Women's Empowerment in Africa

2 October 2021—Step by step, Douar Lakdirat will be one of the Moroccan villages that will benefit from High Atlas Foundation (HAF) services and open for the new world, enhancing the socioeconomic and environmental situation.. The first step was when the HAF staff visited the village in the Jnane Bouih commune of Youssoufia for a field study.

The next step came with the HAF leader of women’s empowerment training, Mrs. Fatima Zahra; Zineb, Sanae, and Hajiba joined her to facilitate the Imagine workshop with the women of Douar Lakdirat in June. Four days with these women gave the HAF team the opportunity to discover a powerful and capable group of women who are making positive changes in their Douar.

The third step was when Mrs. Amina, another expert trainer, continued meeting with the 23 women. The objective of this workshop is to discover what the women would like most to do and see if they are willing to create a cooperative. The participatory approach is the key to know exactly what this community wants: in this case, for their children to have the opportunity and good fortune to live in better conditions than they do. The question remains: how? To respond to this question, the workshop helps participants focus on their real needs (PA) and gives us and them the clarity of what Douar Lakdirat has as human and natural resources, and what this Douar has as challenges to resolve.

Three hours of thinking and discussing showed us that their first priorities are the primary school and the fruit trees nursery is the second priority. The result of this workshop was fourteen priorities, and one of them is creating a cooperative, among others, such as a water well for drinking and agriculture, literacy, school infrastructure and transportation, a mosque for women, a communal hammam and oven, and electricity. We explained the steps to create a cooperative, and it will be necessary to follow up with training from the Cooperation Development Office (ODCO). They know what they want 100%, so the fourth step will come soon when an ODCA member helps them to create their first local cooperative. Also, it will be great to see if there is a cooperative in Youssoufia and plan a visit for the women so they can have an idea of the cooperative.

Abdelghni and Mustapha also joined the HAF team on that visit, testing the depth and quality of the water. Mustapha was with the technician all day, providing more details in a separate report.

It's not about what we have or what we are missing, but about how we can manage and use what we have even if it is small, still knowing that we can use whatever resources we have to achieve our goals. The biggest dream will come with the smallest steps.