Morocco: Middle school-aged researchers tackle school dropout head on

September 27, 2014

1 min read

Every year in Morocco, nearly 360,000 students drop out of school, and the problem most acute in middle school, where nearly 10 percent of students drop out. In order to develop solutions, young researchers interviewed their peers to discover the reasons why they leave school, which included a lack of transportation, early marriage and little academic support.

Morocco: Young advocates speak out about the importance of staying in school

September 27, 2014

1 min read

In cities across Morocco, middle school-aged researchers teamed up with USAID, Creative and the Ministry of Education to tackle school dropout through Youth Speak Morocco. Advocates affected by dropout share their stories and present findings on dropout during a national conference.

Morocco: Youth Speak program keeps at-risk students in school

September 27, 2014

1 min read

Youssef is a 16-year-old high school student from one of Morocco’s poorest regions who wasn’t even sure he would complete school. Now he’s at the top of his class, thanks to Youth Speak Morocco—a school dropout prevention initiative that empowers middle school students to lead research with their peers on the factors that lead to dropout and speak out against the problem.

Morocco – Promise Pathways Program

Program

1 min read

Creative partnered with three international organizations and a network of local organizations in the Marrakesh region to implement the Morocco Promise Pathways program, funded by U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs.

The four-year program in this region reduced child labor by working with communities—particularly youth—and the government to promote quality educational and learning opportunities for residents younger than age 15. It worked jointly with youth, parents, schools, communities and the government to increase school attendance and mitigate early drop out.

The program also provided safe and productive employment alternatives for youth of legal working age through vocational training and referral assistance that links jobseekers with a network of service providers. Youth entrepreneurs built their skills through classes and coaching.

The Morocco Promise Pathways program simultaneously promoted household resilience by promoting families’ access to social services, micro-lending and saving programs.

Civil society organizations received training to generate awareness of the services available to youth and their families and risks and forms of child labor, while becoming advocates for changes to national child labor laws.

Funding for this project was provided by the United States Department of Labor. This material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does the mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government.

Morocco – Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education

Program

1 min read

Creative’s Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education project supported Morocco’s Education Ministry in improving teachers’ pedagogical practice, preventing middle school dropouts, and developing innovative and practical teacher training materials for nationwide use. It was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

In its nearly five years, the project delivered in-service professional development to more than 3,000 teachers. Meanwhile, more than 4,400 newly recruited teacher trainers received pre-service coursework.

Creative worked with the Education Ministry to update 12 middle school teacher training modules, integrating e-learning into some of these modules and extending the scope of training to in-service as well as pre-service teachers.

Creative partnered with the International Youth Foundation to introduce Life Skills Clubs into the after-school offerings of more than 95 percent of middle schools in the two regions. More than 650 teachers were trained to deliver the Life Skills curriculum, and the clubs reached nearly 10,500 students. Participating students tripled their scores on a test of employability skills, while a control group improved their skills by only a few percentage points.

Youth Speak, a youth-led research activity, engaged young people in an open dialogue about the causes for dropout and the possible solutions to the problem.

Through these and other factors, the dropout rate saw an 18.77 percent decrease nationally and a 44.23 percent decrease in the project’s two target regions (Doukkala-Abda and Fes-Boulmane).

Youth “speaks” out on the importance of education in Morocco

June 25, 2014

3 min read

Youssef Bidar, a 16 year-old from Morocco, was invited to meet with other youth leaders and speak at the 2014 InterAction Forum in Washington, D.C.

Youssef Bidar is a 16 year-old from a remote, rural town in the Doukkala-Abda province of Morocco. It is the country’s poorest area and, despite the fact that there are few productive opportunities awaiting children who leave school, one with a shockingly high number of dropouts.

None of his older siblings completed high school, and for a long time, Youssef didn’t think he would either. But Youssef’s path took a very different turn. And it lead him last week to a once-in-a lifetime opportunity: participating in the 2014 Interaction Forum through the support of the Alliance for International Youth Development (AIYD) and Creative Associates International.

Each year at the Forum, AIYD convenes a delegation of young people who have made an extraordinary impact in their communities. It is a way to bring youth voice to the important discussions at the Forum and raise the potential of young people as contributors and change makers in development work.

