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UNESCO will launch April 24 a pilot project: “Youth Preventing Violent Extremism” in four Arab countries, namely Jordan, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia.
Funded by the UN Counter-terrorism Centre (UNCCT) and Canada, the project seeks to empower youth in the fight against extremists and fanatics through education programs that help build learners’ resilience to violent extremism and mitigate the drivers of the phenomena.
This initiative also aims to promote education as a tool to prevent extremism and strengthen the capacities of national education systems (policies, teachers, educational contents) to appropriately and effectively contribute to national prevention efforts…………
https://me-confidential.com/19155-unesco-to-combat-extremism-through-youth-projects-in-jordan-libya-morocco-tunisia.html
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By Safaa Kasraoui April 17, 2018 Rabat
After years of delay, law 103-13 on the Elimination of Violence Against Women will enter into force this August, criminalizing all forms of gender-based discrimination, including public harassment, sexual assault, and cybercrimes. The Moroccan parliament released the final draft of the law on February 22, verifying that “The law shall enter into effect after six months of its publication in the Official Gazette.” Morocco World News received an unofficial English translation of the law, translated by the international non-profit women’s rights organization, Mobilising for Rights Associates.
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/04/244652/moroccos-law-violence-women/
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By Elizabeth Johnson April 17, 2018
special trip is being planned by One World Girl to better understand Female Empowerment and Understanding Islam in Morrocco this fall. Discover the unique beauty of this vibrant country and dive deep into the lives of women in culture and religion by exploring the capital city of Casablanca, wandering through the maze of colorful souqs and riads in Marrakech, understand traditional Moroccan life through a stay in a village, and take in breathtaking landscapes of the countryside…………..
http://manhassetpress.com/explore-female-empowerment-in-morocco/
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Apr 14,2018
An open secret among women activists in the Muslim world is that they will not be really free until the personal status laws in Muslim countries are drastically revised, reformed or even debunked.
These laws most starkly articulate all that is unfair about living under the dictates and authority of a patriarchal system that is hiding behind traditional and biased interpretations of religious text……………
http://jordantimes.com/opinion/nermeen-murad/personal-status-law-lays-open-difficult-conversation
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By Tamba François Koundouno April 14, 2018 Rabat
A report by Family Optimise, a British NGO that studies daily life and its patterns, has recently released a study that indicates an increasing of women in Morocco are choosing to remain single until later in life, with over 60 percent of women at a marriageable age said to be single and more career-oriented. The British NGO indicates that the figures capture a slow but assured change in some formerly entrenched social practices, especially with regards to traditional notions of the “rightful place of women in society.”………………
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/04/244492/study-finds-growing-trend-single-women-morocco/
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As the number of Jews living in Arab countries continues to dwindle, Jonas and Zacharie explain how they overcame the prejudices poisoning Jewish-Arab relations to rediscover the ties that link them to their parents' countries. Although Jonas and Zacharie were both born in France, they have their origins in the Maghreb's fledgling Jewish community. The Jewish and Arab peoples are bound together by centuries of shared history but a toxic combination of war, politics and mutual distrust is now driving them apart………………..
http://www.france24.com/en/20180504-sophian-aubin-maghreb-arabic-arabs-islam-jews-sepharadic-identity-tunisia-morocco
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In one month, Naelle Song, a YouTuber who has recently started her channel on the video platform, has succeeded to attract many netizens. The 24-year-old South Korean mixes French and Darija to tell her story about her life in Morocco.
Naelle started posting videos last month. She has amassed more than 225,000 views. Three of these videos are dedicated to Morocco and accumulate an average of 40,000 views each. Her most watched video is titled "Three Moroccan items I use every day", with nearly 70,000 views.
More : https://en.yabiladi.com/articles/details/63830/life-korean-youtuber-morocco.html
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Zachary Bednarczyk, Staff Writer April 16, 2018
It’s not every day that college students get to travel to two different continents and learn more about their major in exotic destinations abroad. That is exactly what a lucky group of occupational therapy students did during January 2018 break in a trip that was not affiliated with any college course.
Dodging the freezing temperatures of New England, 18 OT students along with OT professor, Dr. Said Nafai who is originally from Morocco, OT department director Dr. Joseph Pellerito, as well as the parent of one of the students, a medical doctor, all took a flight to Morocco to learn about the country, culture, and how occupational therapy has been affecting the country…..
https://aicyellowjacket.com/4362/editorial/occupational-therapy-students-travel-to-morocco/
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By Tamba François Koundouno April 17, 2018 Rabat
Faced with the constant criticism of “ineffectiveness, inefficiency, and lack of adequate equipment” in Morocco’s public health sector, the Ministry of Health has announced a new collaborative program with foreign health practitioners.
