Beneficiaries of Pilot Project on Strengthening Leadership of NGOs in Zagora

The President of the Advisory Council on Human Rights (CCDH), Mr. Ahemd Herzenni, received on July 10, 2009 at the CCDH headquarters, the beneficiaries of the pilot project on strengthening leadership of NGOs in the region of Zagora. The project, implemented by RAZDED, a network of associations in Zagora for democracy and development, target organizations working on issues of women's rights in Zagora, a region covered by the community reparation program.

This pilot project, which began in January 2008, is part of the project on the promotion of women’s rights and their role in transitional justice process in Morocco, implemented by the CCDH with financial and technical support from the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and whose objective is to support the process of democratic transition initiated by Morocco, through the systematic integration of gender issues and women’s rights in the implementation of IER’s recommendations.

The visit to Rabat will crown the project activities and enable women’s NGOs in Zagora to discover other experiences in networking and advocacy for women issues, to know the actions undertaken for the implementation of the recommendations of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER) in particular with regard to gender mainstreaming in the process of transitional justice, in order to mobilize local stakeholders around advocacy for women’s issues in the province of Zagora.

In his welcoming speech, Mr. Ahmed Herzenni explained that the purpose of this reconciliation process to which Morocco was committed was to take initiatives especially in the regions where the community reparation program had been applied. It is in this sense that the CCDH attaches great importance to the support of efforts made by civil society through networking and capacity building. Thus, he said: “Your efforts are concrete proof that reconciliation is done”.

Regarding the project of creating an NGO leadership, Mr. Herzenni stated that women should be aware that they carry a project and they must ally themselves to other groups to come out of marginalization, so that it will not be one group-related project and that the gains will not be limited to the completion of claims without being able to release energies.

Mr. Herzenni recalled that the CCDH set up an ad hoc committee whose mission is to mainstream the gender approach in CCDH programs and make advisory opinions relating to reform of laws, procedures and discriminatory policies against women.

Ms. Leila Rhiwi, UNIFEM representative, stressed the importance of capacity building of women who are elected at local level and encouraging their organizations together to promote their rights, adding that the release of initiatives is dependent on the consolidation of human rights education.