Youssef was one of five outstanding young leaders selected to share his experience at the Forum.

He spoke about how Creative selected him as one of 24 young “Youth Speak” researchers across the country to document the factors that lead youth to drop out of school – and to propose factors to mitigate early dropout.

One of six children in a poor family—he is the son of a shoe maker—Youssef was selected as a Youth Speak researcher in part because he was considered to be “at risk” of dropping out: He was not engaged in school activities, was increasingly absent or tardy from class, and was not performing well on his exams.

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Sharing the stage for gains in education

April 1, 2014

4 min read

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Sharing the stage for gains in education

By Maggie Farrand

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E-learning experts gathered at Al Akhawayn University for a three-day training. — E-learning experts gathered at Al Akhawayn University for a three-day training on taking teacher training modules to an online platform.

Ifrance, Morocco—We arrived at Al Akhawayn University early Saturday morning. The workshop was already underway, so we snuck in the back of the classroom and found seats along the wall where we could observe and not interrupt. With only three words of Arabic in my vocabulary, my colleague from the local office provided brief, whispered translations.

In front of us, hands were raised and an energetic presenter paced across the room. It was a group of 19 e-learning experts mixed with representatives from Morocco’s Ministry of Education.

The three-day workshop was dedicated to engineering ways to adapt the Ministry’s training program for teachers to their online portal.

It was not the first time Ministry’s teacher training had gone digital. Four years ago, Ministry staff identified online learning as an emerging field they needed to tap into – to keep up with 21^st century technology, but also to reach teacher trainers in rural areas of Morocco. So they transferred eight of 12 pre-service modules (for newly hired teachers) to e-learning training, and then tested it with 600 trainers.

Based on the success of the first round, the same group was tasked with taking two more modules, Support for School Success and the Enhanced Reading Program, to an online audience – this was their task as I observed from the back of the room.

The workshop is part of Creative’s five-year Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education project that supports Morocco’s Education Ministry reform goals of improving teachers’ professional skills to stem the tide of middle school dropouts. It is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

I learned the animated presenter at the head of the room, the one scribbling diagrams and notes on the whiteboard, was Dr. Abdelkader Ezzaki, Deputy Chief of Party for the Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education program. I’d seen his name on emails in my inbox, but never met him in person. He was animated, passionate and spewing Arabic at a rapid pace.

He was joined by Dr. Miloud Ahbeddou, the king of all things e-learning for Creative’s program. Dr. Ahbeddou worked for 26 years as a teacher trainer at a university in Rabat, and has become an expert in training, teaching and online applications.

There were three other men at the front: Aziz El Hajir and Abdellatif Fergoug, employed by the Ministry’s Center for Pedagogical Innovation and Experimentation, and Hassane Darhmaoui, an expert in e-learning from the Al Akhawayn University, which has contributed greatly to the development of the program’s e-learning model.

The five men fielded questions and comments, hashing out the strategy for adjusting these courses for an online platform.

During the pause-café, a regular mid-morning coffee break, I was introduced to Mohamed Hosni, the Distance Learning Division Chief within the Ministry’s Center for Pedagogical Innovation and Experimentation.

He applauded USAID for contributing to the development of technology for education through infrastructure improvements and new training materials. Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education, he told me, is now allowing the Ministry to use the infrastructure to strengthen their training systems.

In his words, Creative’s program has “brought the soul to the body.”

Hosni also saw the program providing other advantages: it has allowed him to interact and collaborate with Ministerial groups as he never had before. In fact, the man to his left, Mofaddal Douhid of the Central Unit for the Training of Trainers, was a perfect example.

Before Creative’s program, these two men had never worked together, yet as Ministry employees, their work and ultimate goals are actually quite aligned. The Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education program brought them together during the development of the first set of e-learning courses, and Hosni could not be happier.

“Before, there was no collaboration,” he says. “Now [regional teacher trainers] are requesting training in new technologies from us. And Central Unit for the Training of Trainers is aware of the importance of distance education.”

I realized, as I watched the four presenters from my seat in the back of the classroom that they – just like Hosni and Douhid – have the same ultimate goal: improved teacher training, and improved education quality throughout Morocco. Through Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education, they have come together to work toward that goal.

