This 2014 day of democracy brings to the fore a great question – that begs an answer – facing the youth of the world and especially in countries in the Middle East and North Africa.\u00a0\u00a0How can widespread and apparently uncompromising socio-economic despondency be addressed in a sustainable manner?<\/p>\n
The answer lies is an applied action – through participatory democracy that engages individuals and communities in dialog and consensus-building, with the goal of identifying their development challenges and opportunities and creating a plan for shared action to achieve priority projects.<\/p>\n
In Morocco, where the situation of its youth is a good reflection of that of other nations of the region, one can easily acquire a heavy heart when hearing of their common challenges: the majority living at home throughout their twenties, often delaying marriage because they cannot afford their accommodation; young, educated women passing days and years at the family home without acquiring the skills to find a job and without adequate jobs being available; rural girls\u2019 education regularly cut short after primary school as families are without means to send them to middle and high schools and may,in any case, place a higher value on boys\u2019 education.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the highest source of frustration is that Moroccan youth live in a society replete with opportunities for social action and economic growth of which they may be unaware, having faced such difficulties in their early life that they commonly believe no such opportunities could exist.<\/p>\n
Engaging youthful energy wisely – and not letting it become counterproductive, for youth and for society as a whole – is surely one of the most pressing objectives currently faced.\u00a0 This day of democracy brings to mind a solution that has proven itself over decades, particularly by way of development experiences undertaken since the Second World War – participatory democratic planning – a methodology that, moreover, is embedded in Morocco\u2019s municipal charter and national development strategies and which, since the 1990s, has become a globally accepted way of promoting sustainable human development.<\/p>\n
The process involves applying open dialog procedures for groups to evaluate both their past project development experiences and their current priority needs.\u00a0 In this way they gain greater self-reliance and empowerment to create the change in their lives and their localities that they seek, take control of their own analysis and investigation and thus become responsible for project implementation through the entire cycle, from design to management and evaluation.\u00a0 This development approach has now become synonymous with sustainability because project evaluations have identified that local participation is at least as critical as finance in order to achieve project continuity and overall success.<\/p>\n