UNESCO praise Moroccan steps to improve life of villagers
Morocco-UN, Culture, 7/14/1998

UNESCO praised in its latest newsletter, "Sources," the action taken by "the Moroccan Association of Research-Action for Health and Hygiene" (AMRASH) which is mobilizing villagers, local authorities and a network of partners to achieve the development of 25 villages in southern Morocco.

Since 1988, "AMRASH", to which UNESCO has contributed $45,000, has been conducting various community actions to endow villagers with knowledge and improve the daily life of the poorest populations, the newsletter says.

UNESCO recalls that it was Dr. Leila Tazi who was behind the idea and that she sought the support of a group of doctors, sociologists, entrepreneurs and bankers who share the same values, mainly those of solidarity. The association's action is materialized by the program called "SEVES", an acronym that groups the major fields of action: Solidarity, Mutual Aid, Village, Education, Water (Electricity) and health, Map reported.

The publication cites the example of a remote village, Aguersioual, which has witnessed a genuine evolution when the villagers built a community center that comprises classrooms, a small handicraft museum, a library, a sewing workshop and other facilities that can be used as a rural hostel, since the region is visited by tourists and hikers. The center is also equipped with a solar energy device and irrigation means.

The villagers and the association are planning a water supply and sanitation project and a production cooperative.

AMRASH is projecting to conduct the same experience that promotes community participation and self-help in over 20 other villages.

Meanwhile, other improvement projects are ongoing in Morocco. In one such project, China has supplied Morocco with 98 water pumps for a wide-ranging program to supply rural areas with drinking water.

Two Chinese experts were dispatched to operate the pumps, which will supply drinking water to 45,000 inhabitants in various rural regions. The program seeks to supply drinking water to 11 million inhabitants. Through this program, Morocco hopes to overcome the disparities existing between urban and rural areas.

The program, supported by some donor-countries, has so far raised rural populations' access to water from 14 percent in 1990 to 32 percent presently.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women "ADFM" and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities "UNFPA" signed in Rabat on Monday a partnership agreement for the promotion of women both in rural and urban areas.

The agreement comprises a series of targets, mainly the schooling of girls in the rural world and supporting the association's efforts for holding a spring university, in addition to fostering decision-makers' awareness of the need to raise girls' schooling level.

The agreement provides for conducting an awareness campaign in the northern Moroccan city of Chefchaouen on reproductive health, sustainable development and environment.

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