DEVELOPMENT-MOROCCO: Active Civil Society Vital for Ambitious National Plan

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Abderrahim El Ouali

CASABLANCA, Jun 22 2006 (IPS) - A robust civil society in Morocco could have speeded up efforts launched a year ago to improve people’s lives, development planners believe.

In May 2005, Morocco’s King Mohamed VI launched the ambitious National Initiative for Human Development (NIHD), a five-year plan for sustainable socio-economic and political development through projects for building infrastructure, employment and social services, particularly in rural areas.

Local communities, the government and non-governmental organisations were to create action plans based on local priorities and build the necessary partnerships to implement and manage the projects.

But one year later, it appears that instilling a sense of public ownership of the NIHD projects remains an enormous challenge.

The reasons are historical. ”Civil action has been completely absent during the last 20 years here, ” explained Mostafa Hannaoui, president of the Modernity Association for Moulay Rachid Youth (MAMRY). “Associations were founded only for electoral purposes,” he told IPS.

That has changed only since the king’s ascent to the throne in 1999. ”Since the enthronement of King Mohamed VI, and because political parties have lost too much credibility, associations are being given a larger margin to act,” said Hannaoui.

Moulay Rachid is a municipality in Casablanca. It was created in 1992. For the more than 100,000 people living here, there is only one “youth house, which does not have enough space for all the associations that work in the area”, Hannaoui said. Associations that do not have the means to set up independent offices are located in youth houses, particularly in poorer areas.

”For 21 years, this area suffered from the lack of infrastructure,” he observed.

The NIHD has a three-pronged strategy to tackle poverty in rural areas, marginalisation in urban centres and improve standards of living. In 2006, 264 areas in both urban areas and the countryside were earmarked to benefit from human development projects under the national plan. The initiative targets over five million people and has a budget of more than 1.1 billion dollars until 2010.

In Moulay Rachid, associations and the municipality were invited to a meeting on Jun. 3 to brainstorm on a “participative approach in local governance.” At the end of the discussion it was decided to create the Moulay Rachid Participative Space, MRPS.

A report dated Jun. 10, of which IPS has a copy, announced the creation of the MRPS but said that “the representatives of the Moulay Rachid municipality council were absent from the meeting contrary to what was recommended within the conference.”

Associations members told IPS that this absence “can be seen as a rejection of the idea since the MRPS does not serve the electoral ambitions of the municipality president”. Local elections are expected in 2007.

Some distance from Moulay Rachid, Douar Ouled Mellouk, a very poorly developed part of Casablanca’s suburbs, has been targeted under the NIHD. Residents will be provided with basic services like safe drinking water and community structures.

But Abdellah Soundouss, a father of three, who has lived in the area since 1976 may not benefit from the programme. He and some 13 other householders have been served eviction notices by local authorities who want to acquire the land on which their houses are built.

“I was called by local authorities and told that if I do not leave the house and the area where I have lived for more than 27 years, I will be sent to prison,” he told IPS.

While the other families have shifted out after accepting the compensation of around 252 euros each, Soundouss has said he has nowhere to go to. He has written to the governor of Ben Msik prefecture in Casablanca, and articles about his plight have been published in some newspapers.

“This does not fit in with the aims of the NIHD since it was set up to give equity to the poorest and to include them in social and cultural development,” Hannaoui commented. But he added that the initiative was at an early stage, and some hitches can only be expected.

Morocco’s bold plan for national development has been widely praised. There is no denying the government is committed to its implementation.

The plan has been built around community participation. The dialogue in each village and neighbourhood in the targeted areas will be facilitated by women and men who will be trained in drawing out information and ideas from participants. They will help organise meetings, manage disputes and build consensus.

The facilitators will be identified from among schoolteachers, government health and agriculture officials, politicians, non-government members and others who want to make a positive difference in the communities in which they live and work.

A National Strategy Committee has been set up as a coordinating group. Under the plan, local centres dedicated to vulnerable groups like children, women, the homeless and elderly will help them attain self-reliance through skills building.

These centres will be managed by community members and will assist local people in designing and implementing projects to help achieve ambitious sustainable development goals. They also provide the transfer of skills in modern agriculture, health, handicrafts, management and other areas identified by the local population.