Moroccan civil society opens up to the world

A civil society conference in Morocco in February brought together 60 associations and foundations from Jordan, Palestine, Tunisia and Morocco as well as from the US, the UK, Canada, France, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands.

The clear message of the conference was that Moroccan CSOs want to work together more closely, play a bigger role in their country’s affairs, and be more in touch with their counterparts in other countries. The different conference themes are a clear reflection of this: civil society and globalization, civil society, education and gender, civil society and the environment, civil society and socioeconomic development, human rights and democracy.

Conference participants recognized that the country would need a new framework in which civil society can play a bigger role in the various sectors – education, health, employment, etc – and begin to play a real part in national and regional decision-making. Citizens should be encouraged to take initiatives with a view to contributing to sustainable development, while CSOs need to ensure good governance and transparency in their operations. Moroccan civil society must benefit from the positive side of globalization and build systems for communication and exchange between Moroccan and international NGOs.

A new civil society resource centre has just been set up in Casablanca, Morocco with the support of the Fes-Saiss Association, the European Foundation Centre and the Luso-American Foundation. One key objective is to provide information for NGOs; it plans to develop a databank on NGOs with the aim of promoting better coordination between different Moroccan organizations. It also plans to organize regular seminars and NGO training workshops with the help of Moroccan and international organizations.

EVENT International conference on Civil Society and Sustainable
Development
Date 14-16 February
Venue Fès, Morocco
Organizers Fès-Saiss Association, under the patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI

For more information, contact Moha Ennaji at Fès-Saiss Association at estry@fesnet.net.ma