By Amal Mansouri, HAF Field Coordinator, REMA Pictures from different angles and neighborhoods of the old medina Morocco is renowned for its hospitality, diversity and multiculturalism. Out of all the places where you can sense the existence of these concepts, we find them most easily in the facades, ancient corners and long past laid bricks

Living Together: Religious Coexistence In Morocco, Scoop. Arabic: Sot Aliraq, 11 December 2021.  By Mohamed El Kadiri, HAF Program Coordinator The fascinating site we came across is located in Erfoud, a small tranquil town in the southeast of Morocco, about 70 km from Errachidia. Our visit was initially aimed at monitoring fruit trees distributed to

في إطار مشروعها الهادف لتوزيع مليون شجرة مثمرة بالمغرب قامت مؤسسة الأطلس الكبيرة بتوزيع أكثر من 80000 شجرة مثمرة على عدة أقاليم بجهة فاس -مكناس وتهدف  هذه العملية إلى المساهمة في الحد من التغيرات المناخية وتحسين مردودية وإنتاج الفلاحين ابتدأت عملية رصد وتقييم الأشجار المثمرة بإقليم إفران، بالضبط بواد إفران بتنسيق مع جمعية أيت لياس

By Zineb Laadam HAF’s Imagine team has completed the Imagine workshop which was held under Farmer -To Farmer program in Berkane province in the oriental region for women members of four agricultural cooperatives from October 29th to 1 November. Empowerment through this workshop is ideally seen as a continuous holistic process with cognitive, psychological, social,

By Zineb Laadam The Farmer to Farmer (F2F) team met with the members of Jory Cooperative to follow up with them on their recent activities.  The Jory co-op works on medicinal and aromatic plants and natural cosmetics products. On September 28, the co-op members participated in a training on building an integrated forecasting, planning, budgeting,

by Zineb Laadam HAF colleagues Houria, Hassan and I went to Chouirig Village in order to meet Daraa Lachhab Cooperative. Since cooperatives are enterprises that place people before profit, they uphold values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equity and solidarity. They practice honesty, openness and social responsibility in their operations. The Daraa Lachhab Cooperative was officially

By Zineb Laadam The Farmer-To-Farmer (F2F) team went to Amizmiz in order to meet two agricultural cooperatives to identify their needs, priorities and challenges. The two host organizations are Zaouia and Tigudelt cooperatives. Zaouia is an agricultural entity that aims to contribute to the development of the olive oil sector and strengthen its role in

By Amal Mansouri, Cultural Field Coordinator IMAGINE workshop in El Menzel, 2021. Photo: Zineb Mallouki/HAF The answer to the questions who you are, or what you identify as is more complicated than it seems to be. So many people would respond to this question in a different way referring to different characteristics, such as: gender,

Lahcen Ben Moula, Tree Monitoring Officer (YCC) Today, Wednesday, December 23, 2021, the High Atlas Foundation, in coordination with the educational frameworks of the High School of the Alternative Education in the city of Oujda, organized an applied sensitivity workshop on planting trees and their importance in human life. The awareness-raising workshop was framed in

by Noah C. Kohlmayer – HAF Volunteer On Tuesday, December 7, my two fellow Austrian volunteers and I had the opportunity to join Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir for the last class he taught for the University of Virginia at the Jewish cemetery in the Mellah of Marrakech. Now, what is a Mellah?  In Marrakech, the Mellah

By Lahcen Ben Moula, Tree Monitoring Officer (YCC) On Saturday, December 04, 2021, the space of the Mohamed Belkhayat School in the city of El-Ayoun, Tourert province, witnessed a group of diverse and distinguished activities for the conclusion of school cooperation days celebrated by all educational components in Morocco. This was done to promote school

By: Sarah Whiteside, UVA-HAF Intern Link to Image: https://disasterdisplacement.org/disaster-displacement-at-cop26 The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more popularly known as COP26, began on November 3rd and was a collaborative conference among 197 nations to address progress made in the first five years of the 2015 Paris Agreement. In this agreement, participating countries committed to efforts

Arabic Version – Moroccan Cemeteries Waiting to be Visited and Remembered, San Diego Jewish World. By Yossef Ben-Meir Marrakech In early July, I set out with colleagues of the High Atlas Foundation—a U.S. and Moroccan non-for-profit organization—to meet with agricultural cooperatives in Morocco to understand their needs and goals and create action plans toward lasting

By Fatima El Mrini Imagine Empowerment Workshop in Tiferki, Taroudant. Photo by: Fatima El Mrini, HAF HAF colleagues Rachida, Bouchra, Aicha, Hassan, and Fatima went to the village of Tiferki in the Taroudant province to carry out a women’s empowerment training course with women there. The IMAGINE workshops organized by the High Atlas Foundation are

