personal goals and aspirations, from finishing their studies to pursuing careers in programming and fashion design.

Our final visit was to one of HAF’s largest nurseries, which has been operational for 13 years and is tucked away in a shaded terrace of incredibly beautiful and verdant land. We were shown the advanced irrigation system that waters the trees and learned about HAF’s ongoing effort to transition away from a gas-powered water source to solar-powered irrigation.

Our visits to HAF’s sites these past two days have been incredibly informative and serve as a powerful reminder of the reasons we remain committed to this work and the lives and livelihoods that are at stake.

Caroline, Rohan, Anjali and Elisa are undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania and team members in Penn International Impact Consulting, a student-run organization at UPenn that partners with NGOs from developing regions and seeks to empower them in achieving their social missions.

Generally, self-empowerment is referred to as the process which leads people to exert greater control over their lives. It is about believing in oneself, setting goals, and making positive choices. That is to say, having to understand our strengths and weaknesses and having belief in ourselves.

This view of self-empowerment was at the core of Imagine workshop‘s goals and objectives. The purpose of the workshop, which was held from May 4 to May 7, 2021, and dedicated to student beneficiaries from Cadi Ayyad University, was to enable young women to take initiative in changing the way they see themselves and the world around them. It was also highlighted throughout the workshop that the first and foremost key element of self-empowerment is to have a vision and to work towards achieving it.

The four-day training focused on seven key areas (emotions, relationships, sexuality, body, money, work, and religion). Each of these areas was discussed at a round table, allowing the participants to share their ideas, thoughts, and experiences. Given the different perspectives everyone has about self-empowerment, its meaning remains common. Among the pillars that make self-empowerment what it is, the participants mentioned:

- self-reliance;

- decision-making;

- the ability to identify one’s strengths and weaknesses;

- self- actualization;

- self-awareness;

- self-esteem;

- trusting the process of development; and

- overcoming fears.

The workshop included both theoretical knowledge and practical exercises to concretize and put into practice each and every aspect learned about self-empowerment. Practices were in the form of self-introspection sessions which allowed the participants to observe and examine their own conscious thoughts and feelings.

Participants were asked four main questions in order for them to locate themselves in relation to their visions. These questions were: Where am I now in relation to my vision? Where do I want to get? What is my limiting belief? Am I convinced?

The training offered an opportunity to open up and talk with ease about the things that weigh us down and hinder our personal and professional growth. The participants together identified their different limiting beliefs and how to overcome them.

Generally, the blocking beliefs are either intrinsic or extrinsic. On the one hand, intrinsic beliefs usually come from within. That is, thoughts we build and believe about ourselves which happen to be wrong most of the time. On the other hand, extrinsic ones are social constructs and stereotypes we get from outside of ourselves (i.e., from society, friends, family, and relatives) and which set a social model by which people socially behave.  

The four-day journey definitely left a positive impact on the young women and how they see themselves. What attests to this are the testimonials they provided and how they came to talk about their future projects by the end of the workshop. The confidence and the sense of initiative they manifested proves a reassuring present and a promising future of self-actualization and self-determination.