By Sanae Benaadim HAF Office Manager and Volunteer Coordinator HAF volunteers on a field trip. Have you ever thought about volunteering and would like to be a volunteer at the High Atlas Foundation? If yes, you may wonder who you will reach. My name is Sanae Benaadim, and I am HAF’s Office Manager and Volunteer

by Errachid Montassir Errachid Montassir is from the Rhamna province of Morocco and is a High Atlas Foundation manager of the USAID Farmer-To-Farmer program. He was an organizer of the first United Nations Youth Climate Summit in New York during 2019. This article is about a brilliant water supply system invented by indigenous people—Khettara—which helped

Samirah Jaigirdar HAF Director of Projects Amina El Hajjami discusses goals and assesses needs with cooperative members in Tisfan, Taroudant province. In 2015, world leaders met in a landmark conference of the UN to craft concrete goals to end poverty, stop environmental destruction and boost well-being. These pledges transformed into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),

By Hajiba Boumasmar, HAF Program Coordinator Our country is full of history and cultures that connect between two communities, those of Moroccan Muslims and Moroccan Jews. We work together, constantly trying to preserve our culture so that it is not lost to new developments the world over. I want to share my experience at the

من إعداد: يوسف الطاهري منسق المشاريع بالمؤسسة لا يختلف اثنان على أن قطاع الفلاحة مساهم أساسي في توفير فرص الشغل، خصوصا في العالم القروي، اذ تشكل المساحة الصالحة للزراعة بالمغرب حوالي 8.7 مليون هكتار، وتمثل فيها الحبوب حوالي 57 بالمائة  من المساحات المزروعة. هيمنة هذه الاخيرة على المساحات الفلاحية المزروعة ، جعلت الفلاحة ضعيفة التنوع،

Sub-Saharan African migration into Morocco, Modern Ghana. By Max Berengaut Entering Morocco, Sub-Saharan African migrants find themselves at a crossroads. There is the promise of an economic future waiting for them in Europe, but the path to it is perilous. They require either an assurance of asylum status or some familial relationship with a European

By Sanae Benaadim Imagine Empowerment Facilitator HAF Office Manager & Volunteer Coordinator Thinking back to the beginning of my volunteering at HAF, I attended the first Women’s Empowerment workshop. I was an excited, conscientious, and avid learner who was motivated by understanding the unknown. I loved exploring myself using the IMAGINE workshop tools long after

By Marij W Janjua, HAF UT-Austin Intern “Political freedom alone is still not enough if you lack clean water. Freedom alone is not enough without light to read at night, without time or access to water to irrigate your farm, without the ability to catch fish to feed your family. For this reason, the struggle

By Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir HAF President The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) implements the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer Program (F2F) in Morocco. As part of this volunteer initiative team members visited the members of the Aguerzrane women’s cooperative located in the Toubkal Municipality of the Taroudant Province on Thursday the 8th of July. It was a follow up

The Importance of Plants in Religious Art, San Diego Jewish World. By Prof. Ellen Hernandez MARRAKECH, Morocco — What is the message conveyed by the representation of plants in religious text? What do the images that these references bring to our minds tell us about a people and a society? These are questions posed by

By Samirah Jaigirdar HAF Intern – Student at Connecticut College As a person grows, they take on a societal identity which will dictate what they wear, how they act and speak, and how they feel about themselves in the context of their society. As gender is learned, it can be assumed that the cultural constructs

By Jasiah Hasan In the past fifty years, Morocco’s population has nearly tripled. Mass migrations and urbanization have pushed more than half of the growing population into cities, producing huge shanty towns. Residents lack access to clean water and sanitation services. Such barriers can lead to higher risk of waterborne diseases, such as malaria and

By Jasiah Hasan, HAF-UVa Intern On July 19, 2021, LEAP4FNSSA hosted a webinar event to share and emphasize the importance of collaboration between the African Union and the European Union. The event focused specifically on collaborations regarding agricultural innovations and food and nutrition security. LEAP4FNSSA is a project dedicated to supporting the implementation of long-term

By Samirah Jaigirdar A fruit tree nursery managed by members of the Aguerzrane Women’s Cooperative in Morocco’s High Atlas, a project that has benefited from the expertise provided by the USAID-F2F Volunteer Program (HAF, July 2021). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to achieve

By Fatima Zahra Laaribi HAF Program Manager Twenty-three women from the village of El Kdirat in the Jnane Bouih commune of the Youssoufia province, participated in a four-day Imagine women’s empowerment workshop that took place between June 21-24. There are approximately 36 households in El Kdirat, the average size being between 6 to12 people. There

Aira Matin UVA-HAF Intern This word “development” is quite heavy. It is not just a matter of improving the economic conditions of a society, but of changing lives and trying to build a better present and future. As a student from the US, it’s valuable to recognize the position that countries such as the US

