Hajiba Boumasmar
HAF Program Coordinator (Youth Conservation Corps)

Farmer-to-Farmer Expert-Volunteers with Takherkhourt cooperative members at the tree nursery. (Photo by HAF, December 2021)

In the Tassa Ouirgane village (located in the Ouirgane municipality of the Al Haouz province), the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) assisted the local women;s group in building an organic fruit trees to benefit their region. In 2019, a new women’s cooperative – called Takherkhourt – was created as a result of the Imagine empowerment workshops to create and manage sustainable projects.

In 2020, HAF and essential partners supported the Tekherkhourt Cooperative in their preparation of the land, establishing the irrigation system, planting of seeds, maintaining the saplings, and transplanting and monitoring them with farming families in the Marrakech region. The Tassa Ouirgane nursery is now operating at full capacity, which includes 40,000 saplings of carob, walnut, olive, fig, and pomegranate.

Following the Imagine workshop, the women experienced multiple series of capacity-building sessions in agriculture, climate change, planting techniques, project management, and communication. Groups visited the nursery and met with the cooperative members, and everyone was inspired by each other and gained from the interactive experience.

As part of the Youth Conservation Program (of the U.S. Forestry Service), cooperative members attended a week of workshops in nursery management, project administration, and logistics. The Tekherkhourt Cooperative has been assisted by the Rotary Club (Washington State and Casablanca), Ecosia, United Nations Development Program, UWC-Robert Bosch College, and the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer Program. The Cooperative Members seek new opportunities and activities, particularly in cultivating medicinal and aromatic plants and beekeeping. The Tassa Ouirgane nursery is a story of women’s empowerment.

The Tassa Ouirgane fruit nursery of the Takherkhourt women’s cooperative. (Photo by PIIC, 2021)