This International Women’s Day, the High Atlas Foundation team celebrates all women, women leaders, women who are working to create a more equal future in spite of this current context in which we live — a context in which deep-seated gender inequalities have exacerbated the consequences of the pandemic for women and girls around the world.

During the upcoming week, HAF’s Women’s Empowerment trainers are facilitating our 35th Imagine Women’s Empowerment Workshop since 2016. The women who have attended these 4-day Imagine workshops over these years have gone on to create income-generating cooperatives, engage for the first time in parent associations at their children’s schools, and participate in community planning that has led to sustainable development initiatives in rural villages. They’ve gone back to school, grown in self-confidence, and reclaimed their own inherent agency to make the decisions that are best for themselves, for now, and for tomorrow.

It is because of your support that we are able to grow our impact through and beyond our Imagine workshops toward our shared long-term goal of gender equality in Morocco and throughout the world.

We thank you so much for your generosity, as always. And we hope you enjoy this months’s newsletter, which is dedicated to women.

The High Atlas Foundation Team

Learn More about Women’s Empowerment at HAF

This year’s International Women’s Day theme is Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world. This theme celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future.

As a united team, we #ChooseToChallenge, raising our hands high to show our commitment to challenging inequality, call out bias, question stereotypes, and help forge an inclusive world.

This week, we’re inviting you to stand with women and girls throughout Morocco for GlobalGiving’s International Women’s Week. From Monday until Friday, online donations up to $50 will be matched at 50%! You can help us to elevate the voices of Moroccan women by giving to our women’s empowerment project.

To learn more about women’s empowerment initiatives at HAF, we present to you 5 blogs written by various team members that address different aspects of our approach. Peruse through their words and #ImagineWomensEmpowerment.

Women’s Empowerment: Growing Seeds of Self-Discovery in Morocco

Sanae Benaadim, HAF Office Manager & Volunteer Coordinator

Since 2016, more than 800 women and youth (and men) have benefited from HAF’s Imagine Women’s Empowerment Workshop. The empowerment team travels to small communities around the country on a regular basis to deliver well-rounded workshops, with topics of discussion divided into seven areas: emotions, relationships, sexuality, body, money, work, and discovery.

Want to know more about how this program works? Travel to two small villages in the Al Haouz Province with Sanae Benaadim. In this blog, she dives into detail about this 4-day workshop and discusses its deep impact on women in rural communities. 

Reflections from an IMAGINE Women’s Empowerment Workshop Participant  

Malika Jumad, a recent beneficiary of HAF’s self-empowerment workshop

Malika Jumad is a married, 23 years old woman who lives in Ourika in the region of Marrakech, Morocco. Her dream, from a young age, was to become a lawyer. Unfortunately, she was one of many girls who drop out of school early on the path to marriage. Thanks to the support of her husband, she was able to attend an Imagine workshop.

At HAF, we work hard every day to give our beneficiaries a platform to share their stories. Read Malika’s firsthand experience during the women’s empowerment workshop in her blog to help us continue supporting women’s voices.

Women’s Empowerment with Farmer-to-Farmer in Tidili Mesfioua

Errachid Montassir, HAF Project Manager & F2F Volunteer Coordinator

In an effort to bridge the gender gap in Morocco, more focus should be given to the creation of women’s cooperatives, especially in rural regions. Cooperatives allow women to collectively manage their businesses, which means they set their own schedules, and are thus in a better position to accommodate both household and work responsibilities.

The USAID Farmer-to-Farmer program has allowed HAF to ramp up our efforts to assist women in the creation of cooperatives. Read more from our F2F team about the impact of participatory approach community meetings and Imagine workshops, where rural women pool their resources and talent to start their own enterprises.

The Women Farmers of Tassa Ouirgane Nursery: From Seeds to Saplings

Sanae Benaadim, HAF Office Manager & Volunteer Coordinator

The nursery in Tassa Ouirgane grows more than #trees. It’s created opportunities for young women who have been denied an #education to reframe their lives and reposition themselves as the breadwinners of their families and their #community.

The confidence and agency they’ve gained throughout the process of building their cooperative and growing 40,000 trees over the course of a single year affects their lives in real and tangible ways. These young women are setting a strong example of how the inherent power women possess, when mobilized, can transform the entire village both socially and economically.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women: The Value of Men as Allies

Errachid Montassir, HAF Project Manager & F2F Volunteer Coordinator

While discussing women’s empowerment, we include men in the conversation, highlighting the importance of allyship to attain equality. During Imagine workshops, HAF introduces the topic of Moudawana as a tool to develop rural Moroccan women’s capabilities, and thereby their own capabilities, as well as their sense of capacity to achieve sustainable change, including creating development projects that they manage to meet their needs.

In this blog, Errachid discusses the impact of these workshops and how they lead men to support positive change and equality. Men come to believe that placing women at the heart of the process, using participatory methods, provides a fresh perspective on community development and maintains a balance between genders that benefits everyone.

This International Women’s Week, we’re inviting you to stand with these women and girls throughout Morocco and have your donation matched.

March 8-12, online donations up to $50 on GlobalGiving will be matched at 50%!* Your gift will allow us to expand our women’s empowerment efforts through and beyond our Imagine workshops.