– Heart Disease in Morocco and Empowerment Workshops, Modern Ghana. By Carlie Daniel HAF-UVA Intern Heart disease is a prevalent chronic disease in Morocco and has been one of the leading causes of death over the last 10 years. Heart disease can be prevented through lifestyle changes, but people must be made aware of the

By Aira Matin, HAF-UVA Intern Education in rural Morocco is a work in progress. Building from the core of the community, there is a need for a better investment in education as well as promoting the power of giving girls an education. Yet some communities in rural Morocco often do not see the value in

By Caroline Culmo, Rohan Krishnan, Anjali Mahajan, and Elisa Zhang After nearly a year of working with the High Atlas Foundation on the development of a business plan for value added-walnut processing as volunteer consultants from the University of Pennsylvania, our team had the opportunity to visit several of HAF’s agricultural cooperatives and walnut tree

Female Empowerment Can Drive Development in Morocco, Morocco World News. By Molly Case Charlottesville, Virginia Despite its international reputation as a reformist country, women in Morocco continue to face significant obstacles to social, economic, and political participation. Progressive revisions of the Moudawana Family Code (2004) and amendments to the Moroccan constitution (2011) have aided in

By Zainab Hachoumi, HAF Intern  Generally, self-empowerment is referred to as the process which leads people to exert greater control over their lives. It is about believing in oneself, setting goals, and making positive choices. That is to say, having to understand our strengths and weaknesses and having belief in ourselves. This view of self-empowerment

– Empowering Women to Combat Climate Change, Morocco World News. Shivani Lakshman Charlottesville, Virginia Climate change is likely the most urgent crisis facing us in the 21st century. Rising temperatures are causing increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters, more droughts and heat waves, precipitation changes, and sea level rise. Consequently, this is leading to high

زينب لعظم مسؤولة ميدانية بمشروع من فلاح إلى فلاح مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير، مراكش ماذا عن حياةٍ رتيبةٍ مفتقرةٍ إلى حماسٍ يهزها إلى حيث تشهد النجاح؟ يزداد هذا السؤال حدةً عندما يطرحه عليك أحدهم، فتجيب عليه وأنت تنظر إلى واقعك بين مكذبٍ ومصدق. وكم نشعر بالخجل حين نسمع ضميرنا يحدثنا ليلاً بدروسٍ تحثُ على الاستفاقة صوب

– ”…من قلب النساء…”, sotal Iraq, Zineb Laadam. زينب لعظم مسؤولة ميدانية بمشروع Farmer to Farmer مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير ٬ مراكش كتب هذا المقال عن ورشة تخيل التي أقيمت بالنادي النسوي بأمزميز، اقليم الحوز جهة مراكش آسفي، في إطار التمكين الذاتي للنساء٬ الذي تشرف عليه مؤسسة الاطلس الكبير بتمويل من المشروع الأمريكي (من فلاح إلى

Mimouna, Women, and Morocco’s Creative Cultural Diversity, Morocco World News, By Shivani Lakshman  HAF-UVA Intern. By Shivani Lakshman HAF-UVA Intern On Tuesday, April 6, the Mimouna Association hosted a virtual event titled “Celebrating Mimouna: From a Feminine Perspective.” The Mimouna Association is a non-profit founded in 2007 by Muslim students aiming to promote and preserve

This article highlights the key message of the Generation Share Changemakers World Digital Tour for Morocco.  Webster Hill IV, HAF Spring Intern Before I begin, I have a simple request to ask of you: take a moment to step outside into the natural environment and look around. What is one issue that you notice and

Megan Sprotte 3/3/21 The terms ‘development’ and ‘human rights’ have become of frequent use in our current society, and one might even regard them as ‘buzzwords.’ While the vast attention given to each of these terms has been a fairly recent phenomenon, the use of them in communion is an even newer occurrence. Given the

Ian MacPherson HAF UVa Student Intern Nov 5, 2018—  High Atlas Foundation facilitates a women’s IMAGINE workshop adapted for Moroccan cultural and religious practices. Deep relationships maintained over time and a global scope at a local scale characterize the participatory approach to development. Methods grouped under the umbrella of participation vary widely, and are formed

By Zineb Laadam Farmer-to-Farmer, Morocco Despite weakening bodies, with grey hair and clenched faces, these people are still closely committed to their work with all dedication and sincerity. Time has not weakened their spirits. Heaven did not bury them but rather made them warriors in the field. They love nature, and it loves them back.

By Zineb Laadam Farmer-to-Farmer, Morocco The High Atlas Foundation celebrates women’s achievements at the Aboghlo cooperative. In the darkness of every night, she raises her head to the sky, looks with her eyes at the stars, holds the shield of a soldier in her hands, and does not know what to do with it. Does

Kaoutar Ait Lahaj Program Coordinator The participants of the International Women’s Day Webinar. On the 8th of March, the US Embassy of Israel hosted a webinar entitled “International Women’s Day: The Middle East & The Abraham Accords” in partnership with the UAE Embassy in Washington, DC, The Embassy of Bahrain, and the Embassy of Morocco.

