By Sheila HAF Friends Can faith but the size of a mustard seed move mountains? Can necessity garner supply? Can awareness prompt action? Can sharing forge success? Before the formation of HAF and upon my first arrival in Morocco, such questions rarely drew concern. There was a summer assignment to fulfil; I but one participant

Project Manager Last week, HAF’s team members managing the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer program in Morocco visited three potential host organizations in the Youssoufia province, in order to conduct participatory needs assessments and prepare new assignments for the agricultural expert volunteers, great opportunities are presented to discuss project priorities and ideas by members to  advance the growth

Dear Friend, There are fantastic reasons to give today to the High Atlas Foundation in Morocco: Women’s empowerment and girls’ education uplift our life’s fabric and are absolutely real outcomes of our work with families and communities. Fruit tree agriculture, building cooperatives, certifying organic, and processing food products for local and global sales form a

.محمد القادري متدرب بمؤسسة الأطلس الكبير في إطار دعم التنمية المستدامة في البلاد، نظمت مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير في شخصها السيد لحسن ايت واتوش و السيد محمد القادري كمتدرب مع المؤسسة رحلة ميدانية .إلى قرية تسا ويركان، وهي قرية صغيرة تقع على حدود منتزه توبقال الوطني .الهذف من الزيارة هو تثبيت  لوحة اشهارية على جانب الطريق

By Yaniv Teitel HAF Intern Last Friday, I had the privilege and honor to conduct a workshop for the High Atlas Foundations staff members which I tentatively titled “Feminism & Masculinity”. The workshop was a pilot for a larger program that will hopefully start soon – an empowerment workshop for men from rural areas in

HAF Project Manager A training program to engage and prepare university law students to give supervised pro bono legal counsel to marginalized persons in Fes was launched during the second week of November. An initial meeting with 37 masters level law students studying at University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah was conducted on Thursday, November 14.

HAF Project Manager On October 10, 2019, the High Atlas Foundation kicked off a new project in partnership with the University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah (USMBA) in Fes to establish a Law Clinic and Legal Aid program which actively engages students in experiential and service learning for the greater good of the local community. Born

The High Atlas Foundation at the United Nations Dear Friend, This Newsletter presents the sustainable development work of the High Atlas Foundation and our fulfilling the Special Consultative Status at the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations that we have enjoyed since 2011. We are facilitators of development that local communities of Morocco seek, and

– آن ماري ديل كاستيلو تكتب: من الرمان إلى عصير الرمان, Non Online, 10 December 2019. By Anne Marie Del Castillo Farmer-to-Farmer Volunteer As a retired agricultural economist, I participated in the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program in Morocco, administered by the High Atlas Foundation. F2F’s main goal is to generate sustainable, broad-based

HAF Intern In recent years in Morocco, the succession of droughts, floods, unusual temperatures, negative changes of ecosystems and productive sectors, and fragile economic conditions are unlike previous decades. This necessitates redoubling development efforts involving economic, political, and civil society actors to counter these adverse effects of climate. This is why the Moroccan government has

By Anna Ugolini HAF Volunteer On November 20th the International Day of Childhood and Adolescence Rights is celebrated throughout the world. The date reminds us of the day when the United Nations General Assembly adopted in 1989 the Convention on the Rights of Children and Adolescents and more than 190 countries have ratified it. The

HAF intern Last Friday, we had the chance to try out some of the methods we use in our empowerment workshops ourselves. My internship colleague Yaniv conducted a half day workshop entitled “Masculinity and Feminism” for the whole staff in the office. So, as the title of one of my last blog posts included “Women

HAF intern Last week I got the chance to take part in some of the program of the Alumni Seminar. From the 6th to the 10th of the November, 55 youth from all over Morocco who participated in the different U.S. Embassy exchange programs met at the Hotel Dar Atlas in Marrakech to share their

Errachid Montassir HAF Project Manager The challenges facing our world at the moment are highly complex, and they are going to affect us all sooner or later: climate change, dwindling natural resources and scarcities of fresh water and foodstuffs. One thing seems clear: we must not waste any more time discussing the problems we are

by Hajiba Boumasmar HAF Intern On September 28, 2019, we visited both the Argan Majji Cooperative and the Agricultural Cooperative Argan Mogador for Argan Oil Extraction with HAF Project Manager Errachid Montassir, HAF Project Assistant Hassan Ait Ouatouch, and USAID Farmer to Farmer Officer Stephanie Frankenza. Argan Majji Cooperative Visit The Argan Majji cooperative was

