MEPI UPDATE FOR MOROCCO

UNCLAS RABAT 000639

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: A) Rabat 0399, B) Rabat 2509


1. Summary: This cable highlights MEPI programs and
initiatives in Morocco from January 1 to March 31.
Activities included visits by MEPI Washington and MEPI
Tunis, a regional conference on the family code, political
and judicial reform, women's rights, literacy training,
English ACCESS Micro scholarships, international visitors
programs, and promoting free trade and economic growth.
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. Owen Kirby from NEA/PI visited Morocco in January with
Oliver Wilcox and Carol Saheli of USAID. They met with the
International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National
Democratic Institute (NDI) to review their CEPPS grant on
political party development. Later, IRI briefed the
Ambassador and Mission staff on its political party polling
results, which had been supported by this grant. The visit
resulted in recommending that IRI and NDI coordinate their
work and align it to political party reform.


3. On February 16-17, David Mulenex and Jackie Johnstone
from MEPI/PI traveled to Rabat to evaluate Morocco's need
for media training and reform. They were joined by Hania
Oweis, the Beirut-based representative for International
Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) that will design a MEPI-
funded media reform program for the MENA region. The PAO
and Information Officer accompanied the visitors to meetings
with leading directors of independent print media,
representatives of local broadcast media, members of the
Moroccan national press union, representatives of the High
Broadcast Media Authority, as well as with the NGO chosen by
IREX as its subcontractor in Morocco. Mulenex and Johnstone
will use the information they gathered during their visit to
guide IREX as it develops its strategy for supporting media
reform in Morocco.


4. MEPI's Tunis Regional Officer Deputy Director Kirk
Wolcott and Information Specialist Faouzi Chaouch visited
Rabat March 13-17. The main purpose of their trip was to
conduct a seminar on a request for applications to members
of the independent media sector. Many of the 26 attendees
stayed well after the conclusion of the seminar, or returned
later in the week to ask questions about submitting an
application. While the program was popular with the
invitees, it generated much controversy since the Moroccan
press code forbids media from accepting funding from foreign
sources. The national Moroccan press union denounced the
MEPI project as a USG ploy to control the editorial line of
Morocco's independent press.


5. The Tunis visitors also met individually with MEPI
implementers the Financial Service Volunteers Corps (FSVC),
the International Executive Service Corps (IESC),MTDS-
Tanmia, the American Bar Association (ABA),attended a
breakfast hosted by USAID for congressional staffer Michael
Phelan and approximately 12 MEPI implementers, and met with
Adala, a new Moroccan NGO specializing in judicial reform
(see ref A). They also met with the DCM and emboffs to
discuss ways of improving coordination efforts in MEPI
programs.
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REFORM
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6. The ABA continues to develop its judicial and legal
training programs throughout the country. Working with the
Ministry of Justice and local legal organizations, the ABA
has had a strong impact on the judicial and legal system.
As the programs continue, the ABA will expand this impact
and reach others including legal administrators and court
officials. In addition the ABA is working with Adala to
encourage the development of transparency in the judiciary.
In March, the president of Adala briefed Mission staff on
judicial reform in Morocco.


7. On March 29, USAID Democracy and Governance pillar
members hosted a coordination meeting and roundtable
discussion with MEPI and USAID implementers to discuss
activities, successes and challenges in the area of
democratic reforms. ABA, IRI, NDI, SUNY and RTI, were
present at the meeting. The discussion was wide-ranging,
including parliamentary reform, local governance programs,
judicial training and transparency, and freedom of
information within the Moroccan context. Recognizing the
many successes of the programs, the group also raised issues
relating to the need for constitutional reform and
continuous training of the legislative and judicial branches
of the GOM.

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WORLD LEARNING/LEADERSHIP FEMININ
REGIONAL CONFERENCE
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8. In February, MEPI implementer World Learning (WL) and
local association Leadership Feminin sponsored a regional
conference on challenges to the family code (Moudawana)
entitled "The Family Code in the Plural: Realities and
Challenges." The conference drew participants from Morocco,
Algeria, and Tunisia representing local and international
development institutions, human rights and women's issues
NGO's, press, research centers and the public sector. The
two-day conference was attended by a broad range of women's
activists, Berber NGOs, parliamentarians, lawyers, and
judges. Separate breakout sessions included a series of
workshops focused primarily on implementation challenges for
the family code. The conference was a forum for Moroccans,
Algerians and Tunisians to share and exchange their
experiences on the family code. The DCM gave a speech at
the opening ceremony highlighting Moroccan reforms and U.S.
efforts to support these reforms. WL's $770,000 SPA grant
bolstering family code familiarization ended on March 31.

