Mohamed is a 67 year old pensioner who worked for a long time in Alsace (France). Originally from Taliouine, he is the only one in his family who has been to Europe. That is why, once he retired, he came back to support his community in Morocco in 2004.

While he resided far from his country, he continued to reflect on his Douar Taguergouste and eventuallydecided to invest parts of his savings in the local community. Since Koranic education is very important to Mohamed, he concentrated his efforts on the Traditional Koran School of Taguergouste: He established an association that takes care of preparing the meals and organizing the accommodation of the children who attend the school and who live too far away to go back home every night. Furthermore, the association also engages in raising awareness among the public to collect funds to buy books, food and medicine. Thanks to joint efforts with the ministry of culture, the school now has an internet connection and is able to promote literacy among women. Mohamed’s association works in cooperation with the community of Taliouine and receives yearly subventions. Thanks to his actions, now even the children in the most isolated villages have access to the school. However, Mohamed is already envisaging other plans: Once the school has received enough funds, he dreams of launching his own project of opening a brickyard.

Omar, 72 years old, is also a pensioner who came back to Taliouine after having worked in the Netherlands for more than 20 years. Before engaging in the development of his community, he thought of his family and helped each one of his children and his brothers to build a house. Afterwards, Omar decided to get involved in his Douar, Tabia, by building a nursery. Before leaving Morocco, Omar was an uneducated shepherd and the fact he was illiterate saw him suffer a lot, especially during his time in the Netherlands. Now aware of the importance of child education, the nursery project is thus a contribution to ensuring literacy among the new generations.

The Bureau of Assistance and Orientation for Migrants (BAOM) of Taliouine, which is supported by the JMDI, is a cost-free support mechanism provided by the local government to support migrants, promote their rights and engage with the Moroccan diaspora with the aim of facilitating their access to social rights and accompanying them in case they want to invest in their territories of origin. The BAOM helped Omar and Mohamed in their processes of investment, mainly by analyzing the specific needs of each Douar and by being the intermediary with the community.

These interventions by migrants in the territories of origin show clearly the link between migration and development, and how migrants can become actors of local development.

The BAOM of Taliouine is one of 11 BAOM supported by the Joint Migration and Development Initiative in the region of Souss Massa through the project “Migration, Territories and Development”. Among its services, the BAOM accompany migrants who would like to invest in their communities.. By showing the good practices of migrants in their territory, the BAOM contribute to the creation of a feeling of respect and an increased awareness of the topic, allowing policy-makers to have a clear and specific vision on the social category of migrants, which helps them to identify and implement more effective political actions to be taken.

Quick Facts on the project

Country: Morroco

Project: Migration, Territories and Development

Main partner: Migration & Development Association

Main Objective: The project “Migration, Territories and Development” is implemented by the Association Migration & Development in the region of Souss Massa and Drâa Tafilalet. This project, which mainly consists of supporting the Moroccan territorial collectives (11 communities, 2 provinces, 1 region), seeks to mainstream migration into the territorial development policies in the areas of intervention. 

SOURCE: http://www.migration4development.org

MedCities undertakes a technical mission to Agadir relative to the Bus Rapid Transit