By Sanae Benaadim HAF Volunteer One month of my volunteer experience at the High Atlas Foundation has already passed! I had my second chance to accompany Amina El Hajjami, Director of Projects, to facilitate a workshop for 29 women of the Aboghlou Cooperative. This two-day workshop took place in the Ourika Valley, which is 30

Clarisse ESPIL Intern at the HAF On Monday, the 29th of April, the HAF was invited to the “Economy and Competitiveness of the Mediterranean” forum as part of the Summit of the Two Rivers. This forum was organised by the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (EESC). The challenges concerned economic development but also competitiveness in

By Elouahsoussi Rachid HAF Volunteer On the 9th of April, the High Atlas Foundation team visited the Village of Tassa Ouirgane (in the Al Haouz province) in order to conduct environmental activities with women and children. Girls and women, who are planning their own cooperative for medicinal plants and local natural products, are highly motivated

By Sanae Benaadim HAF Volunteer On April 4th, HAF and local Moroccan women embarked on a new, exciting adventure!  HAF’s team, including Fatima Zahra Laaribi, Amina El Hajjami, Houria Chouhab, Martine Roberts, and myself, went to Taalanit, a small village located in the Setti Fadma commune of the Al Haouz Province. As we approached the

French version Dear Friends, My name is Martine Roberts and I am the newest member of the Board of the High Atlas Foundation (HAF). I am writing to you from Marrakech, Morocco, where I have spent the last month immersing myself in HAF’s mission and current initiatives. As a Moroccan-American woman, I am honored and

By Houria CHOUHAB HAF Volunteer On the 4th of April, a team from HAF conducted a four days workshop in Talaint, in the Setti Fatma Commune. It was raining so heavily that we thought women would not attend the workshop, but they proved us wrong when half of the women were already there and the

Clarisse ESPIL and Kerstin Opfer This Friday, April 13, the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) team composed of Kerstin Opfer (operations manager), Errachid Montassir (project manager), Ilyas Dkhrissi (social network manager, photographer and film director), Hassan Ait Ouatouch (coordinator between the HAF and local populations) and myself (intern at the HAF), went to Aït Ourir. We

Clarisse ESPIL intern at the High Atlas Foundation On Monday, April 22, 2019, the HAF visited three schools in the province of Rhamna in the Marrakech region, two in the commune of Aït Taleb and one in the village of Bouchan, this time with the theme of health. Which subject in particular? The oral health

Written by Fatima Zahra Laaribi Financial Manager | Lead Empowerment Trainer To maintain a successful scaling strategy for empowering Moroccan women on a national level, HAF invests in its staff to build their capacities and to expand the organization’s number of facilitators. After the completion of her “observation phase” as an empowerment facilitator apprentice, HAF’s

Clarisse ESPIL                                                                                                                                                                                stagiaire à « High atlas Foundation » Ce mardi 9 avril 2019, la HAF s’est rendue à Tassa Ouirgane, une commune qui se situe dans les montagnes de l’Atlas à 90 kilomètres de Marrakech afin d’y réaliser une activité sous le thème de l’environnement.  Le but de cette visite en partenariat avec le Programme

Fatima Zahra LAHRIRE HAF Volunteer Today is the third day of the training. We can associate not only the faces with the names but also the faces with the voices. We develop the habit of meeting them first thing in the morning before the workshop and the last thing before we sleep. We had our

Par Peter J. Jacques La vie et la mort de communautés entières dépendent de la réalisation des 17 objectifs de développement durable (les ODD) adoptés à l’unanimité par les Nations Unies en 2015, dont l’éradication de la pauvreté, la conservation des forêts et la lutte contre le changement climatique. Prenons, à titre d’exemple, le peuple autochtone

Fatima Zahra LAHRIRE HAF Volunteer We started our day with a traditional breakfast prepared by the family hosting us. We could hear the voices of the girls coming from early morning to participate in the workshop. They have power and it is quite profound. A power that allowed them to survive all the difficulties the

Youssef Moussaoui HAF Volunteer On Thursday, the 28th of March, the team of the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) visited with HAF Board Member Martine Roberts the nurseries of Akrich, Imegdal, and Tadmamt. Our first stop was the Akrich nursery where HAF planted over 30,000 almond and fig seeds. Talking about the ways to preserve and

By Yossef Ben-Meir HAF President The High Atlas Foundation had the great pleasure to welcome former Fulbright Scholars from the United States to its office in Marrakech. It was a great feeling to be together, people with the shared commitment to utilize opportunities for research and education to measurably move forward the people’s development.  Our