That day, I learned that Creative’s partnership with the Ministry was not just for show. Two representatives from the program and two from the Ministry presenting at the workshop was not an accident. It was, in fact, very deliberate. It was how the Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education program had been working for more than four years. And their success was the product of a genuine partnership.

In its four plus years, Creative’s program has teamed with the Ministry to develop e-learning courses, improve in-service and pre-service training programs and provide Ministry staff with skills in training and project implementation. These activities have been led by the Ministry, with guidance from the Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education program.

When the program closes in a few months, it will technically end the partnership with the Ministry, but it won’t end the Ministry’s progress. The Ministry will continue its work in improving teacher training; and now, thanks to Creative’s program, it has even more tools to do that.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The keys to building a lasting reading program in Morocco

March 25, 2014

4 min read

Ezzaki for Voces

In 2001, Morocco endured its first Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), the international study of reading achievement in fourth grade. The results weren’t great: Morocco’s reading scores were the second worst of the 35 participating countries. The most recent PIRLS test in 2011 showed no improvement: Morocco was again at the bottom of the list.

In a country whose education system shows severe weaknesses in students’ overall academic achievement, how do you develop a reading program that will change those results – and support improvement of student learning at the middle-school level?

That was the question on my mind more than four years ago when I joined the Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education (ITQANE) project.

The program, funded by USAID, started right as the Ministry of Education instituted its Emergency Education Plan, with a focus on increasing education quality and teacher training. We teamed up with the Ministry to make sure our activities complemented their Plan; this included a huge emphasis on teacher training. In 2012, we combined the need for teacher training with Morocco’s low PIRLS results and launched the four-volume Enhanced Reading Program module for in-service teachers. Today, more than 3,000 teachers have been trained on the module.

Since we started the Reading Program in 2012, I’ve learned a lot about what makes a successful – and sustainable – reading program. Here, I share with you ten of the most important lessons:

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Youth Speak promotes girls’ voices

March 7, 2014

3 min read

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Youth Speak promotes girls’ voices

By Maggie Farrand

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Bahija for Voces

Rabat, Morocco – Souad Achehabou was a star student at her school in Jdour, a rural commune in Morocco’s Youssoufia province, 185 miles south of Rabat. She loved studying and was excited to go to school. But she lived far away and was regularly without reliable transportation. Many mornings, she would hitchhike. Worrying about her safety, her parents pressured her to drop out.

“I did not want to,” she said. “I like studying and was eager to continue.”

At times when she was kept home, she would send notes to the school pleading for help. Her teachers would occasionally respond by picking her up in the morning, and driving her home in the evening. But teachers weren’t always available, and pressure from her parents continued; before long, she became yet another middle school dropout.

For young girls in Morocco like Souad, dropping out of school is not uncommon. From 300,000 to 400,000 children discontinue their studies each year, more than half of whom are young girls. They cite a lack of safety and money, being discouraged by teachers and early marriage as reasons for leaving school.

That’s why in a recent youth-led research initiative that investigated the problem of middle school dropout, girls were given the opportunity to tell their stories.

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I do this for my daughters

March 5, 2014

3 min read

Fatima Zahra Tahiri is the Communications Officer for Creative’s Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education program in Morocco. In honor of International Women’s Day 2014, we asked for her thoughts on women in her country and her profession, and what inspires her.

Question: Please explain in what ways your program involves women.

Answer: The ITQANE project focuses on improving the teacher training program in Morocco. It’s really about using the trainings as a way to improve the whole education system. The program involves many women – whether it be teacher trainers, teachers, school inspectors, community members, even young female students. They all benefit from this program and the improved educational opportunities its seen take shape.

I have worked in many of Creative’s education programs here in Morocco, and gender has always been considered a priority. For example, every time we organized a training, we would ask our partner to invite female participants. We would have these women participating, but they could not make decisions. This area was reserved to men. It was very frustrating. Thankfully, I’ve seen some changes recently, where women are given a voice by Government and private sector too.

Q: As a woman, what is it like to work on these issues?

