{"id":3931,"date":"2019-02-08T14:19:34","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T13:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/didouqen.com\/?p=3931"},"modified":"2021-02-11T15:00:43","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T15:00:43","slug":"excursion-to-the-ourika-valley-with-participants-of-the-kickoff-conference-for-decentralization-of-renewable-energy-in-morocco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/excursion-to-the-ourika-valley-with-participants-of-the-kickoff-conference-for-decentralization-of-renewable-energy-in-morocco\/","title":{"rendered":"Excursion to the Ourika Valley with Participants of the \u201cKickoff Conference for Decentralization of Renewable Energy in Morocco\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Celina B\u00f6hmer and Kerstin Opfer<\/em><\/p>\n Last week the High Atlas Foundation in partnership with Germanwatch, a German NGO dedicated to global equity and people\u2019s livelihoods, conducted a kick-off workshop in Marrakesh with important Moroccan stakeholders of energy and decentralization. This workshop marked the start of the Multi-Stakeholder Partnership (MSP) for an African energy transition towards 100% renewables, with a special focus on Morocco as one of the Energy policy pioneers on the African continent. \u00a0While Morocco is a leader in the expansion of renewable energies on the African continent, renewable projects in the Kingdom so far tend to be large-scale. These large-scale projects have to be complemented by decentralized small-scale installations to benefit local communities and to create development opportunities.<\/p>\n The workshop provided a forum for important project partners and stakeholders to get to know one-another, to share experiences and ideas related to current and emerging challenges, discuss opportunities of energy and decentralisation in Morocco, and plan the upcoming MSP, which aims to support and promote a decentralized approach to Moroccan energy transition. \u00a0As part of the two-day workshop, the HAF team and participants visited community member of a village called Aghbalou in the Ourika Valley. Since 2016 HAF worked closely with the community from Aghbalou and utilised a multi-stakeholder approach, where HAF acted as a bridge between national and international civil society, who provided the necessary resources, the High Commission of Waters and Forests, who provided trees and land for the communities to plant on and harvest medicinal plants, and the local community.<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n First, we visited the \u201cDo Tmkit\u201d cooperative in Aghbalou. This cooperative, which consists of seven women, \u00a0produces dried medicinal plants, different kinds of couscous, jam, and teas. They started their production in 2018 with merely 100 medicinal plants but had and still have big plans in mind. One of them is to produce essential oils for medicinal- and skin care purposes. Fifteen kg of berries collected from public land nearby could produce 1 liter of essential oil, which could be sold for 400-600 MAD. Because the berries are harvested from public land and the only costs involved is the workforce of the women, the potential profit for the cooperative is huge.<\/p>\n To make this dream reality the cooperative pursues a formalised partnership agreement with the High Commission of Waters and Forests. Currently, harvesting the berries and medicinal plants from publicly owned land is tolerated by the High Commission of Waters and Forests but an official partnership agreement is still missing. Through utilising close working relations, HAF will assist the cooperative to obtain this agreement and thereby enable them to take a big step forward towards their essential oil production. Another plan is to include men in the work because the cooperative wants to increase their production rate and the workforce provided by men would be invaluable to them. HAF\u2019s project director Amina El Hajjami was very excited and surprised to hear about about this plan as this is the first time that a women cooperative want to work in collaboration with men, a sign of growing empowerment.<\/p>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n In the bright and open rooms of the cooperative, we had an interesting talk with Sakia, the women’s cooperative leader. Dr Yossef Ben-Meir, HAF\u2019s president, Kerstin, HAF\u2019s operations manager and Celina B\u00f6hmer, anthropology student and volunteer with HAF, were very excited to hear about the cooperatives successes and admired their amazing work. Sakia said: \u201cIf we continue to work hard, we can improve our life and our children\u2019s lives considerably.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n
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