MEPI UPDATE FOR MOROCCO

UNCLAS RABAT 000036

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG, NEA/PI and PDAS Cheney, DRL
TUNIS FOR MEPI RO

SIPDIS



E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID ECON PGOV ETRD EINV KMPI MO
SUBJECT: MEPI UPDATE FOR MOROCCO

REF: Rabat 02509


1. Summary: This cable highlights MEPI programs and
initiatives in Morocco from October 1 to December 31.
Activities included visits by MEPI Washington, the
Ambassador's meeting with Global Rights, English ACCESS
Microscholarships, capacity building using ICT, Nomadic
Craft Caravan, a Family Code baseline study, the Family Law
Regional Conference, NCSL's Regional Parliamentary Workshop,
NDI's Legislative Research training, IRI's public opinion
poll, roundtables on the draft Political Parties Law, and
ABA's Women Legal Professionals training. Implementers are
partnering with local NGOs at the grassroots level to
support numerous programs committed to reform in the four
MEPI pillars. End summary.

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MEPI Visitors
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2. MEPI/PI Women's Pillar Program Manager Olivia Ricchi
visited Morocco on November 29-December 4 to attend the
ABA/Demos family law conference. Ricchi met several NGOs and
women representing different segments of society.



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Ambassador Meets Global Rights
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3. In addition to regular contact between the mission and
MEPI implementers at the working level, Ambassador Riley has
been meeting with resident MEPI implementers to receive
briefings and updates on their programs in Morocco.

-- On October 21, Global Rights Resident Director Stephanie
Willman-Bordat briefed Ambassador Riley on Global Rights
(GR) programs. MEPI funding for the GR program to promote
women's legal rights, administered by USAID, will end in
February 2006. Willman-Bordat reviewed the progress of the
GR programs to date, highlighting the national nature of the
project's outreach via seven regional coordinator NGOs.
Emphasizing the train-the-trainers aspect of the program,
she noted that there are now thousands of trained
facilitators and estimated that over a nine-month period,
approximately 7,000-10,000 women had been trained in their
legal rights, including the new family code. As a result of
the meeting, the Ambassador requested that an Embassy team
visit a GR project and report on its results (septel).

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Ambassador Kicks Off English Access
Microscholarship Program
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4. Ambassador Riley visited Meknes and Kenitra to honor the
newest recipients of English ACCESS Microscholarships.
Thirty five young people from the Meknes area and 42 from
Kenitra received certificates of award from the Ambassador,
who also spoke with the students and discussed additional
educational opportunities provided by the Regional English
Language Office (RELO) in Rabat and the Embassy's Public
Affairs Section.


5. The English ACCESS Microscholarship program provides
support to youth from disadvantaged parts of the world to
study English and learn about American culture and values.
It began in Morocco in 2003 and is now found in more than 40
countries. A total of 573 scholarships have been awarded in
Morocco for FY 2005-06 to study at the 10 American Language
Centers, AMIDEAST Casablanca and Rabat, and the Ajef de
l'Oriental in Oujda.

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Capacity Building Using ICT
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6. Association Tanmia.ma received MEPI funds to develop an
Internet portal www.Tanmia.ma. The portal's primary mission
is to strengthen the capacity of Moroccan Civil Society
Organizations using Information Communication Technology
(ICT) tools. The portal is designed to be a communication
platform that enables government agencies, the private
sector, civil society actors and the general public to share
information, resources and opinions about socio-economic
development initiatives and to develop strategic
partnerships.


7. Association Tanmia's portal has been very successful. On
average nearly 1,500 individuals visit the portal daily;
nearly 1,000 individuals subscribe to Tanmia bi-monthly e-
newsletter and on average (over 12 months),320,000 pages
are viewed monthly. Tanmia has also created an active
calendar, news, employment offers, and forum sections to
benefit its 800 on-line registered non-governmental
organizations (NGOs). The NGOs database shows a strong multi-
regional participation - less than a quarter these are based
in the Rabat/Casablanca corridor.


8. Association Tanmia has undertaken training and outreach
activities enabling NGOs to access online services. Tanmia
held four NGO workshops in collaboration with Kabissa
benefiting 67 participants; partnered with other
organizations to give training in ICT to 80 teacher
supervisors and 40 local NGO employees/managers of girls'
dormitory facilities and trained 25 NGOs in train-the-
trainers workshop. Tanmia has also launched two community
access centers to provide NGOs in remote regions with
Internet access.

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Aid to Artisans
Nomadic Craft Caravan
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9. Since its debut in May 2005, Aid to Artisans (ATA)
Nomadic Craft Caravan has offered rural artisans basic
training in business and marketing techniques. In December,
the caravan participated in the Rabat International Women's
Association (RIWA) annual holiday festival where artisans
displayed their wares and gained experience selling directly
to clients. The artisans' sales totaled $4,273 at the
festival.


10. The day before the festival, ATA organized a training
class covering basic accounting, sales techniques, and
product development. Twelve rural artisans and 10 Peace
Corps volunteers participated in the daylong event. The RIWA
event was the fifth and final nomadic caravan event of the
year. ATA notes that the artisans have made significant
progress since the first event in May. Artisans have been
incorporating the trainings and actively creating new and
more interesting products in order to gain market share.

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Family Code Baseline Study Released
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11. World Learning's (WL) Director of Civil Society and
Social Change, Preeti Shroff-Mehta, visited Morocco November
12-23 to review the status of the WL project, conduct
strategic planning for the sustainability of the project,
review the recently released baseline awareness study, and
consult on the February 24-25 regional conference being
planned by WL on the family code.