The program, initiated by the Minister of Health, Anas Doukkali, will seek the services of foreign doctors to operate in rural areas of the kingdom, a task that their Moroccan counterparts generally decline. In the province of Tata, for example, there are only 8 doctors to attend to the health problems of a population of over 120,000 people……………
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/04/244684/morocco-seeks-foreign-doctors-to-operate-in-rural-areas/
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By Tamba François Koundouno April 14, 2018 Rabat
The Moroccan League for Citizenship and Human Rights (LMCDH), an NGO advocating for human rights, has recently slammed the precarious state of public health in Morocco, denouncing the lack of health personnel, obsolete equipment, and rampant corruption in many public hospitals.
Moroccan newspaper Assabah reported earlier today that the LMCDH made its concerns known in a “very long news release” that was reportedly addressed to relevant authorities. The human rights NGO fiercely criticized the “sorry and very degrading state” of medical treatments in Moroccan public hospitals.
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/04/244490/human-rights-ngo-calls-moroccos-public-health-sector-obsolete-need-reforms/
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By Tamba François Koundouno - April 14, 2018 Rabat
A report by Family Optimise, a British NGO that studies daily life and its patterns, has recently released a study that indicates an increasing of women in Morocco are choosing to remain single until later in life, with over 60 percent of women at a marriageable age said to be single and more career-oriented. The British NGO indicates that the figures capture a slow but assured change in some formerly entrenched social practices, especially with regards to traditional notions of the “rightful place of women in society.”
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/04/244492/study-finds-growing-trend-single-women-morocco/
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An NGO in Morocco which has campaigned for women’s rights for nearly 20 years, lists “degrading working and living conditions” suffered by the girls, who are usually from the country and illiterate. “Even a pet animal is better treated,” sobs 17-year-old Fatima, one of thousands of young girls exploited and too often abused while working as housemaids for unscrupulous employers in Morocco.
She has managed to get to the Annajda help centre for battered women in the capital, Rabat. “I only wanted to help my parents, my family was living in destitution,” murmurs the teenager, who has worked as a household servant for two years.
For the volunteers who offer support, such stories are commonplace despite recent legislation to protect minors from servitude……………
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2018/04/20/gnaoua-festival-in-morocco-showcases-african-women-artists_a06ef1d4-ee7f-44c2-a5b5-6a950be6f045.html
Apr. 20, 2018
https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2018/Apr-20/445942-moroccos-child-maids-still-suffering-like-slaves-despite-protections.ashx
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By Ron Morris Special Correspondent
Set in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Jbel Toubkal is the highest mountain in North Africa, and at 13,664 feet, the sixth highest in all of Africa.The driver picked me up in Marrakesh and drove through the tiny town of Imlil, up the mountain as far as the road permitted, then transferred my bags from the SUV to a mule. I followed on foot up the trail’s switchbacks to Kasbah Toubkal, where I would be staying for the next two nights, a place taken right from the script of an Indiana Jones movie.
Massive wooden gates set in a stone wall open onto a garden and a flagstone terrace. The path leads to another gate, the entrance to a large hall bedecked with Berber rugs and cushions. Columns of carved cedar soar three stories to the raftered ceiling. Candle-lit, pierced-brass shades cast abstract patterns on walls throughout the cavernous space as I was offered mint tea before being shown to my accommodations…….
http://www.journalnow.com/home_food/home_garden/birds_eye_view/morocco-s-high-atlas-mountains-offer-birding-opportunities/article_8b9e1416-ed53-5bbb-ad8b-21ee2fdfa3cc.html
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Morocco once had 300,000 Jews. The country now has fewer than 3,000. Diminished community and lack of economic opportunity has kept at least two generations of Moroccan Jews away.
“Watch your step!” I shouted over my shoulder to the 20 people behind me, as we made our way through a tight alleyway to the disengaged synagogue in the Jewish neighborhood of Fez, Morocco. The path had dislodged cobblestones, muddy and crooked, and the locals looked at us from their shops or from above, out their windows. I assisted one of our Pittsburgh travelers over the unsteady trail, mindful of the native eyes watching us. The stares were curious, not malicious. We never felt unwanted or in danger.
