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A Moroccan Woman’s Burden: Water Scarcity
By Jasiah Hasan In the past fifty years, Morocco’s population has nearly tripled. Mass migrations and urbanization have pushed more than half of the growing population into cities, producing huge shanty towns. Residents lack access to clean water and sanitation services. Such barriers can lead to higher risk of waterborne diseases, such as malaria and […]
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LEAP4FNSSA’s Second Dissemination Event
By Jasiah Hasan, HAF-UVa Intern On July 19, 2021, LEAP4FNSSA hosted a webinar event to share and emphasize the importance of collaboration between the African Union and the European Union. The event focused specifically on collaborations regarding agricultural innovations and food and nutrition security. LEAP4FNSSA is a project dedicated to supporting the implementation of long-term […]
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Harnessing Science for Sustainable Agriculture
By Samirah Jaigirdar A fruit tree nursery managed by members of the Aguerzrane Women’s Cooperative in Morocco’s High Atlas, a project that has benefited from the expertise provided by the USAID-F2F Volunteer Program (HAF, July 2021). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to achieve […]
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Uniting Pathways for Landscape Restoration
By: Samarth Saksena North African and Middle Eastern nations can combat climate change through well planned landscape restoration initiatives leading to carbon sequestration, but also indirect benefits like job creation, food security, and improved livelihoods and resilience. Restoration initiatives are best carried out when the right partnerships are formed between all sectors of society. The […]
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Crop Preservation Methods in Morocco
تقنيات تخزين وحفظ المحاصيل الزراعية في المغرب/ تأليف: أليسا أندروود, Al Bayader. By Alyssa Underwood Farmers employ a variety of post-harvest crop storage to protect crops from post-harvest damage. Many of the methods employed in developing countries and on small-scale farms are traditional methods that use local resources. Modern storage methods use modern technology to […]
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Progress at the Imegdale Nursery
By: Said Bennani, HAF Project Manager and HAF Team Imegdal Nursery, Morocco. On June 4, 2021, Project Manager Said Bennani and a group of volunteers visited the Imegdal and Tassa Ouirgane nurseries. The first stop was the Imegdal nursery, where they met nursery caretaker Hassan Ait Ba on the new nursery land. To date, five […]
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Updates on the Tadmamt and Akrich Fruit Tree Nurseries
By Said Bennani, HAF Project Manager and HAF Team HAF Project Manager Said Bennani, Driver Abdelghani Kastih, and volunteer Youssef Tahri, all visited the Tadmamt and Akrich nurseries on June 3, 2021, to start off an insightful visit and viewing of the communities. The first stop was in Tadmamt, where they met assistant nursery caretaker […]
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Profound Partnerships: FRÉ Skincare and the High Atlas Foundation
Profound Partnerships: FRÉ Skincare and the High Atlas Foundation, Maravi Post. Zuha Afzal | 2021 HAF-UVA Intern Abstract The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) is an international development organization based in Morocco whose mission is to promote sustainable development. By supporting and empowering local communities on capacity building, clean water initiatives, pro bono legal aid, youth […]
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World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought | June 17, 2021
By Marij W Janjua, HAF UT-Austin Intern The HAF team visits the Tassa Ouirgane nursery in early June 2021 where saplings of carob, fig, and pomegranate are growing well. “Desertification and drought, which are a degradation of environmental health, contribute to the collapse of biodiversity and favour the appearance of zoonoses. This is yet another […]
