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Empowering women is necessary for creating a sustainable society that challenges gender inequality and encompasses equity in economic, social, cultural, and political dimensions. In pursuing the amplification of women’s voices so that they may be drivers to securing their socioeconomic and environmental futures, particularly in rural places, a critical launching point is their manifesting qualities of empowerment. This should occur even prior to community-wide planning of human development projects.
The High Atlas Foundation’s (HAF) mission is founded on participatory development. However, we have learned that participation alone does not give the necessary assurance as it does when preceded with empowerment. Many (or most) participants have internalized social controls that can inhibit the expression of what they actually feel. Implementing empowerment workshops at the start is informed from our localization experiences. With HAF, this entails a four-day self-discovery workshop called IMAGINE, inspired by the Empowerment Institute. IMAGINE focuses on seven key areas (emotions, relationships, sexuality, body, money, work, and spirituality) that help women find their voices and achieve their goals by gaining greater financial independence and promoting change in their communities.
HAF has conducted 111 Imagine workshops, totaling 3,552 hours, benefiting 2,598 participants (777 youth) across 25 provinces in Morocco: Al Haouz, Al Huceima, Azilal, Azrou, Beni Mellal, Boujdour, Berkane, Chichaoua, Dakhla, Demnate, Essaouira, Fes, Guercif, Khouribga, Marrakech, M'gouna, Mohammedia, Oujda, Ouarzazate, Rehamna, Safi, Sefrou, Taroudant, Taounat, Taouririt, and Youssoufia. Through these empowerment workshops, 39 existing cooperatives gained additional skills, and 19 new cooperatives took active steps towards finding resources consisting of at least eight members each, on average.
The IMAGINE workshops in Morocco have had a significant impact on cooperatives, contributing to both economic and personal growth. Women from various cooperatives learned to diversify their products, market them more effectively, and initiate certification processes to sell their products domestically and internationally. For example, one participant realized she did not include enough members in her cooperative and added members from her neighborhood to increase her chances of receiving financial support. Another participant identified a costly location and decided to use a member's garage instead to save money and increase the cooperative's income.
Moreover, the workshops empowered participants on a personal level, leading to increased honesty, helpfulness, and collaboration among members of different cooperatives. Participants also identified and overcame personal barriers to success. For instance, thirty women started looking for new job opportunities after the workshop instead of staying home and doing daily housewife operations, indicating a shift towards economic empowerment.
Women regained trust in their bodies and beauty, while others felt more comfortable meeting and discussing with strangers, showing a boost in self-esteem and confidence. Women changed their behaviors towards their husbands and children, especially in the relationship between mothers and daughters, indicating a positive change in their interpersonal relationships. Six co-op leaders resumed their work after stopping based on negative feedback from people around them, indicating a renewed sense of confidence and self-belief.
During one of the workshops, a mother attended with her two daughters and provided them with significant support, encouraging them to attend illiteracy classes. Another mother urged her daughters to take action to improve their lives and emphasized the importance of giving themselves a chance to change their lives and work towards their goals.
As a result of the workshops, participants were able to recognize areas where they needed to improve, set specific goals, and make positive changes that contributed to their personal and economic growth. For instance, sixteen girls from the village started a literacy program three months ago, attending classes for an hour and a half on weekday evenings.
They also received training sessions on establishing a women's agricultural cooperative, which resulted in them working in a nursery as a consequence of one of the Imagine exercises. The workshops have thus led to significant progress in both the personal and economic aspects of the lives of participants, helping to improve their overall well-being.
As a result of these workshops, cooperatives have improved their skills in packaging and presenting their products. Participants delivered their sales pitches more confidently, and many cooperatives started sharing useful information and resources with other cooperatives. The Imagine exercises of the "Relationships" module they participated in (“Discover your growing edge” exercise) helped participants become more honest with themselves and others, which resulted in increased collaboration among the members of different cooperatives. Overall, the Imagine workshops have not only had an impact on the cooperatives and their members but also on the communities they serve.
Out of 111 workshops, 25 were funded by the F2F Program, which is an initiative that provides technical assistance to smallholder farmers, agribusinesses, and education centers. The F2F-Imagine workshops included 480 participants in 12 provinces, 17 existing cooperatives were enriched with new skills, four new cooperatives were created, and five civil associations merged to form one agricultural cooperative.
For example, five young women were committed to the work exercise they completed during the workshop to achieve their vision and create their own cooperative. Benefiting from F2F technical training, the group started by providing the basic procedures of creating a cooperative and then the necessary documents to submit to the authorities. After one month, the group received the final receipt as a women's cooperative named Takharkhourte.
Importantly, there were 67 recommendations provided by F2F Volunteers with the women’s cooperatives who experienced IMAGINE, and 54 (81%) have been applied by the participants. On the other hand, there were 43 recommendations provided by F2F Volunteers with 180 women who did not experience IMAGINE. Of those 43 recommendations, 30 (70%) were applied. Overall, 84 recommendations (76%) were adopted out of the 110 recommendations made by F2F Volunteers to the host organizations (HOs) during HAF’s current F2F program.
HAF is motivated to seek additional partners to continue supporting women and girls through these projects. Women play a key role in agricultural and local development, yet face socioeconomic and gender constraints that exploit their vulnerability and push them into informal employment domains that neglect their rights, abilities, and potential opportunities. The HAF-Imagine program addresses these challenges by directly working to strengthen the confidence of women in the agribusiness sphere. One female participant shared, “As a mother of three, I have been occupied with homelife for many years. Now I am able to participate in empowering training that helps me to recognize my own great capacities and skills that I would like to use outside of the house”.
Rhimou, who is the President of a cooperative, realized the importance of saving money and reconsidered her relationship with money after attending the program. For some women, the program helped them let go of social marginalization, family instability, and negative feelings. Women felt more confident in expressing themselves. The program also helped women improve their emotional well-being and provided tools for daily empowerment. Participants were reminded that self-empowerment comes from within and is always accessible.
HAF efforts support this movement to daily utilization of self-empowerment tools, exemplifying the necessity of women’s initiatives, particularly in rural settings. Strengthening the resilience of women in the agribusiness sector is not only essential for their equitable participation in society but beneficial as a whole for communities working towards sustainable development.
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