By Houria CHOUHAB HAF Volunteer One of the good feelings is walking into a place for the first time and having flashbacks to childhood memories, and this is exactly what happened during my visit to the MOGADOR Cooperative. The Cooperative is in the center of Ounagha, 25 km from Essaouira, and it is surrounded by

Fatima Zahra LAHRIRE HAF Volunteer We are now in the Tifnoute Valley of the High Atlas Mountains after a long journey. It was a cold morning, and the snowy mountains reminded of the stormy night of yesterday. It was a crisp and cloudy but the radiant smile upon the faces of the people who came

Houria Chouhab HAF Volunteer On Women’s International Day, the High Atlas Foundation visited the Association Assalam for Development in Douar Achbarou. This village is located in the Rural Commune of Tameslouht, which is only 20 kms away from Marrakech. Beforehand, the activities in this association were run by men only, but since last October, women

By Houria Chouhab HAF Volunteer Hey! My name is Houria and I am a masters degree student at the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences in Marrakech. At the end of the third semester (the end of January), I had to apply for an internship that will be the base of my graduate research. I

by J Rojas Meyer One of the High Atlas Foundation’s general objectives in Morocco is to find novel ways to bridge a critical gap so that farmers and others, can afford to make a vital transition to planting and harvesting fruit trees. Depending of the type of trees and variation in local conditions however, the

Today on March 8 is International Women’s Day! This day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. International Women’s Day (IWD) has occurred for well over a century, with the first​ ​IWD gathering in 1911 supported

– Civil Society Matters to the Sustainable Development Goals, Global Research, by Peter Jacques (Visiting Expert), 8 February 2019. •  Arabic: Al-Watan Voice, 16 February 2019.Life and death for whole communities hang in the balance of achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that include eliminating poverty, conserving forests, and addressing climate change, passed by the United Nations unanimously

Moussa Sidibé Bénévole FHA, 15 Février 2019 Une nouvelle journée, une nouvelle destination qui cette fois-ci se trouve être la province si hospitalière et chaleureuse d’Essaouira loin de la ville rouge de Marrakech. Une bonne partie des membres du staff de l’ONG High Atlas Foundation et moi y compris se sont alors rendus sur les

Youssef Moussaoui HAF Volunteer New adventure.  New excitement.  After an amazing day in Skoura M’daz, part of the HAF team continues the five-day tree planting campaign. We met farmers from Azrou, in the Amghas commune. Abdelilah accompanied us; he is the caretaker of the HAF Ifrane nursery which is located at the Salaam School. We

Youssef Moussaoui HAF Volunteer The High Atlas Foundation held a tree planting day in AL – Salaam School, where the nursery is located in Ifrane. Abdelilah, the nursery caretaker, led the process. There were 64 participants. Sixty were elementary school children aged between 10 and 12 (30 children were in the fifth grade, and 30

by Fatima Zahra LAHRIRE HAF Volunteer Early morning on Tuesday, February 19th, we went to Tassa Ouirgane passing by the magnificent view of snowy mountain peaks, wildflowers, and small hills. At a distance of approximately 70 kilometers from the ochre city, Marrakech, the Tassa Ouirgane village stands in its beautiful Azzaden valley. The day started

Work-study students, interns, and volunteers of the High Atlas Foundation have opportunities to analyze development as it is experienced in rural and urban communities, by farmers, women, youth, and people of all backgrounds.  We also give the students and volunteers the encouragement and support that they need in order to write their observations, improve upon their writing,

By Youssef Moussaoui HAF Volunteer I have been volunteering for the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) for nearly a month now. Every day is a new experience, and the excitement never seems to end. This time, HAF planned a five-day tree-planting campaign in Fes, Sefrou, Azrou, and Meknes. Project manager Said Bennani and I travelled from

Peter Jacques, Ph.D., Professor UCF Political Science Department The Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd Program for Strategic Research & Studies (PMBF) has matched funds awarded to UCF Political Science Professor Peter Jacques to conduct a research project looking at sustainable development, water, and food security in Morocco. Jacques, who is partnering with the Marrakesh-based High Atlas

by Celina Böhmer HAF intern The weather is getting warmer here in Morocco. The sun is shining the whole day and providing us warmth. Yesterday, HAF project director Amina El Hajjami and I went to visit the Aboghlou Cooperative in Ourika. HAF began working with the women in 2015/16, using a participatory approach and training