Honorary prize – 2011

Morocco

Governance of territorial projects

Tags: rural exodus, employment, entrepreneurship, local development, traditions.

«We succeeded to involve our populations in the changes of the community. The objective is to stimulate the talents of each of us at the profit of the community knowing that the real energy is in ourselves.»

«Local development, Yes, but we do not have to destroy our core values of the desert.»

Abdellah Adouz, develop without damage: Adouz Abdellah, 34, is mayor of the municipality of Fask, a small town of 3,500 inhabitants located 200 km south of Agadir. Abdellah embodies this new generation of young African mayors who do not hesitate, on the one hand, to sit under the "palaver tree", surrounded by the residents to discuss concerns of everyday life, and the other 800 km to go for support and funding for the development of his town.

The problem: Small town in southern Morocco, far from any center nailed in the desert, Fask suffers from a high poverty rate. The little economic activity and the lack of jobs seem to leave no other choice to the people that the rural exodus and migration to Europe, remedy obsolete today because of the global economic situation and the closure of borders.

Action: Abdellah proposes concrete alternatives to the exodus. The chairman of the Joint Fask door, promotes and strengthens the implementation of concrete projects and realistic dimensions to human scale (cooperative couscous, Argan oil, weaving, braiding, youth center, boys and girls boarding school, ... ). The projects mainly concern the population of the least favored Fask: women, children and youth.

Harubuntu Dimension: Awakening human potential. Gatherer, attentive to the needs of each other, a follower of participatory dialogue, based on traditional knowledge of the inhabitants, the natural pride of everyone to be able to manifest it, Abdellah Adouz contrasts with the image of the local potentate. His trademark is to generate the collective energy, a new faith in the future, leading to the emergence of project and initiatives it supports and strengthens. A Fask, youth and women are wanting to create a special place. The human and individual potential are at the heart of his approach. The development of the town is not the expression of his vision but that of the whole community. His caution: to develop, certainly, but without damage, without losing the soul that makes or breaks this desert oasis.

[VIDEO]