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 community facilitators, members of civil associations, and development experts.

The plenary session was characterized by inspiring the audience through sharing experiences, testimonials, and success stories of some NGOs and institutions.

The Community Service Volunteers program aims to offer OCP employees the opportunity to dedicate up to four weeks of their working time to voluntary actions for citizenship and put their skills and experience of the Group’s employees in the service of sustainable development and inclusive of the communities.

During these two days, the community service workshops covered nine fields: Agriculture, Art and Culture, Employability, Entrepreneurship, Environment, Education, Health, and Social Economics and Solidarity.  HAF staff members took part in three critical workshops namely Agriculture, Environment, and Education.

In the thematic Workshops, we discussed 14 agricultural projects including HAF’s seeds to sale value chain, organic certification, and carbon sequestration.  Other projects closely considered were the Integrated Agricultural Development Project presented by Foundation OCP, and health campaign and agricultural caravan by Phosboucraa Foundation.

There was a great interaction between the potential volunteers and the members of civil society by trying together to find the zones of the intervention and the necessary actions.

We gathered into three large groups to create an operational model where we concluded with the following ideas:

Vision: Contribute to the development of communities through the anchoring of the spirit of volunteerism

Values: Solidarity, commitment, tenacity, sharing, empathy, integrity, and respect

Objectives:

–          To contribute to socio-economic development

–          Expand the spirit of solidarity

–          Contribute to the improvement of the interventions of the various actors through the skills of their collaborators

–          Support citizen initiatives by voluntary collaborators

Priority areas:

1. Employability
2. Education, training
3. Health
4. Environment
5. Agriculture
6. Art and culture Social economy and solidarity

Our next action: create a platform of all volunteer opportunities so that all the participants and others interested will have access to it.