Hajiba Boumasmar HAF Monitoring Officer For the entire day at the headquarters of the High Atlas Foundation in Marrakech, a meeting took place with HAF’s nursery caretakers, together with HAF’s President Yossef, Director of Projects Amina, Project Manager Said, and Monitoring Officer Hajiba. As part of the 2020 project to plant in 11 nurseries 1.2

BY NORA MARTETSCHLÄGER HAF INTERN A new day, a new trip! After our visit on the Ouarzazarte nursery land Amina, Said and me traveled to the Toubkal commune in order to check the progress of expanding the nursery there. The journey itself definitely wasn’t one of my favorites – the road was very curvy, and

HAF Intern In recent years in Morocco, the succession of droughts, floods, unusual temperatures, negative changes of ecosystems and productive sectors, and fragile economic conditions are unlike previous decades. This necessitates redoubling development efforts involving economic, political, and civil society actors to counter these adverse effects of climate. This is why the Moroccan government has

HAF intern Last week I got the chance to take part in some of the program of the Alumni Seminar. From the 6th to the 10th of the November, 55 youth from all over Morocco who participated in the different U.S. Embassy exchange programs met at the Hotel Dar Atlas in Marrakech to share their

by Hajiba Boumasmar HAF Intern On September 28, 2019, we visited both the Argan Majji Cooperative and the Agricultural Cooperative Argan Mogador for Argan Oil Extraction with HAF Project Manager Errachid Montassir, HAF Project Assistant Hassan Ait Ouatouch, and USAID Farmer to Farmer Officer Stephanie Frankenza. Argan Majji Cooperative Visit The Argan Majji cooperative was

By Nora Martetschläger HAF Intern My last days were all about Pomegranates. I visited Pomegranate farms, ate them fresh from the tree, had some delicious pomegranate juice and learned a lot about the pomegranate business. The reason for all this were two trips to Lalla Takerkoust on 29th and 30th of October together with my

– Women’s Rights in Morocco – What I learned, Rich Perspectives, By Richard Nzekwu (HAF Guest), 11 October 2019. I was honored to participate in a field trip to the Moroccan countryside region of Al-Haouz, where local NGO, High Atlas Foundation (HAF), was diligently fulfilling its mission to empower women. We arrived at the expansive farmland and

– Empowerment: A Solution for Inequality in Rural Morocco, The Policy Times, By Victoria Burns and Lailah Said (HAF Intern), 02 October 2019. • Arabic: Al-Watan Voice, 3 October 2019. How the practice of empowerment has the potential to be the key for reducing the negative impacts of alienation and inequality among women in rural regions of Morocco. “We

HAJIBA BOUMASMAR HAF Intern At the heart of the Atlas Galle, at an altitude ranging between 1800 and 2000 meters above sea level, there is the touristic village Ait Boughamez, or the so-called Happy Plateau. The population depends on tourism, livestock, beekeeping, and cultivation activities like barley, apple and walnut. The region of Ait Boukmaz

HAF Volunteer Close your eyes, and picture this. A bustling city. Heat permeating everything you do. Heat from the sun warming your skin as you step outside. Heat from the crowds swarming around you, seemingly with purpose and little time to pause. Heat from the steam rising from a cup of green tea, just ordered

Georgina Kenchington HAF Volunteer Quote of the day: mother nature is most definitely in charge here. Approximately 270 kilometers, or 3.5 hours drive from Oujda lies Bouarfa, the destination of my first experience with cooperatives as a volunteer with the High Atlas Foundation. More specifically, the Farmer-to-Farmer USAID Project, which aims to harness the potential

By Yaniv Teitel HAF Intern, graduate student at the Glocal program I got the chance to join HAF’s Farmer-to-Farmer staff on their first meeting with the Pomegranate Cooperative at Awlad Abdallah. Farmer-to-Farmer is a capacity-building program that HAF is conducting in rural areas in Morocco as part of a partnership with USAID. It was a

