On June 18th, 2010 over 80 guests gathered in the home of His Excellency Aziz Mekouar, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United States, in Bethesda, Maryland for a kick-off to summer reception and silent auction honoring the contribution of the High Atlas Foundation to rural development in Morocco. The Foundation’s goal is to raise $200,000 to plant

Please join the High Atlas Foundation at our annual Ramadan Eat.Drink.Share Ftoor and have your name entered with each ticket purchase into our HAF’s Moroccan Film Festival raffle for a chance to win 2 tickets to the festival to be held on October 29-30th, 2010 at New York City’s famed TriBeCa Cinemas! Friday, August 20th is our NYC Ramadan Eat.Drink.Share Ftoor atL’Artiste (43rd Street

Please join the High Atlas Foundation at our DC Ramadan Eat.Drink.Share Ftoor and have your name entered with each ticket purchase into ourHAF’s Moroccan Film Festival raffle for a chance to win 2 tickets to the festival to be held on October 29-30th, 2010 at New York City’s famed TriBeCa Cinemas! The Ftoor will be hosted on Sunday, August 22nd at Marrakech

Eighteen people attended our first Eat.Drink.Share event in DC, Sunday evening, August 22 nd at Marrakesh Palace Restaurant to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan and share a traditional Moroccan ftoor among friends.  In keeping with the Ramadan spirit of giving, $210 in donations were collected.  “$1 – 1 Fruit Tree Sapling”.   All proceeds will go to fund

“Thank you for joining the High Atlas Foundation for fitoor last Friday evening at L’Artiste. We were thrilled that you all came out to celebrate Ramadan with us and learn more about the Moroccan Film Festival. And congratulations again to our lucky winner of the pair of tickets to the opening night film and reception

This past summer HAF’s Center for Community Consensus-Building and Sustainable Development has been busy! In partnership with the National Endowment for Democracy, HAF organized and presented a series ofcapacity building workshops, post training activities including monthly meetings and round tables for locally elected officials and students from Hassan II University’s Faculty of Law, Economics, and Social

During the summer a HAF team got together in Casablanca to create a strategic plan for 2011 and beyond. HAF was experiencing growing pains and was in need of discussion, reflection and planning. Projects currently in the pipeline add up to almost $1M in funding needs, not counting plans for expansion of the academic partnership

The first Moroccan Film Festival, hosted by the High Atlas Foundation, was a great success, drawing a crowd of 175 people for the opening night film and kick-off reception on Friday, October 29th and nearly 500 people for the following day’s nine feature length films. Guests were welcomed on opening night with Moroccan tea and

In rural Morocco, women play an integral role in the long-term sustainability of their communities and can potentially contribute up to 50% (3 year period) to the household income through the sale of their handmade crafts. Cooperatives provide alternative incomes to traditional farming as well as educational opportunities for women, which contribute to their improved

There is a window of opportunity that comes once a year to dramatically improve the lives of rural Moroccans. Each year’s planting season, which ends in mid-March, gives us the chance to make a donation that will benefit our environment and generations to come. For only $1 per tree, you can give the gift of

Ahidous is the generic name given to the music and dances that accompany collective celebrations in the Middle Atlas of Morocco. Jumpstart 2011 with HAF in celebratory Ahidous fashion with HAF’s special musical guest, Ahmed Sahel, from the Middle Atlas as he presents on Amazigh music genres, instrumentation, and folk oral tradition. Special Musical Performance by

High Atlas Foundation Showcases Amazigh Music in New York By Norman L. Greene* February 20, 2011 At Les Enfants Terribles Restaurant on Sunday, February 6, 2011, in New York City, I attended with a number of other friends of the High Atlas Foundation a Sunday morning presentation on Amazigh music as part of HAF’s “Eat,

On February 12th, HAF concluded the series of capacity building workshops and post-training activities on Participatory Democracy with 35 locally elected officials and students from Hassan II University’s Faculty of Law, Economics, and Social Sciences in Mohammedia. A one year program that was in partnership with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) came to an

The 2011 planting season in Morocco is coming to an end and HAF and its partners planted 120,000 fruit saplings – almost five times the number of trees in New York’s Central Park! Now is the time for us together to make a difference! Learn more about current HAF projects, meet new people, and find out

Letter from HAF’s President to former Peace Corps Volunteers of Morocco I am writing to you from Mohammedia where the High Atlas Foundation created in partnership with Hassan II University the Center for Community Consensus-Building and Sustainable Development.  From here we manage the different field projects of HAF and conduct participatory training workshops with students, local

