By Amina El Hajjami, HAF Project Manager High Atlas Foundation, Marrakesh Office  8 June, 2017  Moroccan women play a crucial role in the development of the community on a local and professional level. The progress of a community is directly correlated with the advancement of women and their capability to participate in economic, social and

 للرقي والتقرب أكثر من ساكنة حي الملاح العتيق، بمدينة مراكش، تمكنت مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير بشراكة مع جمعية ميمونة افتتاح أول إفطار جماعي مساء يوم الخميس 08 يونيو، و تم هذا بحضور أغلبية أعضاء مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير، مسؤولو جمعية ميمونة و السيد جاكي كادوش رئيس الجالية  اليهودية بجهة مراكش، أما من الفئة المستفيدة،  حضر حوالي أكثر

Errachid Montassir Chef de projet HAF Marrakech Le groupe Iftar (la rupture du jeûne du Ramadan) au Beth-El est une épopée majeure. Synagogue à Gueliz, Marrakech, avec des musulmans marocains et des juifs marocains, constituant ensemble une ancienne communauté. Il y avait environ 250 000 à 350 000 Juifs dans le pays après la Seconde

الرشيد منتصر. مشرف على مشروع سامي. مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير.  شكل الإفطار الجماعي بكنيس بيث-إل في جيليز-مراكش ملحمة كبيرة بين المسلمين المغاربة و اليهودالمغاربة. هذه الأخيرة التي شكلت حضارة و مجتمع قديم، حيث كان هناك ما بين 250000 إلى 350000 يهودي في المملكة بعد الحرب العالمية الثانية، التي أعطت المغرب أكبر جالية يهودية في العالم الإسلامي.

By Jan Thibaut HAF Intern  Tassa Ouirgane   The High Atlas Foundation and Holistic Sustainable Development Hi there! The name’s Jan Thibaut, a 25-year old master student and new intern with the High Atlas Foundation. Over the next couple of months I will try to make you, the reader, acquainted with the foundation and its

By Lloyd Farley Marrakech Our friends and partners at Ecosia have just met a wonderful landmark and we are happy to have been a part of their wonderful project. Just yesterday the folks at Ecosia celebrated planting ten million trees and we were happy to join over livestream from Morocco. For those who do not

  By Jan Thibaut HAF Intern, Graduate Student in International Development So, there it was, the big day has finally arrived! On May 19th I bade Marrakech adieu and made the big move to the little village, Tassa Ouirgane, to be immersed in the Tashelhit language and culture. Together with the ever-so-helpful Amina, we had managed to find

 Celebrating the end of Ramadan in a rural village and planning the future of Tassa Ouirgane. Today was the Eid, the celebration signalling the end of Ramadan, so that means no more fasting! In the morning I went and observed the prayer from a distance, because I didn’t want to interrupt their religious ceremony. Even

Among the upcoming projects with communities in Morocco, HAF is seeking to create a big industrial unit in the Youssoufia province. The unit will be a big factory of apple cider vinegar.  The province is strong in terms of human resource and other resources, but in terms of factories and industrial units, it is not strong.

By Lloyd Farley HAF Inter, Fes In the field of development, it is not often when you can see so much happen in just one day. A lot of the projects consist of behind the scenes work that yields undramatic, yet important results. However, today is a day in which significant progress has been made. As a result

Hello there! Ellen, here, HAF’s social media intern from Berkeley, California. I have spent the past five weeks with HAF, and I wanted to share my experience with you to tell you about all of the amazing projects HAF is working on and to fill you in on how you can help HAF do more

By Fatima Zahra Laarbi On Tuesday, the 25th of July at Hotel Mogador Opera Marrakech, two of HAF’s team members, Fatima Zahra Laaribi and Errachid Montassir, attended the first participatory regional seminar in Marrakech organized by the Moroccan Volunteer Collective, a non-profit national network. The Marrakech seminar is one of six participatory regional seminars in the

On Monday the 9th of August, we went with Amina, Project Manager at High Atlas Foundation, to Oukaimeden, a little village in the mountain Atlas, close to Marrakech, to assist to the meeting with the represents of the different villages nearby and the responsible of the different associations. The aim of these periodic meetings is to

The green hills that used to surround the Moroccan cities of Fez, Ifran and Oujda have turned amber. Years of intensive grazing have depleted the soil of its nutrients. Only the oldest villagers remember that their home used to be green, and cooler. The absence of the ancient forests is so real, so striking, that

