Field Train Students, CSOs & Officials in Morocco

The High Atlas Foundation was born from volunteerism. HAF is the product of Peace Corps Volunteers from the United States serving in Morocco, and Moroccans serving in their country. We all came together to create an organization that is entirely focused on listening to, and supporting, the dreams of the people.  

Then, the summer of 2018 came. We are now experiencing a new and uplifting level of volunteerism. Our more than 20-person staff doubled with the addition of volunteers from the U.S., from within Morocco and MENA, and from European countries.  Our larger HAF team, dedicated to the cause of people’s participation, has enabled the organization to reach further, do more, and make a greater difference.

Our articles that advocate women’s opportunities, youth’s fulfillment, and marginalized communities’ growth have become more numerous and widespread in publication around the world. Proposals and assessments to bring sustainable benefits to larger numbers of people and places were developed and are filled with promise. Perhaps most importantly, the enriching and unforgettable interactions between our volunteer visitors for the summer and Moroccan urban and rural people have continued and expanded.

We dedicate this Newsletter to our volunteers and to the hundreds of volunteers who have given so much during the lifetime of the High Atlas Foundation, without whom so many people’s best dreams might have remained just in their hearts and minds, but instead have found tangible realization. All of these articles in this Newsletter are written by those who came to Morocco to give themselves, and we are honestly and eternally grateful.

We send a special thanks to the University of Virginia’s International Program and to the Farmer-to-Farmer Program of Land O’Lakes and USAID.Happy summer everybody.

A released UNCTAD report highlights Morocco’s leadership regarding intra-African migrant issues. The report endorses Morocco’s “flagship” migrant regularization program and praises it for its progress. While Morocco has established new programs and legislation designed to meet the growing migrant population needs within its borders, there is a large implementation gap between policy and physical results.

In theory, these regularization programs are designed to aid and afford every migrant the necessary rights needed to settle into Morocco, but speaking to sub-Saharan migrants here in Morocco yields a different story. Legal aid for migrants is scarce and many struggle to obtain the promised resources and legal status under the new “regularization” programs. Despite minimal results occurring four years after its implementation, Moroccan residents have been rising to face the growing strains on their communities.

University Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah in Fes proposes starting a Law Clinic which will hold educational training sessions involving the three beneficiary groups. These workshops will inform migrants, law students, and civil society organizations on migrant rights under the new regularization programs. In turn, irregular migrants will receive direct legal consultation from these law students, giving them real world experiences, and the civil society organizations will be better equipped to help vulnerable populations. Each group benefits from the other. The end result being a more united Morocco.

Hassan II University’s Faculty of Law, Economics, and Social Sciences in Mohammedia created Legal Aid Law Clinic, in partnership with the National Endowment for Democracy and the High Atlas Foundation, to support communities of the province in overcoming barriers related to their own self-development.  They can transition its center to bring benefits to undocumented migrants, law students, and civil society organizations.

Help create University-based empowerment workshops.