By Nora Martetschläger HAF Intern My last days were all about Pomegranates. I visited Pomegranate farms, ate them fresh from the tree, had some delicious pomegranate juice and learned a lot about the pomegranate business. The reason for all this were two trips to Lalla Takerkoust on 29th and 30th of October together with my

Rabat, les 4 et 5 novembre 2019 – La High Atlas Foundation (HAF) organise en partenariat avec GERMANWATCH le séminaire Partenariat Multipartite (PMP) pour une décentralisation des énergies renouvelables au Maroc et ce à Hôtel Ibis Rabat Agdal. La journée du 04 novembre, sera consacrée au séminaire PMP, ce dernier sera une occasion pour les

By Florence Jordan World Challenge Traveller Coming from London, this project really showcased the differences between our homes, and the homes and lives of those living in Tizian in the High Atlas Mountains. During our stay, we were introduced to the differences in culture and language in Morocco compared to the United Kingdom. We were

By Nora Martetschläger, HAF intern In my second field trip last Thursday, the 24th of October, I got a sense of the dynamics in a local community and got to know some outstanding powerful women, above all my HAF colleague Amina. Together with her and the external consultant Najwa we went to Tassa Ouirgane, a

Arabic version PRESS RELEASE CONTACT INFORMATION Loubna Arrach                       Kamal Akaya Alumni Coordinator               HAF Seminar Manager arrachl@state.gov                  kamal@highatlasfoundation.org +212 6 73 05 70 33              +212 6 63 66 27 68 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE U.S. EMBASSY, HIGH ATLAS FOUNDATION HOST ALUMNI LEADERSHIP SEMINAR MARRAKECH – The U.S Embassy in Rabat, in partnership with the High Atlas

By: HAJIBA BOUMASMAR HAF Intern I had the honor of attending; with Mr. Hassan Aladlouni –National Director at the High Atlas Foundation-; the ceremony of the signing of a partnership between the Jewish and Muslim communities in Morocco. This partnership aims to organize the first session of the Marrakech International Symposium of Sainthood and Behavior.

By Imane Akhezzane HAF Project Manager United with a common purpose and with the best interest of the Moroccan community at heart, board members of the High Atlas Foundation, its founding President, Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir, and guests had the opportunity to meet during a fundraising ceremony at Villa Sbihi in Salé, on Saturday October 19,

By Nora Martetschläger HAF intern From October 2019 to April 2020, HAF will have the pleasure of hosting eight interns from the University of Michigan who will participate in the Global Scholars Program (GSP). They will support HAF in addressing one of its major challenges for the future: developing a green bond to attract global

– Women’s Rights in Morocco – What I learned, Rich Perspectives, By Richard Nzekwu (HAF Guest), 11 October 2019. I was honored to participate in a field trip to the Moroccan countryside region of Al-Haouz, where local NGO, High Atlas Foundation (HAF), was diligently fulfilling its mission to empower women. We arrived at the expansive farmland and

– Empowerment: A Solution for Inequality in Rural Morocco, The Policy Times, By Victoria Burns and Lailah Said (HAF Intern), 02 October 2019. • Arabic: Al-Watan Voice, 3 October 2019. How the practice of empowerment has the potential to be the key for reducing the negative impacts of alienation and inequality among women in rural regions of Morocco. “We

HAJIBA BOUMASMAR HAF Intern At the heart of the Atlas Galle, at an altitude ranging between 1800 and 2000 meters above sea level, there is the touristic village Ait Boughamez, or the so-called Happy Plateau. The population depends on tourism, livestock, beekeeping, and cultivation activities like barley, apple and walnut. The region of Ait Boukmaz

By Imane Akhezzane Project Manager The Small Grants project of the High Atlas Foundation, which is funded by the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs within the U.S. Department of States aims to encourage the development of innovative, sustainable environmental projects that encourage local sustainable resource management and engage civil society to

By Stefano Dessena HAF Volunteer                             Cherry cultivation in Morocco offers almost 15,000 tons of this fruit every year putting the country on the 25th spot in the global producers’ scoreboard.[1] The main production areas are in the High Atlas Mountains and

Georgina Kenchington HAF Volunteer When you think about successful associations and the faces behind them, what are the first things that come to mind? Is it the meticulous business plans that, at some stage or another, came into fruition? How about the scrupulously drawn out financial projections that laid the foundation for future budgets and

HAF Volunteer Close your eyes, and picture this. A bustling city. Heat permeating everything you do. Heat from the sun warming your skin as you step outside. Heat from the crowds swarming around you, seemingly with purpose and little time to pause. Heat from the steam rising from a cup of green tea, just ordered