This International Women’s Day, the High Atlas Foundation team celebrates all women, women leaders, women who are working to create a more equal future in spite of this current context in which we live -- a context in which deep-seated gender inequalities have exacerbated the consequences of the pandemic for women and girls around the

Zineb Laadam HAF Farmer to Farmer Field Officer The women of the Ghmat Division Cooperative have started producing honey thanks to our partnership with USAID’s Farmer-to-Farmer program. January 7, 2021 – “Success stories,” a short phrase but with great meanings. This phrase was said by Errachid Montassir (Project Manager at the High Atlas Foundation) before

Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir Marrakech Participatory community movements found a contemporary impetus in post-World War II reconstruction of Europe and decolonization, primarily in Africa. The approach of locally managed change, however, was highly distrusted during these initial years, during which the dominant view was that central-level policy makers are in a better position than the people

By Malika Jumad Participants from HAF’s IMAGINE Women’s Empowerment Workshop in Douar Sidi Ali Ofaris, Siti Fadma Province. This blog is a reflection from a recent beneficiary of HAF’s self-empowerment workshop in Douar Sidi Ali Ofaris, Siti Fadma Province. My name is Malika Jumad. I am 23 years old, and I live in Ourika in

HAF Project Manager & F2F Volunteer Coordinator Women from Tidili Mesfioua created two new women’s cooperatives after attending IMAGINE Women’s Empowerment workshops with the High Atlas Foundation. Women’s empowerment is a crucial aspect of the High Atlas Foundation’s (HAF) work with the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program. Last week, the F2F team took a trip to

– تمكين المرأة: زراعة البذور ورحلة اكتشاف الذات في المغرب, Deyar Al Naqab. Caption: The participants doing “twinkles” (in lieu of applause) in Achbaro for Lalla Nezha after presenting her affirmation.  Women’s empowerment is a key to having a successful and bright future for Morocco. The IMAGINE Program’s main objective is to help women discover

Caption: High Atlas Foundation’s USAID Farmer-to-Farmer Volunteer Rachida meeting women in Tassa Ouirgane. During the shut-down and uncertainties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, USAID encouraged Farmer-To-Farmer (F2F) implementers worldwide to support local Volunteers, paired with remote U.S. Volunteers, as they collaborate with agricultural cooperatives and education centers in achieving their goals. The High Atlas Foundation

Picture from the webinar Women’s Leadership On October 28th, 2020, the University of Hassan II in partnership with Stevens Initiative launched a webinar on Women’s Leadership: Driving Change. Dr. Driss Ouaouicha, Delegate Minister of Higher Education, opened the webinar by introducing and welcoming the participants as well as the audience. The webinar was mainly about

Caption: The invitation to the conference organized by the Center for Middle East Studies During the last week of September, the Center for Middle East Studies at Brown University organized a conference on “Decolonization, Development and State Building in North Africa”. The panels were facilitated by Ph.D. researchers who are interested in the North African

اليوم العالمي للقضاء على العنف ضد المرأة: عندما يصبح الرجل حليفا لقضية المرأة, Beirut Times, By Errachid Montassir (HAF project manager). On November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, HAF celebrates its community partners who work tirelessly toward gender equality. November 25th marks the International Day for the Elimination of

HAF Office Manager & Volunteer Coordinator Caption: High Atlas Foundation, Tassa Ouirgane Nursery “Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness.” -Kahlil Gibran I always believed that trees are the source of life for humans. HAF encourages the Moroccan

Errachid Montassir & Said El Bennani HAF Project Managers HAF staff member Hassan Ait Ouatouch  and HAF volunteer Houria Chouhab planting an Argan tree with the members of Mogador Argan Women’s Cooperative in Essaouira – 2019 Photo by: Ilyas Dkhissi The concept of gender as a social construct is often met with resistance. While attempts

Program Coordinator Friends of Europe invitation for the online debate On the 24th of September, a debate about “Health, welfare, and prosperity: an EU-Africa partnership for a people-centered approach to human development” was held as part of the weekly virtual debates that Friends of Europe organized to strengthen the African-European relations. They invited decision-makers from

Bringing Poverty to Heel, The New Dawn Liberia, By Yossef Ben-Meir (HAF President). • Arabic: Maghress, 15 Octobre 2020. • French: Libération, 20 Octobre 2020. Agricultural cooperative members planning their local projects in Morocco’s Oujda Region (High Atlas Foundation, 2020). October 17 marks the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The commemoration of this day suggests that the way to end poverty

President of the High Atlas Foundation The guiding principle of the High Atlas Foundation over its life of twenty years has remained fixed: sustainability is a function of people’s control over the development that improves their lives. Projects by and for local communities are what is sustainable. This principle has always been both our heartbeat