The synagogue was refurbished and modest, but there was no community to attend; it was now a tourist attraction for traveling Jews or the adventurous tourist off the beaten path. Sadly, most of the synagogues and old Jewish neighborhoods were off the beaten path and hard to find. The Moroccan Jewish Museum (the only Jewish museum in the Arabic world) was in a quiet middle class neighborhood, away from tourist spots and hotels. The shuk in Marrakesh had signage in Arabic and phonetic Hebrew, but these Jewish shops were in the center of the shopping area. You had to know about it to find it………….
https://jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com/the-jews-of-morocco-a-road-in-disrepair/
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To people pondering with dismay the situation in today’s Middle East, it may seem strange that less than a century ago Jews and Muslims frequently lived together in relative harmony. But the Jews of Morocco, with a 2,000 year presence in the region, provide a classic example.
Though its precise location is unknown, the land of Tarshish to which Jonah fled (Jonah 1:3) is often equated with Spain. If that identification is correct, Jewish merchants may have visited Spain and Morocco as early as the 10th century B.C., when Solomon is said to have traded there (1 Kings 10:22). Small permanent Jewish communities first appear in Morocco (Mauritania) during the time of the Roman Empire…………….
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900015727/where-jews-muslims-have-lived-in-relative-harmony.html
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By Morocco World News April 12, 2018 Rabat
The 4th edition of the Jidar Festival, organized by the Association Boulevard L’EAC and the National Museums Foundation will take place from April 16-22. The highly-anticipated cultural event will allow a dozen street artists to unleash their imaginations on the walls of Morocco’s capital. Ten national artists and teams of international artists representing Poland, France, Peru, Argentina, Spain, Greece, and Japan will create eleven monumental murals across the city, including Bab El Had, Hay Ennahda, and El Majd Avenue………………
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/04/244385/annual-jidar-street-art-rabat/
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By Safaa Kasraoui April 12, 2018 Rabat
As an essential source of job opportunities and inclusive development, tourism is a key economic activity in Morocco, Zoubir Bouhoute, Director of Local Tourism Office (CRT) in Ouarzazate told Morocco World News, on the sidelines of the International Symposium on Tourism held on Wednesday in Rabat.
MWN chatted with Bouhoute about Morocco’s tourism strategy, the challenges facing the sector, the tourism potential in Ouarzazate, and the city’s readiness to host games of the 2026 World Cup.
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/04/244345/ouarzazate-tourism-strong-pillar-economic-growth/
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Hosted by the U.S. Department of State, the second edition of the U.S.-Morocco Strategic Energy Working Group meeting was held Thursday, 19th of April, in Washington D.C., reported a communiqué sent Friday to Yabiladi………..
More: https://en.yabiladi.com/articles/details/64046/-morocco-strategic-energy-working-group.html
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By Tamba François Koundouno April 20, 2018 Rabat
Moroccan authorities are considering a Dakhla megaproject to revamp for the economic outlook of the country’s southern provinces.
The megaproject entails the construction of an irrigation and desalinization facility, with the cost estimated to be around MAD 1.7 billion. The Ministry of Agriculture and Sea Fishing, which is overseeing and co-financing the project, says that the facility will have an impressive annual capacity of 30 million cubic meters, as well as a windmill park as an accompanying source of energy…….
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/04/244814/morocco-windmill-irrigation-megaproject-southern-provinces/
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By Souhail Karam April 19, 2018
Morocco plans to build plants to produce another 800 megawatts of solar power, just months after attracting bids for its Midelt project as the North African country moves to curb energy imports.
Initial tenders for the Noor PV II project will be announced in a “few months,” Obaid Amrane, a member of the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy’s management board, said Wednesday in an interview. It will include plants in several locations, he said at the state-owned company’s offices in Rabat. Morocco may issue domestic or international bonds to fund the project, expected to be completed by the end of 2020, he said……..
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-19/morocco-ready-for-another-solar-project-to-curb-energy-imports
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By Tamba François Koundouno April 18, 2018 Rabat
One month after being dubbed the top investment destination in Africa, Morocco has been ranked the 3rd best place to invest in Africa.
The latest annual report by the Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) underscores the country’s attractive new investment opportunities as a result of Morocco’s recent extensive economic reforms.
The report, “Where to Invest in Africa,” further demonstrates that Morocco has become a priority destination for investors eyeing expansion ventures on the continent. ……………..
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/04/244703/morocco-top-10-where-invest-africa/
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