By Soukaina Kherdioui On Thursday, December 16, I had the chance to attend a Conference-debate organized by Al Mowafaqa Institute during which Dr. Amina Mesgguid, doctoral researcher in Social Anthropology at the Center for Global Studies (CGS), provided interesting insights on contemporary Sufism and its evolution in Morocco. Her research focuses on “Contemporary expressions of

Zineb Laadam, HAF Field Officer Women of the Nisaae Tinmel cooperative meet with the HAF F2F team The Farmer to Farmer (F2F) team visited the Nisaae Tinmel women’s cooperative in Tizaghrin village (Talatnycoub municipality, Al Haouz province, Marrakech-Safi region) in November. We spent an unforgettable day with 20 incredible women who shared their personal and

By Mustapha Tarhbaloute, HAF Field Monitor Renewable energy in Morocco is like a newborn, in the relatively early stages of development. It has become more popular in the last two decades as a step to overcome the huge expense of electricity as well as a way to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Thanks to the High

By Bouchra Zine The Farmer to Farmer (F2F) team of Errachid Montassir, Lahcen Ait Ouatouch, and Bouchra Zine visited the 11 Janvier agricultural cooperative on December 10 in order to collect data, listen to the people, learn their technical needs, and discern how the F2F team could help. The nine male cooperative members represent different

Abigail Hall HAF-UVA Intern Although the intersection between human rights and development is clear, the two are often approached separately and have therefore evolved into two separate categories. It can be easy to focus on their distinctions and differences from one another rather than seeing the way that they actually mutually boost and aid each

Zineb Laadam HAF Field Officer Team members of the High Atlas Foundation managing the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program met two host organizations (HOs) in Laayoune Charkia municipality in the Oriental region and discussed with them how to collect data and fill out the baseline and Organizational Development Index (ODI) forms. The women’s cooperatives are “Laayoun

By Sanae Benaadim, HAF Program & Office Manager December 6, 2021 HAF team members visit the village of Lkdirat on December 3, 2021. Photo: HAF Last week, several members of the HAF staff, the Aboughlou Cooperative, and volunteers from Austria Service Abroad met at the prospective nursery site in the village of Lakdirat in the

Lahcen Ben Moula Tree Monitoring Officer The visit to the province of Guercif is among the distinguished trips to monitor the trees that were distributed to farmers by the High Atlas Foundation in coordination with local cooperatives in order to inspect the condition of the trees and communicate with farmers while providing them with information

By Soukaina Kherdioui On November 30, 2021, the American Sephardi Federation’s (ASF) Institute of Jewish Experience launched their campaign “Reclaiming Identity” by hosting a webinar during which the Jewish people of Arab lands and Iran shared their stories of identity, struggle, and redemption. The webinar specifically acknowledged the rich Jewish heritage that was lost across

Timo Reinitzer With our world’s population constantly growing and the scarcity of land rising, this is and will come at the cost of our world’s forests. Moreover, regarding the current alarming prognosis of climatologists, predicting a minimum of a 1.5°C rise in temperature by 2030, we are in desperate need of more reforestation through tree-planting

By Timo Reinitzer, HAF intern What is the proper response to climate change? We all know that climate change is going to have an immense impact on our ecosystem, especially on water distribution. The question is rather what those will be and how to migite them. Africa will particularly face severe water shortages. As Professor

Arabic version Errachid Montassir HAF Program Manager The U.S. Volunteer Jennifer Sopoci and the F2F team members with local farmers from Oulad Mbarek municipality – Beni Mellal region during a field visit Organic farming is an agricultural approach that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, crop residues, compost and biological pest control.

By: Noah C. Kohlmayer, HAF Volunteer. U.S. Consul General Lawrence M. Randolph and President/Co-Founder Yossef Ben-Meir at the first High Atlas Foundation (HAF) House of Life interfaith nursery in Akrich, Morocco. November 2021. Photo: Noah C. Kohlmayer/HAF Akrich, an Amazigh village in the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains, is where the first of HAF’s

In this second installment of HAF program updates, we’re glad to share with you the latest on our collaborative work in renewable energies in Morocco. If you missed the first installment on tree planting, catch up here. Reminder: Tuesday, November 30 at 4:00 PM Morocco / 10:00 AM ET, we are hosting a one-hour event for you to be able

Gabrielle Rosario Recently, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, was held in Glasgow, outlining the impending need for international climate policy and action. Climate change will raise temperature extremes globally, but even more so in the Middle East, which will already be 4 degrees Celsius hotter by 2050. Not only must

By Jamal Maghiouzi, Cultural Field Coordinator On Tuesday, November 24, I had the chance to attend the first day of the conference which was held under the theme Jewish Onomastics in Morocco: Political, Economic, and Territorial Implication at Universiapolis University in Agadir. The event gathered the participation of various scholars from different parts of the