Field Train Students, CSOs & Officials in Morocco

Maimunah Mohd, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, gave a public lecture on March 14, 2022, organized by The Bartlett Development-Planning Unit, University College of London.

UN habitat executive director, Ms. Mohd, is learning on the cutting edge of innovation.

New tools must be applied: reforming and rethinking for unknown parameters in our environment. Ms. Mohd  questioned the audience on how to approach and deal with urban planning, identify challenges, and assist future challenges? As planners: look at infrastructure with a technical view. When zoning a space, planners should think of the parameters of the environment and the local people. The moment you plan and build, it is costly. Think about the criteria you want to achieve—especially the needs of the people.

“A supply-led approach to hit provision has often led to unintended and negative consequences for the people,” remarked Maimunah Mohd. We need to have a demand-driven, not supply-driven approach in the future. An excellent way to approach future urban development is a participatory approach with the selected community to better understand the wants and needs of the community and even discuss the contribution it can make to the project. 

Ms. Mohd brought an example at hand. She mentioned a drain built against gravity after a flood, which worsened the next one. On that note, she mentioned visiting and talking to the engineers of a development project in Cairo for a new bus lane in between busy public streets. At the Cairo development project, the project leaders told Ms. Mohd after she had suggested a change in the planned pedestrian access to the bus stations: “If a woman designs a city, it is a city designed for all.”

The prioritization of affordable housing was another heavily underlined aspect Ms. Mohd stressed. It should be seen as an investment into jobs since the youth only get to have an education if they have a roof over their heads, particularly in countries of the global south. An integrated approach needs to be applied to integrate and plan for future challenges and resilience. We need to make that impact for a changed, sustainable future. “Think global, act local. Think local, act global,” Ms. Mohd echoed the popular phrase for response to sustainable development. I believe this statement to be a significant and impactful one. 

The talk continued with the speaker enlightening the audience about the 765 million people still without access to electricity, and 2.6 billion people without access to clean cooking (those use plastic instead of wood or gas ovens since it is more affordable). The executive director for UN Habitat went on to say that the world is full of ongoing conflicts and war tensions; there will not be development. “No peace, no development” was her conclusion.

Building and planning equitable and sustainable cities are important, but how would we ensure actionable knowledge? We need to co-produce knowledge with various actors in a city. Bringing in people from different stages of life, backgrounds, and knowledge is essential to hear as many opinions and perspectives as possible, as well as to enjoy a better quality of life. Ms. Mohd stressed that shifting governance from looking at dealing with disasters to dealing with disastrous reduction is a big problem. 

Securing government assistance sustainably is how future development plans should be implemented: affordable housing, a participatory approach, and combined solidarity between citizens, as well as between citizens and nature. "I am actively nurturing the civil life of cities and territories. I am a civil servant.”  Maimunah Mohd said, which later Prof. Levy commented on by saying, “I love how you said you are a civil servant! We need more civil servants“ . She went on to say that this is a sense of public service that, for her, is so central to the solidarity and mutual care the conference has been talking about.

On Friday the 11th of March, I attended the fifth annual international conference on education quality hosted and organized by the University Ibn Zohr of Agadir. The invited speakers’ talks I heard were focused on the general topic of “national and local policy initiatives.” This set’s chair was Ms. Roncevic from the University of Rijeka, Croatia. Dr. Ben-Meir was invited and held his talk on “education and sustainable development in Morocco.”

Dr. Ben-Meir started by underlining the importance of university students for the dynamic community-based process. Community-driven control of all aspects of the developing process is the primary factor that determines sustainability. Community participation is equal, if not more essential, than finance. In Morocco, community participation is embedded in programs, policies, and charters of the nation. It is integral to the inception of the National Initiative for Human Development, the basis for Moroccan decentralization. 

Even though these policies and programs exist, it is hard to thrive and grow this approach. It always comes to implementation where it comes to struggles. We have learned that in village communities where people come together, evaluate and identify what’s important to them in their locality, clean drinking water is still a top priority in rural Morocco. Besides that, irrigation, cooperative building, fruit tree agriculture, medicinal plants, and school infrastructure are the most frequent wishes for Moroccan communities. 

Participation and development have been shown to be more effective if the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) has had the prior opportunity for introspection. HAF follows community planning with Imagine empowerment workshops, where they address inhibitions, uncertainties, fears, etc., that withhold people from believing in their dreams and/or abilities. Dr. Ben-Meir clarified what allows HAF to expand these processes at a grander scale. He pointed out that HAF currently does not have enough trained facilitators to grow as much as he would wish and want to. Secondly, what challenges expansion is funding to implement the projects designed for this process. He remarked that in a typical rural community, the combined annual income among all the households is rarely over USD 20,000 - USD 30,000. In contrast, such a project including a well for drinking water, with an integrated irrigation design and infrastructure, and a solar water pump incorporated would come to about USD 40,000 - USD 50,000. 

Moudawana in Darija (Moroccan Arabic) translates to “Family-law.” Dr. Ben-Meir described that the vast majority of rural Moroccans do not know the term, yet the highly educated women HAF works closely with all know of it and know it to be a point of activism. Empowering and training university students experientially to be facilitators is critical to reaching more areas. He noted that most people they work with on these projects are illiterate, and they need to be writers to get funding. Closing up, he summarized by saying that HAF has learned all the approaches by doing. “It all is a process of learning by doing.” - Dr. Ben-Meir.

Concluding, this symposium was enlightening and inspiring at the same time. Dr. Ben-Meir conveyed essential aspects of HAF’s work approach and the right way for expansion and work, focusing on a sustainable and effective future in development for not only Morocco but also globally.