Nowadays, many non-profit organizations (NGOs) in Morocco strive to achieve the change and create an impact in the society by working on sustainable development goals (SDGs) and inspiring youth to take the lead in order to foster and promote the advancement of the society by solving economic and social problems. One of these NGOs is Association Anoual which is headquartered in Kenitra, north of Rabat. It seeks to achieve and promote leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation through creating innovative and impactful projects to support Moroccan youth.
Association Anoual works on many different projects that inspire growth of the country with the aim of educating and empowering Moroccan youth. One of which is called Morocco Future Leaders, which is a project in partnership with the US Embassy in Morocco.
The purpose behind Morocco Future Leaders is to train the next generation of young leaders aged between 18 and 30 in a particular region of Morocco, and to develop their leadership, communication, and innovation skills. Most importantly, this is an opportunity to help youth build project ideas that would lead to social impact, and serve as an advocate for the voices and needs of Moroccans.
Souhail Stitou, the vice president of Association Anoual, has confirmed that by explaining that “Its main objective is not only to empower them but also enable them to connect with each other and come up together with ideas of projects that solve their community problems.”
How does Association Anoual implement Morocco Future Leaders Project?
Morocco Future Leaders is a 5 months training program. Each month, the candidates participate in two days of training and engage in several workshops in order to expand their knowledge, boost their creativity and be equipped with the necessary tools to develop their social project ideas. The four-weekend workshops focus on specific themes including Introduction to leadership, Need Identification, Budget and Fundraising, and Communication/Marketing your Idea through social networks delivered by highly professional trainers. In their final weekend, the participants attend trainings on public speaking and pitching skills which they will use for their final pitches in front of a jury when they finalize and present their project proposals. Based on innovation and impact prospects, participants will receive prizes including financing and mentorship to realize their projects.
“Not only do we want these young leaders to work on projects that will solve their community problems, but we also want them to inspire other youth in their surrounding to work on themselves and take the initiative to come up with the change,”
Souhail
The first edition targeted 30 youth from different cities and areas in northern Morocco, based on their leadership potential and engagement in creating a social impact in their communities. This year, the second edition targeted 30 young leaders from the region of Fes-Meknes, who have passion and vision for a better and sustainable Morocco. As expressed by Safaa Ouchen, the president of Association Anoual, “These 30 participants to be chosen, they have to show genuine interest in impacting positively the future of Morocco and will have to commit to use their learning for positive social change.”
Safaa Ouchen also explained her passion behind leading an NGO such as Association Anoual and projects like Morocco Future Leaders, “Since I was little, I was aware of many social problems in my country, Morocco, and I was particularly interested in education and quality of life of many youth in this country, with the rising of those social problems, I have become more aware that I want to be part of the solutions that’s why I joined Association Anoual in 2011. Ever since I have started to contribute positively to the development of my community and society through various actions in different fields that aim to empower the next generation of the Moroccan leaders through several projects like Attawjih Camp, digiGirlz, Tamkeen Initiative, Men Daba.”
The Strategies focused on by Association Anoual to achieve these results
Safaa states that Association Anoual will use the feedback and evaluation from the first edition in order to conduct the MFL program successfully, and they will partner with other organizations to recruit potential community leaders, as well as reach out to the local population of emerging leaders.
Souhail also added:
“Not only are we working on bringing the best speakers to make from the experience enriching and instructive, but we are also ensuring at the end of the training a follow-up and monitoring with our Alumni to make sure they are willing to use their knowledge for the good of their community and working on implementing their projects.”
The hope behind Morocco Future Leaders is to create an impact in the community, include youth to be active members in the society and contribute to the development of the country by working on different projects that address common issues in the community and work on solving them.
“As we are targeting each year different regions, we hope that our Alumni will be role models in their NGOs and become ambassadors of the program in their organization by sharing all what they learned during the training” Souhail Said.
Photo Credits: All photos are from Association Anoual Facebook Page.
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