Women's Empowerment in Africa

Imagine, innovated in conjunction with the U.S.-based Empowerment Institute and supported in Morocco by the National Endowment for Democracy, is a four-day empowerment workshop that aids women in gaining new perspective on their agency and rights under Moroccan national law Moudawana. The workshop design prompts participants to reflect upon seven integral areas of their lives: money, spirituality, body, relationships, sexuality, emotions, and work. Imagine aims to strengthen individuals’ abilities to overcome inner blocks (e.g., physical and emotional abuse, lack of self-confidence, fixed/traditional gender roles, etc.) to achieve self-actualization. Participants begin by visualizing their futures, then move on to the seven life areas, and finally explore how Moudawana applies to different areas of their lives. For example, women will be educated on their rights and lawful potential outside of their strict traditional boundaries. This imposes higher self-awareness, which provides the power to create one’s "own change," particularly among marginalized populations. By conducting Imagine workshops that integrate the rights-based approach to Moudawana, the High Atlas Foundation fosters females’ self-discovery, which, as we have found, is a necessary step in the process of increasing self-awareness, self-identified needs and goals, and both the confidence and participation in defending their rights granted by law.

Notably, we consistently observe on Day One of Imagine that women often feel they do not have the option to visualize their future differently. However, by Day Four they become active in expanding their capabilities and independence, defining “visions” or long-term goals. One participant reported, “I’ve never had such an opportunity as this. We need such exercises to listen to our inner voice and beliefs.”

Imagine showcases women’s personal growth and agency and, often, their newfound motivation to pursue economic independence. Imagine’s issue-specific workshops covering the width of societal topics for females is particularly essential to their skills building and economic development, as any goals they may want to pursue will otherwise not directly reflect their own interests and needs, and thus prohibit long-term success. The conclusion of Imagine regularly leads to women’s increased confidence to seek economic independence through cooperative building. Based on past experiences, HAF hypothesizes that at least one women’s cooperative will result from every Imagine workshop.

Moreover, Imagine often results in many other significant outcomes as well. For example, of the 460 women from the Provinces of Al Haouz, Boujdour, Tinghir, Marrakech, and Oujda who benefited from Imagine empowerment workshops, 10 female university students received training to become facilitators of empowerment programs themselves. Additionally, in 21 Imagine four-day workshops in 9 provinces with 95 girls (535 women), eight girls did not enter into early marriage, and 37% reported progress toward education and economic initiative opportunities after participating in Imagine. One woman reported: "My husband felt that I am a new person to him. I talked strongly without any doubt in myself. He asked, ‘What is the secret in changing your way in talking with more confidence?’ I told him it is the impact of training. I learned from it a lot.” Lastly, as a result of Imagine, 35 women and girls initiated a literacy program in their village by hiring a female university student to teach; 65 women joined parent associations and engaged in efforts to improve their children’s schools; women’s reported realizations of discovering capacities and goals; and women voiced commitments to complete school.