By Natalia Rutkowska HAF Intern It has been already a week in Morocco. However, just today I experienced cultural shock. Wednesday, at 8:54am, we came to the Hight Atlas Foundation office all prepared for today’s workshop. At the doors, a young intern named Layla welcomed us and she started to describe the main assumption of

Hajiba Boumasmar HAF intern The exclusion of illiterate women from the community was the motive for fighting against illiteracy. Today – accompanied by Amina, HAF’s Director of Projects, Ilyas – HAF’s photographer, and Hassan the driver and assistant – we supervised a ceremony for a group of women of the Aboughlou cooperative who benefited from

حجيبة بومسمار متدربة بمؤسسة الاطلس الكبير خريجة كلية العلوم و التقنيات – مراكش نسوة كافحن و جاهدن أكتر من إتنا عشرة شهرا في سبيل تعلم حرف واحد أبجدي ٫واليوم تم تتويجهم في حفل يحمل كلا من  الفرحة و البهجة لا زمان ولا مكان للتعلم يمكنك أن تتعلم في أي وقت٫ فقط آلإارادة هي المحرك٠ أن

Hajiba Boumasmar HAF Intern I was fortunate to participate in the four-day Imagine empowerment workshop from the 5th to the 8th of August with HAF trainer Ibtisam and her colleague Rachida. The workshop targeted the women of Ghammat in their process of forming the Cooperative of Chaabat Ghamat for Bees. The workshop was aimed to

Carol Ma Yau Ka HAF intern, CUHK student On 27th July, I had the opportunity to visit one of HAF’s “Imagine” workshops, organized in the valley of Ourika. The workshops aim at empowering women both financially and personally, providing a space for learning, discussion and inspiration. It was the first time that Rachida, apprentice trainer

By Camelia Harkousse, HAF intern July 25, 2019 On July 23, 2019, Ms. Fatima-Zahra Laaribi participated in a webinar dedicated to Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) projects funded by USAID. The objective of the seminar was to give an opportunity for stakeholders involved in future similar projects to benefit from lessons learned and experiences gained by fellow NGOs

Camelia Harkousse HAF Intern On Monday July 1st, a group of students who are on a conflict resolution and peace-building class at George Mason University (GMU) and their professor, accompanied by HAF President Dr. Yossef and HAF Director of Project Ms. Amina, visited the Aboghlo women’s cooperative in T’nine Ourika. This cooperative could be stated

HAF Intern, UVA student She stands out in my memory as the most beautiful girl in the room. Her eyes bright with desire and friendship. She wore bold jewelry–a big ring and matching necklace. She was silly and wanted to talk and take pictures. She ran down to the creek first and asked me to

HAF Intern, UVA student SCATTERED. For the past week, I’ve been trying to put into words, or just one word, what the four-day women’s empowerment workshop meant to me and I feel scattered just trying. All at once, the workshop was challenging, easy, meditative, analytical, goal-oriented, present-focused, relaxing, irritating, draining, and energizing. I’ve written down

SANAE BENAADIM HAF VOLUNTEER On the 15th of June, the team left HAF office in Marrakech in the morning toward Anamer village in Seti Fadma commune which is about 55 km out of the Red city. The team included Said El Bennani, HAF’s Project Manager, and Hassan Ait Ouatouch, HAF’s Project Assistant, Ilyas Dkhrissi (social

HAF Intern On a hot sunny day of May 30, 2019, the group accompanied by Errachid Montassir and Amina El Hajjami, left HAF Office in Marrakech by 9 o’clock in the morning, towards the Amazigh village of Akrich. The drive took about 30 min to get to the village. The first site visited was the

– The Next Step for Cooperatives Is Certification, The McGill International Review, by Amy Zhang (Undergraduate student and HAF Intern), 12 July 2018. • Arabic: Al-Watan Voice, 13 July 2018. By Amy Zhang Marrakech This week we celebrate the United Nations International Day of Cooperatives, commemorated every year on the first Saturday of July. Cooperatives’ success in sustainable development,