Morocco

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Thematic Focus
• Progress on Aid Effectiveness
• Achievements

Overview

Having made steady economic growth in recent years, and significant reforms, Morocco is a beacon of stability in Northern Africa and the Middle East. It is making good progress towards most of the Millennium Development Goals. Yet it still ranks ranks 130 out of 187 countries on the United Nations 2010 human development index, mainly because of the challenges it faces in eliminating social inequality between rural and urban dwellers.

Morocco's economic growth is largely dependent on agriculture, which employs 44 percent of workers. A population boom is contributing to increasing unemployment and poverty, especially among young people. Education is key to unlocking the economic potential for children and youth in Morocco.

Thematic Focus

CIDA's programming in Morocco is closely aligned with the country's National Human Development Initiative (in French), which identifies education sector reform as a priority.

The goal of CIDA's program is to help the country create opportunities for children and youth through education reform and the implementation of a competency-based approach (adapting the education system to the needs of the modern economy).

Children and youth

CIDA continues to support the Ministry of Education's efforts to decentralize and reform basic education. This includes:

• expanding decentralization to the school level in order to better meet local needs;
• strengthening capacity in public management and results-based management to make the education system more accountable and efficient; and,
• helping to build a competency-based approach to education which will increase the employability of graduates—and, in the longer term, the competitiveness of Morocco's labour force.

Progress on Aid Effectiveness

Morocco adheres to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (PDF, 317 KB, 23 pages), and is increasing donor alignment with national priorities by setting up steering committees in several key sectors.

Achievements 2011-2012

• Nine rural communities and three urban communities designed their own community development plans. In addition, another 1,500 local communities received more support from the Directorate General of Local Communities in designing and implementing community development plans.
• Improvements were made to the implementation of a major reform of human resources management in Moroccan communities, involving 50,000 public servants. These results are strengthening the capacity of elected officials and public servants. They also improve local governance in Morocco.

Achievements 2010-2011

• In collaboration with the Directorate General of Local Communities of the Ministry of the Interior, tools were developed, management approaches were created, and training programs were implemented in a pilot project to further administrative decentralization in Morocco. These results are supporting the Ministry of the Interior in disseminating these tools, approaches, and programs throughout Morocco (1,503 communities).
• Helped seven rural communities and eight urban communities to create their own community development plans. The targeted communities are better able to promote and carry out a participatory, sustainable, and equitable local development process.

Achievements 2009-2010

Children and youth

• Trained more than 500 education managers from regional education and training academies in gender equality
• Helped develop and establish 22 programs using the competency-based approach in six sectors, including tourism/hotel, textiles/clothing, handicrafts, agriculture, new information and communications technologies, and mechanical, metallurgical, electric and electronics—in tourism alone, almost all 681 trainees found employment after graduation
• Helped train eleven Moroccans, certified in more than 50 skills, in the competency-based development process, establishing a foundation for skills-based training and development in Morocco's new vocational training system
• Introduced more than 1,000 stakeholders in vocational training to the competency-based approach
• Supported the introduction of a 12 percent quota to increase, from under 1 percent before the June 2009 elections, the number of women among elected representatives to Morocco's local government communes—the quota was met during the 2009 elections and 12 women were elected commune presidents

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