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EXTENDING GLOBAL RIGHTS
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9. POL/USAID visited a local Global Rights (GR) project in
the southern Moroccan village of Zagora in December to
assess its impact and effectiveness. The Development
Association for the Draa Valley (ADEDRA) is the regional
coordinator in the Zagora area for the implementation of the
GR program on human and legal rights education for women.
Emboffs visited a session for illiterate women learning
about their rights and the new family code and a training
session for literacy facilitators who work to incorporate
women's rights training into their literacy sessions. Both
sessions demonstrated the strength of the GR methodology of
building capacity amongst local NGOs who are best placed and
can most appropriately carry out the training programs. The
Embassy has advocated for continued funding of GR projects
in Morocco.

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ENGLISH ACCESS MICROSCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
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10. Post's Cultural Affairs Officer presented certificates
of participation to 25 English ACCESS Micro scholarship
students at the Foundation AGEF de l'Oriental in Oujda on
December 29. Afterwards, the students gave short
presentations in English and thanked the American people for
their scholarships. On January 15, the Regional English
Language Officer visited AMIDEAST in Rabat to present three
short films to nearly 100 ACCESS students, followed by a
lunch at McDonalds. On February 4, American violinist Jack
Glatzer performed before 150 ACCESS students. After the
concert, the visiting Cultural Specialist was showered with
questions from curious students, who benefited from the
opportunity to engage a real American in conversation.


11. The English ACCESS Micro scholarship 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 AGEF de
l'Oriental in Oujda.

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SHARING THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
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12. On March 3, Dar America hosted a forum discussion with
Moroccan participants in the MEPI-funded International
Visitor Leadership Programs (IVLP) "Young Leaders: Effecting
Social, Political and Economic Change" (July 5-22, 2005) and
"Student Leaders and Civic Responsibility" (Sept. 9 -
October 7, 2005) with 70 university students and civil
society activists. Younes Naoumi, President of "Action
Jeunesse," an NGO that promotes civic education in
economically depressed areas; Abdassamad Oussayeh, President
of "Association de Jeunes Contre Le Sida," an organization
that promotes AIDS awareness; Sanaa Bouzit, Secretary
General of "Tamaynut," an association that calls for the
preservation of Berber language and culture; and Lamia
Chahbi, President of the Rabat English Club, briefed the
audience on their participation in the IVLP program. The
presenters gave an overview of their IVLP programs and
detailed their impressions of the U.S. They experienced
surprise at the racial, ethnic and religious diversity of
the U.S. and were impressed by the importance of
volunteerism in American society. Each participant praised
for the "smooth way that American democracy works" and
several predicted Morocco will only have economic and social
stability when "it fully embraces democracy." When asked
how he would apply what he learned in America to Morocco,
Addassamad responded, "We need to continue sharing what we
have learned with others and push the government to empower
civil society." During interviews with RTM Television and
Moroccan Radio following their presentations, the presenters
praised the U.S. for its commitment to civil society and
thanked the Mission for the opportunity to take part in the
IVLP program.

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FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
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13. Mission Morocco's MEPI Economic Growth Pillar committee
thoroughly considered proper use of $1 million MEPI free
trade agreement (FTA) technical assistance provided to the
Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP). In close
consultation with Moroccan FTA negotiators and coordinated
through multiple internal meetings, the interagency MEPI
Economic Growth Committee set out mission priorities for
technical assistance that will maximize the benefits of
CLDP's work. In March, CLDP Deputy Senior Counsel Marc
Tejtel met with the Committee. He agreed to design a work
plan consistent with the GOM's and the Committee's emphasis
on transparency, assistance for customs, and textiles-
related obligations. The transparency provisions will
contribute to good governance goals in addition to proper,
timely FTA implementation. MEPI Washington and the MEPI
Economic Growth Committee will review CLDP's draft work plan
before implementation begins.

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ECONOMIC GROWTH
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14. Between January and March, FSVC implemented three
projects in Morocco, all of which related to FSVC's core
areas of activity - strengthening the banking sector and
facilitating greater access to finance for small and medium
sized enterprises (SME's). In February, three SME bankers,
the head of the SME Federation and the head of the textile
business association spent one week in the United States on
an FSVC-arranged visit during which they met U.S. SME
bankers and small business associations. FSVC is now
working with the SME Federation and the bankers to find ways
to transmit the knowledge and insights gained on the study
visit to a wider audience in Morocco. FSVC's other recent
programs entailed work with Bank al-Maghrib (the Central
Bank) managing of "operational risk" in the banking system.
FSVC also worked with two of the largest banks to upgrade
internal credit rating systems (BMCE bank),and check
processing (Attijariwafa Bank). Improving access to
financing, especially for SMEs, is a key challenge to
accelerate economic growth and create jobs to keep Morocco
on a smooth path of economic growth, political reform and
social stability.