Kawtar El Kadi – Assistante d’aide juridique Photo prise par Nabil, coordinateur du programme à la CJFD de Fès, en présence des cliniciens chargés du traitement des dossiers. La clinique juridique de la Faculté des Sciences Juridiques, Économiques et Sociales de Fès (FSJES) a été fondée en 2019 en partenariat avec la Fondation du Haut

By: Samarth Saksena North African and Middle Eastern nations can combat climate change through well planned landscape restoration initiatives leading to carbon sequestration, but also indirect benefits like job creation, food security, and improved livelihoods and resilience. Restoration initiatives are best carried out when the right partnerships are formed between all sectors of society. The

By Kristin O’Donoghue Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights upholds education as a right to which every individual is entitled. The opportunity to attend an institute of higher learning and improve one’s position in society, however, is available only to those who can afford it. In most nations, the cost of education

By Noah Ginsburg This morning I had the privilege of attending a very special event, hosted by the Beyond Trees Network’s Dr. Tamberly Kerr Conway, a trained and licensed nature therapist who has spent the last several years training more and more nature therapists and spreading this practice across the world. Although the pandemic is

Education: the Key to Unlock the Door to Freedom, Modern Ghana. by Professor Ellen Hernandez On Saturday, June 19, 2021, Americans officially recognized “Juneteenth” as a national holiday. Most Americans understand the holiday to be a celebration of the end of slavery brought about by the U.S. Constitution’s 13th Amendment. However, the day is actually

 Imagine Empowerment Workshop participants in Sefrou on June 1, 2021. By: Zineb Mellouki, Clinician, USMBA Legal Aid Clinic Over a period of four days, from June 1-4, 2021, the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) in partnership with the Legal Aid Clinic (CFJD), housed in the Faculty of Social, Legal, and Economic Sciences at University Sidi Mohamed

Imagine workshop participants in Sefrou, Morocco | June 2021 By Souhaila Rhaleb, Clinician, USMBA Legal Aid Clinic The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) organized a workshop in the beautiful city of Sefrou. This Imagine Empowerment Workshop offers the opportunity for participants to explore their goals and the challenges that hinder them, among other things. Two clinicians

By Mohamed Ainine, Clinician, USMBA Legal Aid Clinic and Katie Bercegeay, HAF Director of Development As part of its mission to connect with other legal clinics in Morocco, the Legal Aid Clinic (CFJD), housed at the Faculty of Social, Legal, and Economic Sciences at University Sidi Mohamed Ben Adbellah in Fes had the pleasure of

Bouallala hamza Doctorant chercheur à FSJES Fès / Droit privé – Clinicien إن السؤال المطروح حول هذه القضية العويصة هو: هل الإبقاء على عقوبة الإعدام يؤدي إلى نقص الإجرام وبسط الأمن والسلام في ربوع المجتمعات البشرية؟ وهل إلغاء هذه العقوبة يؤدي إلى تفاقم الإجرام وزيادة الفوضى في المجتمعات وخرق نواميسها وأعرافها ومقدساتها؟ فهذه التساؤلات وغيرها

Par: Mohammed Amine ZINE EL ABIDINE – Clinicien de la deuxième promotion. Photo prise en séance de formation des cliniciens au cours d’un exercice pratique Je suis Mohammed Amine ZINE EL ABIDINE, étudiant en deuxième Master Juriste d’Affaires, clinicien de la deuxième promotion, venez découvrir avec moi mon expérience au sein de la clinique juridique.

Imane Aiachi – Clinicienne تعتبر عقوبة الإعدام انتهاكاً لحقوق الإنسان، وعلى وجه الخصوص الحق في الحياة والحق في عدم التعرض للتعذيب أو المعاملة أو العقوبة القاسية أو اللاإنسانية أو المهينة. وكلا هذين الحقين كفلهما الإعلان العالمي لحقوق الإنسان، الذي اعتمدته الأمم المتحدة في سنة 1948 إضافة إلى العديد من الصكوك التي اعتمدها المجتمع الدولي من

By Marij W Janjua, HAF UT-Austin Intern The HAF team visits the Tassa Ouirgane nursery in early June 2021 where saplings of carob, fig, and pomegranate are growing well. “Desertification  and  drought,  which  are  a  degradation  of  environmental  health,  contribute to the collapse of biodiversity and favour the appearance of zoonoses. This is yet  another 

By Fatima Zahra Laaribi HAF Program Manager, Empowerment Since its founding in 2000, the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) has committed itself to offer its beneficiaries, predominantly women, training related to self-knowledge. This empowerment programming is implemented across Morocco. In total, HAF has conducted 38 such Imagine Empowerment Workshops that have impacted 900 women so far

By Kristin O’Donoghue HAF-UVA Intern In “Empowering Rural Participation and Partnerships in Morocco’s Sustainable Development,” Dr. Ben-Meir defines Morocco’s goal as to “utilize participatory approaches to achieve projects that are sustainable and that measurably enhance the standard of living, knowledge, longevity, and engagement in society.” Participatory development allows community beneficiaries to occupy a central position