By Maurice Polczynski and Jana Kaben The Azzaden Valley is part of the El Houz region, 70 km south of Marrakech. It is near the Toubkhal national park, which is developed towards tourists. In contrast, the nine villages of the Azzaden Valley are nearly off the beaten tourist track, which is beautiful. We found the Moroccan

My first solo participatory meeting in Tororde, Azzaden Valley Another big day today: my first solo participatory meeting! I met up with Farid and Hamid in the building of their organisations, which doubles as classroom and day-care for the smallest children due to lack of sufficient classrooms. At first I feared it was only going

By Ulrica Muffatto HAF summer intern On the 10th of August we took part in an interesting meeting in Setti Fadma, province of Al Haouz. Representatives of the surrounding villages were present at the meeting, as well as local authorities and the mayor of Setti Fadma. The objective of the meeting was to present HAF’s

 By Gal Kamarski, HAF Intern & Graduate Student   Last Friday, HAF staff conducted a marketing workshop with the women’s cooperative center in Tenine-Ourika. Our project manager, Amina, and one of our volunteers, Davide (from Italy), led the workshop.  Gal (myself), the HAF Intern and graduate student from Jerusalem, took photos and notes (also kept

By Max Bone Social Media Team Member I am sharing an interesting documentary that suggests that “Not-so-Ugly Americans” outside of the United States are Peace Corps Volunteers. The Peace Corps, which was founded in 1961 by the late President Kennedy to promote “peace and friendship across the world” has sent over 225,000 volunteers to 193

At the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in the city of Ben Guerir, the OCP Group organized a two day workshop about a new program they are launching, called Community Service. The OCP Group has a Board that was created to carry out the social and societal commitment of the organization.  Its main goal is to

On the 11th and 12th of September 2017, three HAF staff members participated in a workshop organized by OCP at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in  Ben Guerir, located in the Rhamna Province. There were 200 participants in the workshop, including OCP employees active in the voluntary sector, members from Foundation OCP and Phosboucraa Foundation, local

By Max Bone Social Media Team Memeber  The High Atlas Foundation is thrilled to announce a new partnership with FRÉ, a company that uses organic argan oil to offer a skincare solution for women who work out, formulated for skin that sweats. FRÉ uses argan that is harvested and processed in Morocco, and they are committed to giving

By Jan T.  HAF Intern  Rachid and I visit the often overlooked villages of the Vallée d’Azzaden and meet with local people. Efforts to coordinate actions and stimulate cooperation throughout the Vallée d’Azzaden are starting to take shape. To facilitate our communication, we decided to host a breakfast with community members (some of whom are

Dr. Rachid El Kouhen, Sami’s father This year we commemorate the 10 year anniversary of Sami’s passing.  We continue to remember his smile, love and beautiful memories within us and through the thousands of kids impacted by Sami’s Project.  The planting and distribution of trees with children is the foundation of Sami’s Project.  It empowers kids by providing a feeling of

Jan Thibaut HAF Intern, graduate student Another pretty productive and successful day today. In the early afternoon I had a meeting with the teachers I had met yesterday at the school in the Village of Tororde in the Azzaden Valley. One of the teachers, Zahara, was kind enough to set up a meeting with people

By Gal Kamarski  HAF Inter, Graduate Student  Last week, our staff, including our trainer Ibtisam, manager Fatima-Zahra, and myself, conducted a four-day workshop with twenty women from Agbalo (اغبالو) in the Ourika valley. Women varied in ages from 21 to over 50 years old (most of them in their twenties, or forties) from three different

Marwa Natsheh Through her internship in Morocco, the writer has been inspired to think differently about interfaith relationships. This article presents this experience and highlights the lack of global perspectives of those living in the midst of a conflict. From the first day I landed in Morocco for my internship, I have learned more than

By Gal Kramarski HAF Intern Graduate Student Amongst processes of democratization, traditions and the Islamic sharia, stands the debate around women’s personal-status-law in Morocco, Mudawana. Enacted in 1958, after gaining independence from France, Moudawana expressed Morocco’s unique identity, culture, and connection to the Islamic and Arabic heritage. Moudawana was the first official codex to set particular family legislation

By Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir HAF President Various perspectives exist on the relationship between participation in development and empowerment.  First, that there is indeed a relationship is now widely recognized.[1] Some writers suggest that empowerment and participation are actually one and the same.  “Participation is another name for empowerment.”[2] Just as with other concepts, however, empowerment is

Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir President High Atlas Foundation There is a joy I feel when talking about Morocco, and the role of the High Atlas Foundation in the great national project to catalyze participatory development with all the nation’s villages and neighborhoods.  It is a dream and reality.  Morocco set itself on a path of democratic