{"id":1072,"date":"2018-10-23T10:55:40","date_gmt":"2018-10-23T08:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/didouqen.com\/?p=1072"},"modified":"2018-10-23T10:55:40","modified_gmt":"2018-10-23T08:55:40","slug":"programs-with-vulnerable-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/programs-with-vulnerable-youth\/","title":{"rendered":"Programs with vulnerable youth"},"content":{"rendered":"
New Educational Workshop and Nursery for At-Risk Youth in Fes<\/strong><\/p>\n by Said Bennani<\/p>\n HAF Project Manager<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to the World Bank, the unemployment rate for young people ages 15 to 24 in Morocco in 2016 was over 20 percent. This figure does not include people who are underemployed or who work in the informal sector doing menial work in exchange for extremely low wages. Societies in which young people have few or no job prospects face a greater risk of experiencing political instability, rising inequality, rising crime, and increased religious and political radicalization.<\/p>\n To address this concern, this month the High Atlas Foundation inaugurated a new youth educational program at the Center for the Protection of Children – Abdelaziz Ben Driss in the northern Moroccan city of Fes. At-risk youth ages 12 to 18 who live at the children\u2019s Center have begun working on creating a new tree nursery that will be large enough to grow trees and plants for the surrounding region. The land upon which the nursery will have a restored and deepened well that will have a good supply of water, and a 70-cubic-meter-capacity water storage basin which needs to be repaired after many years of disuse.<\/p>\n \u00a0The land had been left fallow for a long time, so it is full of weeds and big plants. It is a new experience for the urban youth in Fes to work in a field, clearing it out to prepare for the construction of the new fruit tree nursery. The boys enjoy working in the field but since it is getting hotter now in Fes, they work up to two hours in the morning and one and a half hours in the afternoon.<\/p>\n The children were very excited to work on this project and asked many questions such as, \u201cWhat will we do here? Why are we doing this work? What is a nursery?\u201d The children\u2019s curiosity and eagerness to learn were very encouraging. Our HAF staff member was happy to answer the boys\u2019 questions and begin teaching them about HAF\u2019s future projects in Fes. The children will participate in an ongoing workshop throughout the year that will teach them about horticulture and provide valuable vocational training which the children can use to pursue careers in agriculture, landscape architecture, botany, or any other profession that requires knowledge of how to grow and care for plants. Perhaps one day one of the children will join HAF\u2019s staff!<\/p>\n