On June 18th, 2010 over 80 guests gathered in the home of His Excellency Aziz Mekouar, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United States, in Bethesda, Maryland for a kick-off to summer reception and silent auction honoring the contribution of the High Atlas Foundation to rural development in Morocco.  The Foundation’s goal is to raise $200,000 to plant 200,000 fruit saplings in two community nurseries in the Al Haouz province in 2011.   The Foundation’s 2011 goal is part of the One Million Tree Campaign launched by the Foundation in 2006.  To date, HAF has planted with communities 200,000 fruit trees and saplings in five provinces of Morocco, benefitting approximately 25,000 people.  The evening's message of "$1 -1 Fruit Tree Sapling" delivered by Ambassador Mekouar and HAF Board Members was underlined by spotlighting current projects HAF has undertaken and the continued need for support.  Guests had an opportunity to participate in the silent auction that included diverse items from clothing and baskets to belly dancing classes and wood handicrafts, which were graciously donated by local businesses as well as our "Made in Morocco" partners. The reception raised $33,000, which included a generous gift of $25,000 from the Earth Day Network to support HAF’s planting in 2011.

We would like to extend a special thank you to H.E. Ambassador Aziz Mekouar, the Earth Day Network, our silent auction donors, and all our guests and supporters that contributed to transforming the lives of Moroccan families one sapling at a time!

To view photos of the event please click here.

A special thank you to our silent auction donors, including:
Jeanne Beatrice, www.jeannebeatrice.com
Green Sahara Gifts, www.greensaharagifts.com
Odeon Cafe, www.odeoncafedc.com
Marrakesh Palace, www.marrakeshpalace.com 
Puro Cafe, www.purocafe.com
Salon Nordine & Day Spa, www.salonnordine.com
Sahara Dance Company, www.saharadance.com
The Ritz-Carlton, www.ritzcarlton.com
Charmed Creations by Stephanie, Stephanie Hamlin charmedcreations@comcast.net
Enshin Karate of Northern Virginia, www.virginiakarate.com 
Harmonique Pilates Studio, www.harmoniquepilates.com 
Sanoma Technologies, www.sanomatechnologies.com

As an American student at Al Akhawayn University I have been an intern with the High Atlas Foundation this summer. I’ve had the opportunity to participate in and observe first-hand the work that the High Atlas Foundation is doing in Morocco. Last semester Professor Ben-Meir (the Foundation’s president) introduced participatory development to my class and a student service organization through an experiential workshop. We used the process to build consensus on student priorities and make recommendations about student life to the University administration. At a workshop near Mohammedia, I met Moroccan students from Hassan II University and worked with a disadvantaged urban community to identify and understand their needs. Some of the community members were cynical because they had met developers before and nothing had come of it. Through participatory development, they will have the opportunity to become involved in determining the outcome of our visit.

The work of the High Atlas Foundation in Morocco has been felt by top government officials as well. In a recent speech entitled “HIGHLIGHTS OF THE U.S.-MOROCCAN RELATIONSHIP, 2006 – 2010”, Minister Counselor Robert P. Jackson said the High Atlas Foundation "continues to make a difference here, specifically by helping Moroccan communities in the High Atlas Mountains achieve socio-economic development." He praised recent initiatives including the “planting of thousands of trees and training of young students in participatory development." Based on my experience, I would say that the High Atlas Foundation’s work will continue to be a "highlight" of U.S.-Moroccan relations for many years to come.

--Matthew Lehnert

Greetings to friends, supporters and beneficiaries of the High Atlas Foundation. My name is Lillian Thompson and I am a Peace Corps Response Volunteer. Since my arrival in Morocco in May, I have been working with the High Atlas Foundation to develop its curriculum in participatory development. I hope to use my blog to keep you informed of our progress and to learn from you—so please comment.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine, I worked with an area-based program of the United Nations Development Program in Crimea. The program used participatory development methods to promote economic development and the re-integration of a returning Diaspora of Tatars. As Program and Training Officer for Peace Corps in Romania, I developed training in participatory development and project management for Peace Corps Volunteers in diverse program areas. New Orleans is my adopted home town, where participatory development has gained new meaning in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the BP Oil Spill.