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Afous Ghissiki: A Project to Promote Organic Agriculture in Guelmim
By Karam-Yane Azzabi, Program Coordinator The HAF team visits Tighmert Oasis to meet farmers who benefited from the Afous Ghissiki project and planted trees with HAF in 2021. It was with great excitement that I hit the road to Sidi Ifni accompanied by Abdeljalil Ait Ali, HAF Field Manager, and Mustapha Id Said, HAF Driver […]
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برنامج الأمم المتحدة الإنمائي في مدرجات الأطلس الصغير
إن القطاع الفلاحي في المغرب مساهم أساسي في توفير فرص الشغل، خصوصا في العالم القروي ويحقق إكتفاءً ذاتياً في الاستهلاك الداخلي بنسبة% 100. يتوفر المغرب على تجهيزات هيدرو فلاحية مهمة، مكونة من 139 سد، تمكن من تعبئة 15.2 مليار م3 من المياه، 13.3 مليار منها موجهة للاستعمال الفلاحي، (سقي حوالي 8.7 مليون هكتار). ويعد القطاع […]
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Community Tree Planting Will Lead Morocco Into the Future
Webster Hill HAF-UVa Intern The terrain of Morocco provides the opportunity to achieve tremendous agricultural and environmental results. The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) plants fruit trees across the country with rural communities. In 2021, HAF-community collaboration has planted 700,000 trees of nine fruit varieties, with 6,000 farming families in 39 provinces. In addition, 1.6 million […]
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مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير بين جبال توبقال
بقلم يوسف الطاهري : متطوع بمؤسسة الأطلس الكبير تنقل فريق مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير الى جماعة توبقال عبر مضايق تيشكا مرورا بمنطقة اكويم وتيديلي، بقيادة مديرة المشاريع بالَمؤسسة السيدة أمينة الحجامي ومساعدتها السيدة صفاء بن كروم، و متطوعة من الديار السلوفينية السيدة سيمونا زوبنز بتاريخ 25 ماي 2021 قرية أكرزران الجبلية :لقاء تعاونية اكرزران النسائية بين […]
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Walk on the Green Terraces
Fieldwork in the Toubkal community by Simona Zupanc On Tuesday, 25th of May we started our journey to the Toubkal community. We went together with the project manager Amina El Hajjami, program assistant Safae Ben Karroum and volunteer Youssef Tahiri. Although we did not know each other, I easily joined the group of highly motivated, […]
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Review of “The Labor of Agrodiversity in a Moroccan Oasis”
Megan Sprotte and Megan Williams HAF-UVA Interns In her recent essay, “The Labor of Agrodiversity in a Moroccan Oasis”, Karen Rignall examines the recent history of farming in the Mgoun valley in southern Morocco in order to explain how agrodiversity, labor, and tradition interact in current small-scale agrarian systems. Rignall emphasizes lines of thought that […]
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A Diversity of Voices with a Singular Goal: HAF’s Community-based Solutions Spanning Agriculture, Education, and Women’s Empowerment Address Rural Poverty in Morocco
By Caroline Culmo, Rohan Krishnan, Anjali Mahajan, and Elisa Zhang After nearly a year of working with the High Atlas Foundation on the development of a business plan for value added-walnut processing as volunteer consultants from the University of Pennsylvania, our team had the opportunity to visit several of HAF’s agricultural cooperatives and walnut tree […]
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Introducing a new essay on Moroccan decentralization and renewable energy
By HAF staff The consequences of environmental degradation extend far past a loss of natural resources or fragile ecosystems. The livelihoods, well-being, and health of people across the world is also at stake – particularly in regions that are already highly vulnerable to climate change and suffer from rural poverty, such as Morocco. A unique […]
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How does HAF build a bridge of trust and strengthen the voices of the Moroccan community?