12. In early November, WL released a baseline study
assessing current awareness of the family code in both urban
and rural areas. Using questionnaires and focus groups, WL
surveyed approximately 1,000 people coming from four
different regions. Findings indicate that 88 percent of
people have heard of the new code; however, amongst the
illiterate, 91 percent of women and 80 percent of men are
not aware of the actual changes in the code. Many people
considered the new law a "women's reform," and not a new
"family code." In February, WL is planning a regional
conference that will bring women from Algeria, Tunisia and
Morocco together to discuss lessons learned during the
campaign for a new family code. According to WL, the
Moroccan Ministry of Family and Solidarity will also support
the conference.

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Demos/ABA Family Law Regional Conference
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13. Demos Consulting and the American Bar Association (ABA)
hosted a regional conference for Arab women on "NGO Capacity
Building and Reform of the Family Code," in Casablanca on
December 2-3. Women from 13 different Arab countries
attended the conference to discuss the status of family laws
in their countries and possible advocacy efforts for
reforming them. The successful Moroccan experience was
highlighted by Moroccan participants. Demos will use the
results of the conference in a manual it is producing to
advocate for reforming family laws in these countries.
Poloff and MEPI Women's Empowerment Pillar Program Manager
Olivia Ricchi attended the conference.

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MEPI-Funded NCSL Regional Workshop:
A Huge Success
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14. On November 14-16, the National Conference of State
Legislatures (NCSL) held a regional workshop for Members of
Parliament (MPs) and senior staffers on the topic of
"Working with Staff and Using Research in the Legislative
Process" (Ref A). The workshop included representatives from
the Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian parliaments and featured
the participation of three state senators from Alaska,
Illinois and Nevada. Six Algerian and two Tunisian MPs
traveled to Morocco to attend the conference while a total
of 20 MPs from both houses of the Moroccan parliament
participated. At the conclusion of the workshop, the
Ambassador hosted a reception in honor of the participants.

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Legislative Research Training for
Parliamentary Interns
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15. On November 17, the National Democratic Institute (NDI)
collaborated with the NCSL to organize training for NDI
parliamentary interns who are working with caucus groups in
the Moroccan Parliament's Chamber of Representatives (lower
house). The directors of legislative research at the Nevada
and Virginia state legislatures served as expert trainers.


16. NDI's Parliamentary Internship program, which is the
first of its kind in the parliament, seeks to assist MPs
with legislative research, expose students to the work of
the parliament and MPs, and promote an image of the
institution as accessible to the public. The program now has
12 interns working in conjunction with three of the seven
caucuses.

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NDI Consolidates a Core Group of
Political Party Trainers
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17. From December 12-13, NDI conducted a capstone training
event to complete a year-long project. The program provided
political party trainers with advanced instruction in
conflict resolution, negotiating skills, strategic planning
and group facilitation. Thirty four youth and female
participants representing 14 political parties took part in
the event, all with the consent and support of their parties
to form a core group of formal trainers.


18. Participants had the opportunity to review skills
acquired throughout the year-long program, sharing their
recent training experiences in Rabat, Marrakech, Safi,
Oujda, and Fes. By critiquing the real-life experiences of
their colleagues, participants honed their own training
approaches in the hopes of perfecting their skills to
execute future trainings for their parties.

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IRI Continues Training,
Releases Public Opinion Poll
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19. On September 17-18, IRI organized two training sessions
for local and regional party members and local elected
officials in Agadir. The training seminars assisted local
party structures in strategic planning in preparation for
the 2007 parliamentary elections, and covered the topics of
party structure and organizational planning, voter outreach,
and electoral list development.


20. Working with a local research firm, IRI conducted a
public opinion poll that included 1,500 respondents. The
poll provides benchmark political data as well as in-depth
look into Moroccan's attitudes towards political reform and
governing institutions. The research offers political
leaders and decision-makers an opportunity to learn about
priorities and opinions of their constituents. During the
month of December, IRI shared polling results with political
partners and plans to provide a series of training sessions
to party officials and local party activists. Training
discussions will center on how polling results can be used
in electoral and parties strategies.
Post will summarize the poll's findings in a separate
reporting cable.

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Roundtables on Draft Political Party Law
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21. In October the mission organized two roundtable
discussions on the draft political party bill. The
discussions addressed a critical shortcoming in the national
debate on the party bill by providing a space for
stakeholders - civil society, academics, political party
representatives, and parliamentarians - to examine the key
provisions of the law and debate its consequences and impact
on the Moroccan political landscape. Both events were well-
attended and well-received by participants.

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Women legal Professionals Training
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22. On October 14, in cooperation with the ABA, two women's
rights associations organized a study day to commemorate the
royal speech of October 10, 2003 announcing the amendment to
the Moroccan Family Code. The day's activities included a
round table attended by legal specialists to discuss various
rights established by the new law and a question-and-answer
session on the new family code for local women.


23. The Tetouan Bar Association (TBA) organized a training
session for women legal professionals on November 11-12 in
Tetouan in northern Morocco. The ABA provided the
participants with training on fundamental principles of
gender equality. The Tetouan training session is part of a
series of training programs planned by the ABA in
cooperation with local associations. The ABA's "Women and
the Law Program" encourages women legal professionals to be
involved in the effort to raise awareness on women's rights
and gender equality.


24. A detailed description of MEPI programs in Morocco can
be found on the Mission unclassified Internet web page at
www.usembassy.ma.

RILEY