Part of being new in a place is the temptation to make comparisons. I cannot say that I have lived in places where life is more or less hard than it is in Morocco’s rural villages and bidonvilles. I can say that, like the city of New Orleans, the country of Morocco is a place to love. Art, family and religion are inextricably woven into their cultures. As is vulnerability—and this is why so many people are drawn to these places.

I have spent my first few weeks in Morocco visiting the Center for Community Consensus-Building and Sustainable Development in Mohammedia, talking with people and observing “experiential community-based” workshops where students from the Hassan II University and officials from rural communes have come together to learn about participatory development. The Center is a partnership between the High Atlas Foundation and the University which operates out of a modest office in a classroom at the University—you can read about it in the Training tab.

I believe that the Center’s impact on development in Morocco can have a far-reaching ripple effect, as more people learn and use participatory methods in their work and in their communities. The program serves a national need for empowered communities to fulfill the monarchy’s commitment to regionalization (decentralization). Communities that choose how they will develop and ensure that they can maintain projects donors help provide will make more sustainable progress. And communities that become active participants in Moroccan-led development programs will become part of a stronger nation.

In future blogs, I hope to share some of the nuts and bolts of the curriculum we are creating—it will benefit from using the participatory development approach itself, with your help.

Between June 3rd and June 5th,  HAF hosted fourteen students and two adult leaders from People to People International (PTPI) in the village of Tassa Ouirgane located in southern Morocco's High Atlas Mountains.  PTPI, founded by President Dwight Eisenhower, and now run by his granddaughter, is dedicated to cross-cultural communication within and across communities and nations.

The visit helped the students build first-hand knowledge of the socio-economic and environmental opportunities in rural Morocco and gave them the opportunity to participate in a service-learning project. During the program, students gained basic knowledge about participatory development through an introductory session conducted by HAF’s Training and Project Manager, Abderrahim Ouarghidi. In addition, the students practiced hands-on activities with the  community, such as social mapping and pair-wise ranking, with the goal of helping local people reach consensus on their priority development needs.

The students also enjoyed traditional Moroccan food, learned basic cultural norms in rural Morocco, and built relationships with local people through community meetings and discussions. Students toured the village with community members - a walk that took them to the local association, springs, orchards, and fields -  and to discover the landscape that surrounds the village.

Each fall for the past five years, HAF has hosted an annual fundraising event in New York City to support development projects with rural communities throughout Morocco.  These events have traditionally taken the form of Moroccan heflas, featuring North African food, art, music, silent auctions, and distinguished honorees. For the 2010 event, HAF is pursuing something more ambitious: a Moroccan film festival that shows audiences there is more to Moroccan film-making than made-in-Hollywood films like Casablanca and shot-in-Morocco international productions like Gladiator and Babel.

The festival is scheduled for Friday, October 29th and Saturday, October 30th at New York City’s famed TriBeCa Cinemas. The opening evening will be a gala featuring a carefully selected Moroccan film and a reception that features Moroccan hors d’oeuvres and a question-and-answer session with the director of the film.  The following day will be an all-day affair designed to interest film buffs and Morocco-philes alike.  On this day, eight films will be featured.

We are currently selecting and obtaining permission to show films, and are grateful for the support of of Morocco's Centre Cinématographique Marocaine and the dynamic new Ecole Supérieure des Arts Visuels film school in Marrakesh.

We are also pleased to share with you opportunities to sponsor the event. A sponsorship starting at $5,000 would make an important difference for rural Moroccan communities and provide an effective avenue for publicizing your company or organization. Please see the attached proposal for more information on sponsoring this event.

Our goal for this event is to raise $100,000 to support community designed and managed development projects in Morocco – primarily in fruit tree agriculture, irrigation, clean drinking water, and women and youth initiatives – while at the same time advancing cross-cultural appreciation and partnership.
 
In 2010, HAF planted 60,000 walnut and cherry saplings that will benefit 5,000 people, provided clean drinking water for 2,000 people, and has trained over 50 graduate students and local politicians, at its training center at Hassan II University-Mohammedia, in applying participatory planning methods that assist local people in identifying their priority development needs.  With your support, we can and will do so much more.

Thank you to event Co-chairs Daniel Cahill (cahilld@nyc.rr.com) and Richard Alleman (REAlleman@aol.com).  Please feel free to contact them with your questions and ideas.

See you at the festival!