On Friday, March 26, 2021, Cadi Ayyad University (UCA) President Professor Moulay Lhassan Hbid and myself, HAF’s President Yossef Ben-Meir, signed a partnership agreement at the Wilaya of Marrakech-Safi. Also in attendance were Dr. Driss Ouaouicha, the Minister Delegate in charge of Higher Education in Morocco, and the Wali of Marrakech-Safi, Mr. Karim Kassi-Lahlou.

HAF and UCA are dedicated to providing university students with experiential learning opportunities in sustainable development, including facilitating participatory planning, project management, partnership building, program evaluation, gender and youth empowerment, community-based natural resource management, and human rights and other legal areas for advocacy.

We seek together opportunities to uplift rural and urban communities and implement self-discovery and vision-building workshops in order for women and girls to affirm and achieve their development dreams. On behalf of the High Atlas Foundation, we sincerely thank President Hbid and Vice President Professor Fatima Zohra Iflahen for their confidence in our partnership and for our shared belief that learning by doing with university students is a vital measure for the nation to achieve its sustainable development potential.

On a personal note, it was a joy to meet Minister Ouaouchia, the former President of Al Akhawayn University, whom I got to know when I was a professor at that wonderful Higher Education Institution. His heart is of service to education in Morocco, and we at HAF wish him great and complete success in his essential responsibilities.