A: This is my story…working in a country where men’s voice is premium is not easy at all. But, looking at the eyes of those little girls going every morning to the school to learn, thinking of them that they could be some day very important decision makers, that makes me work even harder. I am a mother, and I don’t want any of my girls to be sitting in her house waiting for her husband to bring her food or anything else…I want them to be independent and able to speak up for their rights with no fear.

In order to achieve this result, the shortest way would be through education. Teach the little boy how to respect those around him, including women. If we start this in preschool and we go on, once at 18, the boy will have no problem working with his peers, regardless of gender. This change of culture and behavior could affect the labor market as well. Men and women will benefit from the same chances and opportunities to get a job and there will be no jobs reserved for MEN and others for WOMEN.

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New program to combat child labor in Morocco

January 8, 2014

3 min read

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New program to combat child labor in Morocco

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Jan. 8, 2014 – A $5-million program will prevent and reduce child labor and help youth of legal working age secure decent employment in Morocco.

“Providing safe and productive work alternatives is key to a promising future for children and a more stable society,” says Charito Kruvant, President and CEO of Creative. “Our expertise with education and community partnerships in Morocco and elsewhere will be leveraged to benefit the country’s most vulnerable children.”

Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs, the four-year program aims to reduce child labor in the region of Marrakesh-Tensift-Al-Haouz by working with communities—particularly youth—and the government to promote quality educational and learning opportunities for residents younger than age 15. It will also provide safe and productive employment alternatives for youth of legal working age, which is 15 and older.

In Marrakesh-Tensift-Al Haouz, dropout rates for primary and secondary school are among the highest in the country. Unfortunately, children are routinely used as agricultural and domestic laborers, and in some cases as sex workers.

Up to 14 percent of the region’s 100,000 poor and vulnerable children are already working or are at great risk of becoming child laborers.

Sean Carroll, Senior Director of the division that will implement the project, says: “We are excited to work with the U.S. and Moroccan governments, the private sector and civil society to ensure youth in the Marrakesh-Tensift-Al Haouz region have quality education and meaningful work opportunities.”

Though Morocco has had significant success in addressing child labor—the number of working children dropped from 518,000 in 1999 to 92,000 in 2012—problems continue.

Child labor laws are often ignored by business owners and current regulations do not give inspectors full access to many of the places children are most often employed. Domestic work regulations are not often enforced, while in rural areas children remain a staple of the farm labor force.

Creative’s multifaceted response

Building on more than 10 years’ experience with education in Morocco, Creative will work jointly with youth, parents, schools, communities and the government to increase school attendance and mitigate early drop out.

Young adults will receive vocational training and referral assistance that links jobseekers with a network of service providers, while youth entrepreneurs will build their skills through classes and coaching.

Simultaneously, the program will promote household resilience by promoting families’ access to social services, micro-lending and saving programs and other activities.

Civil society organizations will receive training to generate awareness of the services available to youth and their families and risks and forms of child labor, while becoming advocates for changes to national child labor laws.

Creative’s strategy relies on a strong network of local and international partners.

Three Moroccan organizations—Association Bayti, Association Al Karam and Association Institute Nationale de Solidarité avec les Femmes en Détresse (INSAF)—and three international organizations— Aid to Artisans, International Initiative to End Child Labor and Kuder—are part of the project.

Creative will also leverage existing relationships formed while implementing the Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education program, which improves teachers’ pedagogical practice, prevents middle school dropouts and develops innovative and practical teacher training materials. It is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Funding for this project was provided by the United States Department of Labor. This material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does the mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Moroccan classrooms go interactive

November 6, 2013

2 min read

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Moroccan classrooms go interactive

By Creative Associates International

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Math teacher Saloua Ben Fethalla says her students now play an active role in the classroom. © USAID/J. Harris

Saloua Ben Fethalla is a math teacher at Almajd School in Tahannaout, Morocco, a picturesque rural town at the foot of the Atlas Mountains. Her 13-year-old students are just beginning middle school.

Until recently, the class of over 40 students would sit in rows, straining to listen as Fethalla lectured. With classes this size, it was difficult for students to work in teams and for teachers to provide one-on-one coaching to students. Traditional rote learning, not comprehension, was the norm.

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