A picture-perfect Sunday morning welcomed HAF’s March Eat-Drink-Share, set in Washington, D.C. at Georgetown’s Puro Cafe.  A delicious brunch united ten Americans and their shared passion for Morocco.  Several returned Peace Corps Volunteers working in D.C., and one person en route to live and work in Morocco expressed interest to get involved in helping HAF

In recognition of the Peace Corps’ 50th anniversary and the founders of the High Atlas Foundation being predominantly former volunteers of the environment sector of Peace Corps Morocco, here is a wonderful piece from Dawn Hamil that captures the essence our love for Morocco and for our desire to remain in service to the people of this

April E-Newsletter – Trees, Training, Events, and Investing in Moroccan Sustainable Development

Read about HAF’s most succeful tree planting season (English PDF and French PDF). since 2006, HAF has planted 320,000 fruit trees benefiting approximately 30,000 people. HAF can potentially achieve its One Million Tree goal during the 2012 planting season. We need your partnership to make it happen. HAF’s Community Almond Tree Nursery, Ouanzourt Village, Toubkal Commune.

On June 17th, I had the great pleasure of meeting the 5th grade class of George Washington Academy in Casablanca. The amazing students held a bake sale for the High Atlas Foundation and raised 3,500 Moroccan dirhams for fruit tree planting in rural disadvantaged communities, as part of HAF’s 1 Million Tree Campaign. I enjoyed very much speaking with the students

(Ouafa Elbargui is the High Atlas Foundation’s new Project Coordinator at its Tahanaout Center). My job is to coordinate between the HAF’s project and training Center and partnering organizations and agencies.  This is the first time I have ever worked at such a job.  One of the insights that struck me the most was the

By Yossef Ben-Meir, President of HAF On behalf of the High Atlas Foundation, it is with such great pleasure to announce that Mr. Peter Jupp is the new Chair of HAF’s Board of Directors. Peter’s election to this vital leadership position is true milestone for the organization and occurs at a time filled with special

HAF’s Moroccan Film Festival is fast approaching and we hope that you will buy tickets today.  Why?  Because this special event is so worthwhile: Here is a chance to greatly enjoy Moroccan film, food and wine with wonderful people, while supporting projects in fruit tree nurseries that create transformational benefits for rural Moroccan communities. Thank you to the Festival

Thank you again to everyone for making the Moroccan Film Festival a very special occasion, especially for the Moroccan rural communities HAF seeks to benefit.  About $5,000 was raised for the 1 Million Tree Campaign – which will plant about 10,000 fruit saplings (non-pesticide requiring) in a community-managed tree nursery.  This will create major economic and environmental

On January 5th at the Al Kairaouane School in Tahanaout, Al Haouz Province, HAF’s staff accompanied the El Kouhen family for the inauguration of the wonderful project Trees for Kids: Sami’s Project, inspired by loving memories of their 3-year-old son Sami who, before losing his battle with cancer 5 years ago, had already shown his

As part of the 1 Million Tree Campaign , HAF is currently raising funds for 7 fruit tree nurseries planted in 6 provinces, totaling 600,000 fruit saplings and costing $300,000. These trees will benefit approximately 45,000 people, and by 2018 they will have (on average) doubled household incomes. Why tree nurseries vs. trees? Tree nurseries create jobs while raising

The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) concluded an extraordinary training in the Rural Commune of Toubkal (Taroudant Province) that truly epitomizes bottom-up development – and that we believe creates a vitally important model for Morocco. Communes (the most local administrative level in Morocco) are required by their national charter to create Community Development Plans for their

On March 14, beginning just after midnight at 12:01 AM (EST ‐ New York), online donations made to High Atlas Foundation (and all) projects on Global Giving will be matched at 30% (up to $1,000 per donor) until the designated $50,000 in matching funds runs out. Organizations that receive the most donations and those receiving the largest number of gifts

As part of HAF’s partnership with the Organization of the Moroccan Community in the United States (OMC-US), the High Atlas Foundation is facilitating participatory planning meetings in Zaouiat Cheikh and the Ait Oum Elbeikht communes, in the region of Ben-Mellal. Initial meetings since January 2012 were held at the social municipality club, and in recent

Happy 42nd Earth Day on April 22! Here at HAF, every day is Earth Day. Trees for Kids: Sami’s Project inspires a new generation to be proactive stewards of the earth. Most of our work is in remote rural areas, in the mountains where people’s lives are at the mercy of nature. When it rains