Engaging with women in Douar Chanti shantytown

Program's objectives and activities
This project sought to further transform the culture within the Douar Chanti of Sidi Yahia Al-Gharb from one of victimization and loss of hope into one of confidence and responsible citizenship.

The four-month program helped the community residents of the Douar Chanti to design and implement a sustainable development project, focused on women, by using the skills that Search for Common Ground previously developed with them, the facilities it assisted in establishing, and the coalitions it secured in the environment of Sidi Yahia Al-Gharb.

The program helped to further develop the newly-formed Association "Collaboration for Development" that brought together local civil society groups by supporting its fundraising and project management efforts, with an aim to help it achieve autonomy by the end of the project.

In addition, Search for Common Ground facilitated the creation of a "Community-Based Women Center" within the community resource center by providing local leaders with relevant skills and by sharing information and bringing expertise from national experienced women associations (such as "L'Association marocaine de lutte contre la violence à l'égard des femmes"). The Community-Based Women Center was established to offer multiple activities to the residents such as conferences and debates on various themes (violence against women, the new Moudawana Law, health and environmental related issues); training workshops on conflict resolution techniques and mediation; listening, orientation and mediation services; technical support to local business initiatives (cooperatives); as well as literacy and computer courses. Program's achievement:

Search for Common Ground reached the program's objectives through

• Identifying and recruiting local skilled women volunteers.

• Training the volunteers' team on conflict transformation and mediation techniques, project management and strategic planning, communication and leadership.

• Facilitating debates about the New Moudawana law, within the Community-Based Women Center.

• Organizing popular events such as ceremonies (graduation ceremony for computer and literacy courses on the 19th of April 2006)

• Organizing awareness raising events (celebration of the International Women's Day on the 8th of March 2006)

• Using SFCG's network of partners (micro-credit NGOs, women associations, private sector, local and governmental authorities)

• Providing financial support for literacy and computer courses (teacher's fees, trainers' fees, books...)

Currently, the Community-Based Women Center offers multiple services and activities to the women residents, including:

• Orientation and mediation services

• Counseling and technical support (project management, drafting proposals, communication and leadership)

• Conferences and debates on various themes (the new Moudawana Law and the role of women in society, health and environmental issues, micro-credit)

• Literacy courses

• Computer courses