By Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir HAF President Various perspectives exist on the relationship between participation in development and empowerment.  First, that there is indeed a relationship is now widely recognized.[1] Some writers suggest that empowerment and participation are actually one and the same.  “Participation is another name for empowerment.”[2] Just as with other concepts, however, empowerment is

Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir President High Atlas Foundation There is a joy I feel when talking about Morocco, and the role of the High Atlas Foundation in the great national project to catalyze participatory development with all the nation’s villages and neighborhoods.  It is a dream and reality.  Morocco set itself on a path of democratic

By Errachid Montassir  Project Manager, Sami’s Project  Driving 70 kilometers on a unpaved road from the Aouloz commune in the province of Taroudant, you will find Lake Ifni nestled amid the towering peaks of the Tigolal mountains, near Mount Toubkal.  This blue lake, according to local people, is a place that many young and hopeful

Jack Butler, Ph.D High Atlas Foundation Volunteer The High Atlas Foundation produces trees. And in the process, it helps people at every step along the way. From schools and youth support centers where High Atlas tree nurseries teach disadvantaged children the healing aspects of farming while they help to grow transplants, to destination family farms

Gal Kamarski   HAF Intern   This week, the High Atlas Foundation – including our project manager and coordinator, Amina, and myself – visited the Aboughlo Cooperative in Ourika. As the women who are part of the cooperative asked before, this workshop concentrated on the ability to trust. We started by asking: “Trusting who?” Each woman then

By Yossef Ben-Meir, Ph.D President of the High Atlas Foundation We are in the midst of a wrenching drought in Morocco.  There is ultimately no greater relief than rain.   There are though actions we can take together to help safeguard drinking water and the survival of the organic fruit trees we planted. Water conservation basically comes down to

By Fatima Zahra Laaribi Women’s Empowerment Trainer In the heart of Ourika Valley, the Aboghlou Women’s Cooperative, YSL Beauté, PUR Project, and the High Atlas Foundation succeeded in creating a beautiful organic nursery of calendula and other medicinal plants, as well as almond trees. The nursery is managed by the Cooperative of 39 women. The

– Volunteers Create Worlds, International Policy Digest, by Yossef Ben-Meir (HAF President) 29 November 2017. • French: Libération, 5 December 2017 A world created is one that begins with a path taken by an individual who gives time, energy, thought, and care without personal material return, to people seeking a genuine change.  The volunteer-of-oneself may begin this journey with

بقلم أمينة الحجامي مديرة مشروع مع مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير  جميل أن نعرف أن هناك أشخاص يدعموننا من بعيد لتحقيق أحلام العديد من النساء ببواد جبال الأطلس مند ثلاث سنوات و أن يكون هولاء الأشخاص من دولة أخرى لا لغة ولا ثقافة مشتركة، لكن لديهم إيمان بأننا في يوم من الأيام  سوف نحقق أحلام نساء لديهن

By Gregory Sullivan, Farmer-to-Farmer Volunteer The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) in Morocco is using innovative approaches to tackling poverty in this North Africa country,  as well as addressing the challenge of climate change.  HAF is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the livelihoods of rural households. The Foundation was established in 2000 by former Peace

Gal Kramarski HAF Intern The HAF team, including Fatima-Zahra, Amina, Ibtissam, Gal and Abd-El Jalil, visited the Village of Talatan in the Ourika Valley.  We have been working in this mountain region a lot, and it is always exciting to see it changing in front of our eyes. The weather is indeed changing too.  The beautiful mountains

Morocco is a place of infinite possibility.  That is so because of Morocco, its multicultural people, and its identity.  People’s participation in their development can occur in all its places, because it is encouraged – even obligatory – by multiple laws and programs of the land. The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) creates project and partnership models

A l’occasion de la semaine mondiale de l’entrepreneuriat, l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes Economiques, Commerciales et d’Ingénierie (HEEC) Marrakech a organisé le 20 décembre 2017 une journée de débat sous le thème : « l’entrepreneuriat, entre discours et pratiques » avec la participation de nombreux invités et représentants des organismes de formations, instances et d’encadrement, organismes de financement,

By Gal Kramarski HAF Intern About 70 km away from Marrakech, in one of the villages of Setti Fatma commune, several young girls are looking for ways to fulfill their dreams. “I can visualize my future, but I do not know the way I should take to reach there.” Indeed it seems as some of

Rains have come to Morocco, and farming families are now planting fruit trees for themselves and for generations to come.  They are forming cooperatives, and deeply hoping to add processing of their product and reach new markets.  The High Atlas Foundation assists with this entire process, including monitoring tree growth to gain carbon credits for

By Yossef Ben-Meir, Ph.D. HAF Founder and President It is a particular joy for me to announce that my colleague for many years, Larbi Didouqen, is now the High Atlas Foundation’s Director in Morocco. I first met Si Larbi in 1993 when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer and he was the Director of the

