History

The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) was founded in 2000 by former Peace Corps Volunteers as a way to build upon professional relationships and knowledge gained during their years of service for the continued benefit of the Moroccan people. HAF is led by a team of professional Moroccans and Americans, many of who have extensive development experience in Morocco. HAF is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, with a registered field office in Morocco.

Mission and Approach

HAF works to establish development projects in different parts of Morocco that local communities design and manage, and that are in partnership with government and non-government agencies. HAF uses a participatory development approach that includes beneficiaries as active partners in every step of the development process - from prioritizing development goals to project implementation and management to monitoring and evaluation. Key to this approach is the facilitation of community planning meetings where beneficiaries together determine the types of projects they want to undertake and create action plans. Learn more about our training methods and participatory approach.

Guiding Principles

The following ten principles guide what we do, how we do it, and why we do it:

• Empowering communities to take charge of their own development process through a participatory approach.
• Including all community members in the planning process, and ensuring the diversity of gender, race, age, socio-economic status, and physical ability.
• Encouraging self-reliance through training activities and capacity-building.
• Funding only those projects that communities have determined for themselves and have committed time and resources to implementing and managing.
• Working in communities where our partners and the community members themselves invite us to work.
• Training university students, teachers, and local leaders in the participatory development and community planning approach.
• Partnering with government and non-government agencies to ensure that the development process is collaborative and transparent.
• Using local materials and knowledge, and respecting cultural norms.
• Linking local community development to national and international initiatives.
• Promoting international friendship and understanding between the Moroccan and American people.