Sanae Benaadim HAF’s Office Manager & Volunteer Coordinator Students from the University of Pennsylvania’s International Impact visiting with the fruit tree nursery of the Takhrkhourt Women’s Cooperative in Asni municipality of the Al Haouz province. On May 18th, I travelled from Marrakech with the HAF President, Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir, Project Assistants Lahcen Ait Ouatouch and […]
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Female Empowerment as the Key to Moroccan Development
Female Empowerment Can Drive Development in Morocco, Morocco World News. By Molly Case Charlottesville, Virginia Despite its international reputation as a reformist country, women in Morocco continue to face significant obstacles to social, economic, and political participation. Progressive revisions of the Moudawana Family Code (2004) and amendments to the Moroccan constitution (2011) have aided in […]
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Protecting Child Rights and Building Self-Reliance: How to Change the Life Course of Detained Moroccan Youth
Nicole Luz HAF-UVa Intern When people speak of the protection and upliftment of children, those in juvenile detention are often forgotten. In Morocco, children between the ages of 12 and 18 who have committed a transgression of the law are often housed in Child Protection Centers (CPCs). Children who were abandoned, had to be removed […]
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Making the Farmer King: Why Fair Trade Is a Big Deal
Making the Farmer King: The Need to Shift Our Approach to Agriculture, Morocco World News. By Olufunmilayo Aiyegbusi The Hague, Netherlands Looking through my grandfather’s diary 25 years after his death, I got some insights into the life of a farmer. Although he had three farms which would have added up to at least 100 […]
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Q&A with HAF President Yossef Ben-Meir about HAF’s Carbon Sequestration Model
By HAF Team Approximately 100,000 almond, walnut, and cherry saplings grow in the Tadmamt nursery on land lent in-kind by the Department of Water and Forests – Marrakech-Safi. HAF has ambitions to enhance the monitoring of its trees, measure carbon sequestration at a scientifically and socially responsible standard, and promote reinvestment back into the sustainable […]
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Climate Change, its Relationship to Afforestation, and the Contribution of the High Atlas Foundation
Arabic version Written by Youssef Taheri, HAF Volunteer Translated from Arabic by Kaoutar Ait Lahaj, HAF Program Coordinator A photo exemplifying the effect of climate change What is meant by climate change? The concept of climate change is generally defined as the changes that occur at the level of the climate with a rise in […]
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Together, for Earth and for Morocco
Dear friends, It is a special time of year – and a special week. We are celebrating the earth, our volunteers and partners, and the holy month of Ramadan. With the close of the planting season, our team is now visiting villages in 39 provinces across Morocco to monitor the 700,000 trees planted this year […]
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Offsets in Lockdown: Why COVID-19 Calls for Social Global Carbon Credits
A Unified Emissions Trading System By Finn Grundmann With a value of $299 billion, the trade of carbon credits has become one of the fastest growing markets globally. But with growth comes complexity and a global challenge. In working with the market’s many requirements, rules, and standards, I learned quickly that both simplicity and partnership […]
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Blooming Morocco: One Argan Seed at a Time
Blooming Morocco: One Argan Seed at a Time, Morocco World News, By Zuha Afzal – HAF-UVA Intern. Zuha Afzal – HAF-UVA Intern Deciphering effective mechanisms for long term growth is a journey that most certainly involves a variety of factors to be considered. Factors such as sustainable growth, women empowerment, clean drinking water, and planting […]
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Al-Haouz: The High Atlas Foundation Inaugurates the Solar Irrigation System in the Akrich Nursery
Written by MAP Ecology in Arabic Translated into English by Kaoutar Ait Lahaj, HAF Program Coordinator The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) celebrated the inauguration of a solar irrigation system in the Akrich nursery in the rural commune of Tamslouht, Al-Haouz province. The nursery produces seedlings intended for later distribution to regional farmers and schools. The […]
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Marrakech: Discovering the Akrich Nursery, at the Heart of a Jewish Cemetery
Written by Hajar Toufik, Journalist, in Arabic Translated into English by Kaoutar Ait Lahaj, HAF Program Coordinator The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) continues to develop its projects relating to the creation of organic tree nurseries by using the arable land belonging to the Moroccan Jewish community. Nearly ten years ago, the High Atlas Foundation (HAF), […]
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Unfavorable Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources in Morocco
Why Morocco Must Address Climate Change’s Threats to Water Resources, Morocco World News, By Megan Williams and Megan Sprotte HAF-UVA Interns. Megan Sprotte and Megan Williams HAF-UVA Interns Climate change is impacting water resources in Morocco, creating aggravated conditions as a result of both the environmental characteristics and social vulnerability that are present in the […]
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Decentralization of Renewable Energies: Akrich is the First Step of Many
By Zainab Hachoumi, HAF Intern Kaoutar Ait Lahaj, HAF Program Coordinator The general assembly of the Moroccan Platform for the Decentralization of Renewable Energies visiting Akrich. The High Atlas Foundation together with GermanWatch and the steering committee of the Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Project (MSP) have been carrying out their work on the decentralization of renewable energies […]