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 11.1.2018  High Atlas Foundations celebrates Cross-Country Planting Day, Tree planting event totaling 9,000 trees Marrakech, Morocco: The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) continues its legacy this Monday, January 15th , through a mass planting of pomegranate, almond, fig, walnut, and carob trees across Morocco. HAF is a Moroccan and United States nonprofit organization dedicated to

للنشر الفوري 11/1/2018 مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير تحتفل بيوم الزراعة عبر البلاد، مجموع ما ستتمّ زراعته في هذا الحدث : 9000 شجرة مراكش، المغرب: تواصل مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير (HAF)  كما جرت العادة في كل سنة وبشراكة مع المديريات  الجهوية للمياه والغابات، يوم الاثنين الموافق 15 يناير،  زراعة أشجار الرمان واللوز والتين والجوز والخروب في جميع أنحاء

Marrakech, Maroc: Comme à l’accoutumée, chaque année, la Fondation du Haut Atlas (HAF), en partenariat avec les directions régionales des Eaux et  forêts, continue à planter des grenadiers, amandiers, caroubiers, figuiers, caroubier, arganiers et noyers dans tout le territoire du Maroc. La Fondation du Haut Atlas est une organisation   non gouvernementale à but non lucratif,

 By Erracihd Montassir, HAF Project Manager    HAF’s partner–the Vacation Project (VP), which is a program created for social, service, and experiential travel–engages in voluntary work with communities around the world.  From the 2nd to the 4th of January 2018, VP and HAF visited our community partners in the Ouirgane municipality of the Azzadene Valley. 

By Fatima Zahra Laaribi Office Manager and Women Empowerment Facilitator The third Monday of January – this year on the 15th- is a day in which the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) held a special day of national tree planting across Morocco.  This has become an annual event since 2014, the year that HAF planted its millionth

By Erracihd Montassir, Sami’s Project Manager  This morning we planted with schoolchildren in Rhamna.  I had a great day with the kids and there will some surprises.  HAF’s Sami’s Project still celebrating the Big Event of the 15th January with schoolchildren.  After we planted in many provinces already, our direction was to Rhamna province this

By Amina El Hajjami Project manager It is amazing when people work in sustainable development with the aim of helping humanity in the present, as well as thinking about the well-being of future generations. What makes the work of Sami’s Project so great is knowing that this initiative will help you after death as the prophet Mohamed

By Errachid Montassir HAF Project Manager A beautiful arrangement has brought together the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) and The Vacation Project (TVP), which is their shared desire to create positive changes in Morocco.  HAF, working on sustainable development using a participatory approach, seeks to establish development projects in different parts of Morocco that local communities design

” الديمقراطية التشاركية و النمودج التنموي الجديد”   نظمت الوزارة المنتدبة لدى رئيس الحكومة المكلفة بالعلاقات مع البرلمان و المجتمع المدني بشراكة مع جهة مراكش اسفي يوم دراسي جهوي حول موضوع الديمقراطية التشاركية و النمودج التنموي الجديد و دالك يومه الاربعاء 24 يناير 2018 بالمركب الاداري و الثقافي محمد السادس التابع لوزارة الاوقاف و الشؤؤون

– Promoting human rights to support development in rural Morocco, The Jerusalem Post, by Gal Kramarski (Graduate Student and HAF Intern), 10 February 2018. • French: World News, 16 February 2018. • Arabic: Sadaalahdas, 14 February 2018. Introduction There is an intrinsic link between human rights and development. Development, in many cases includes a process of securing access to rights, and their

From Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir HAF President Dear Friends, It has been a journey for us putting together this year’s Annual Report, because we decided to make it comprehensive, including visually, of all of the work of the High Atlas Foundation since its beginning in 2000.  We hope that you like it, and that you feel a connection with

Errachid Montassir HAF Project manager Cooperation is necessary to meet human needs.  We as people are not able to meet our needs without the help of each other.  Our serious collaboration leads to the integration of society. HAF continues to establish development projects in different parts of Morocco, with an empowered network through skilled partnerships

By Russ Zick USAID Farmer-to-Farmer Volunteer Smallholder farmers in Morocco are engaged in upgrading their agricultural practices in order to increase income by expanding exports to Europe, the United States, and other Southern countries.  The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) has been engaged in that process with several programs such as assisting Moroccan cooperatives in obtaining

– Visionaries Then and Now, by Thomas Kimmel (Agricultural Expert), 21 March 2018, HAF Blog. • Arabic: Maghress Cawalisee, 16 April 2018. • French: HAF Blog, 14 November 2018. In the 1980’s, a solo American made a huge impact on Ouaouizerth, Morocco, an Amazigh village, located in the western High Atlas Mountains.  His name was J. Christopher Stevens, a Peace Corps.