By Jamal Sebnat
July 11, 2015
Jamal Sebnat reflects on his first two months as an intern with the High Atlas Foundation, specifically his work with High Atlas Agriculture and Artisanal.
As an Intern at the High Atlas Foundation, the months May and June have been very enriching for me. I have participated in various projects, but my main focus has been on working with High Atlas Agriculture and Artisanal (HA3) and the Walnut Factory in the commune of Asni in the High Atlas Mountains.
Together with my colleagues I created a brochure that was used as an information sheet at the Walnut festival in Asni, June 12-14, 2015. I selected the pictures for the front page and wrote the text that would be used in the brochure. After that I completed the brochure with HAF Director of Development Jacqueline Seeley, HAF Intern Miranda LaBrash, and the Riad Saba Guest House manager, Brahim. This cooperation is the first step in a new approach planned by HA3 – Tourism for Development.
It was an especially valuable experience working and cooperating with Ignacio Ruiz, General Manager of HA3, with various tasks relating to preparing the walnut festival. Together with Ignacio I created a film that was shown to the governor of the Tensift-Al Haouz region during the walnut festival. I also assisted Ignacio in various other tasks, such as printing the labels for the oil bottles.
I have conducted various social media activities such as writing a Swedish blog post that is posted on the High Atlas Foundation’s blog in order to spread awareness about the organization in Sweden. I also interviewed on film the factory manager Hassan Inflass, filmed by Interns Miranda LaBrash and Hannah Rickard, which will be used for social media purposes.
Currently I am working on a promotion campaign that will be launched in Sweden for the sale of walnut oil and the planning for the new approach launched by the HA3 – Tourism for Development.
As an Intern at the High Atlas Foundation, I am able to apply practical experience of working for sustainable development projects in Tanzania, and theoretical knowledge from my masters in Development Studies in the Netherlands. In addition, I am learning several new aspects of developmental work in practice, specific to the context of Morocco.
Besides this I have also been given the opportunity to work with development workers from various parts of the globe. The team spirit at HAF is fantastic, and I am learning more and more by the day.
Thank you everybody at the HAF team,
Jamal Sebnat
About the Author:
Jamal is a recent graduate of Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies at The Hague. His major was Social Policy and his specialization was Work and Employment, with a special focus on the context of Morocco. He wrote his Master thesis about labour migrants from the Beni Mellal Province in central Morocco.
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Anthony Bald, Intern
