Project Objectives and Components

1. The Tafilalet and Dades Rural Development Project in Morocco is implemented by the Regional Agricultural Development Authority (ORMVA) of Ouarzazate. The overall project objective is to reduce rural poverty by:

• improving agricultural production through the rehabilitation of small- and medium-scale irrigation schemes;
• increasing livestock production by providing improved breeds and strengthening husbandry;
• providing support to agricultural processing;
• maintaining and improving the natural resources base; and
• promoting vocational organizations and cooperatives.

Social and Economic Characteristics of the Project Area

2. The project area extends along the Dadès Valley, situated in the north-west part of the Ouarzazate region. It comprises 17 communities with an estimated population of about 178 000. Inhabitants exploit an agricultural area of 10 450 hectares, with an average of 600 m2 per person. The average family size is 7.8 persons, with an annual per capita income of about 1 650 dirhams (about USD 158). Other salient features of the area include:

• continental and dry weather with arable lands near the valleys;
• agriculture dependent on irrigation.
• high population density in comparison with the arable land available;
• threats to the agro-hydraulic equipment by flood waters;
• degradation of rangelands; and
• isolation of many villages and the lack of drinking water.

3. Rural women constitute about 52% of the total population in the area under ORMVA authority. Women play an important role in the social and economic life of the area, contributing about 50% of the household income earned from livestock production and 10% of that earned from agricultural production.

4. Women in the project area are hard working. In addition to normal household chores and childcare, they raise livestock, collect water and firewood, engage in traditional handicrafts and occasionally manage household affairs in the absence of men.

5. Despite their heavy workload, these rural women remain almost completely marginalized. This is partly because of their high rates of illiteracy. Another contributing factor, however, is the conservative nature of the tribes and communities in which they live: in these societies, men hold most of the power, and women must respect the traditional values and adhere to community customs.

Women’s Involvement in the Project

6. Recognizing these problems and constraints, ORMVA decided to address women’s hardships and to improve their material and social status as a first step towards integrating women into the development process. It therefore set as its main objectives the:

• provision of dairy goats and support to other income-earning activities targeted at women; and
• rehabilitation and equipping of the four women’s centres in the area (in Idebane, Al-Kalâa, Boumalne, and Skoura,), which are managed by two governmental agencies – the Agency for Youth and Sports, and the Agency for National Solidarity.

7. To achieve these objectives, ORMVA:

• created a women’s development unit within its agricultural extension and vocational training department, with responsibility for setting up appropriate extension programmes for women and coordinating all related activities undertaken by governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the area; and
• conducted a study on rural women in the project area that analysed women’s conditions in general and their relations with their environment. Based on the study’s findings, an intensive extension programme was developed, women extension agents were appointed in women’s centres, and a monitoring and evaluation system was designed.

8. The study identified a number of priorities, including the need to:

• strengthen women’s agricultural activities, mainly in livestock raising, to generate more income;
• reduce women’s physical workload by providing villages with potable water and electricity;
• develop a programme for vocational and literacy training, and for medium-term career building;
• set up, in collaboration with national and international NGOs, a microcredit system to finance small-scale income-generating enterprises;
• organize women into vocational associations to safeguard their interests and help them start their own enterprises; and
• strengthen the four government-managed women’s centres by equipping them with sewing and embroidery machines, kitchen utensils, and tables and chairs for children and women.

9. As regards livestock-rearing activities, the following activities were carried out:

• rehabilitation of the Skoura dairy goat station, including provision of equipment for cheese production and the purchase of 77 milk goats (out of 300 originally planned by the project);
• creation of a women’s cooperative for goat raising and cheese production. Plans are being made to devolve management of the Skoura goat station to the women’s cooperative; and
• training for women in cattle raising, hygiene, nutrition, family planning and literacy.

10. ORMVA has adopted a methodology that focuses on combining a number of extension approaches to facilitate collaboration with women according to their educational, social and economic levels. These include:

• organizing groups of women (from 12-20 individuals) into cooperatives or associations; and
• employing more than 16 women extension agents from among graduates of agricultural institutes. Each woman agent trains 10-15 women’s groups, following the approved annual programme.

11. Currently 13 women’s organizations and federations exist in the project area. Three carry out a range of different activities including goat, D’mam sheep and poultry raising; fresh cheese processing; honey making; traditional handicraft industries; and literacy training. Organization members have received intensive training, and have taken part in visits and fairs to exhibit their products. Additional backstopping is still required, however, to enable these organizations to become administratively and financially autonomous.

Results and Constraints Related to the Project

12. The project has improved rural women’s situation by:

• raising women’s awareness and increasing men’s understanding of women’s role;
• integrating women into development activities;
• freeing women gradually from exhausting daily work so that they can fully contribute to economic and social development. This has been achieved mainly through the provision of potable water and electrical generators, financed by the local communities themselves;
• improving working conditions within women’s centres, thus attracting a growing number of members who join to benefit from kindergartens, extension groups and vocational training;
• raising the competence of women agricultural extension agents and trainers working at women’s centres, who, thanks to the valuable field experience they have gained, are increasingly employed by NGOs.

13. As regards the constraints that emerged during the project implementation process, they include the following:

• low capacity to accommodate women’s demand to join associations and to attend literacy training, etc.; and
• lack of a system to finance income-generating enterprises that would benefit women.

14. In view of the growing demand by women for new and additional services, it is clear that the project has acted as a catalyst for women’s integration into development activities. Women are now aware that by joining vocational associations they can earn additional income, and also safeguard their interests and improve their skills. Moreover, the project has raised women’s awareness of the role they play, on an equal basis with men, in household and community development.

Main Lessons Learned

15. The Tafilalet and Dades Rural Development Project has helped to strengthen women’s roles in agricultural production by improving their skills, helping them to organize into associations or cooperatives to enable effective financial management of their productive activities, and supporting linkages to markets. These developments were made possible thanks to community investments in potable water networks and electricity, which have reduced women’s workload, particularly water fetching and manual labour.

16. Another enabling factor has been the recruitment and training of women extension agents to help women initiate activities and to follow up and support women in their endeavours. It is worth mentioning that the recruitment of the women extension agents was always intended to be a temporary measure. However, the project invested in training these young women so that they could also build a career for themselves and achieve a level of competence that would allow them to be recruited by other agencies or other donor-funded projects.

17. The project was also aware from the start that it would not make significant contributions to women’s well-being by relying on its human and financial resources alone. It therefore started a dialogue with well-established organizations in the rural areas, local associations and other government agencies, and worked with them to help make their services more responsive to women’s needs.

Date: April 2002

Contact Information

Mr Abdelhadi Chtioui,
Head of Extension Services,
Tel: 0021244882614 Fax: 002124488342
Email: ormvao@iam.net.ma

Ms Mimouna Houcini,
Head of the Women’s Section, Regional Agricultural Development Authority (ORMVA) of Quarzazate, Tafilalet and Dades Rural Development Project:
Tel: 0021244882614 Fax: 002124488342
Email: ormvao@iam.net.ma