Morocco launches Ambassadors of Hope programme

The Moroccan Youth Forum launched the Ambassadors of Hope programme Thursday (August 19th) in Rabat. The first-of-its-kind initiative will select and train 30 young men and women to travel Morocco and prepare a report on problems facing the nation's youth.

Once the report is complete, the new experts - all between 15 and 35 years of age - will create a blueprint to address the issues they raised.

"Ambassadors of Hope is an ambitious programme aimed at creating new dynamism in the framework of youth work in Morocco," said Moroccan Youth Forum President Ismael Hamraoui.

To this end, Ambassadors of Hope will also train young people to take decisions and shoulder responsibility, to involve them in local development, and to understand the values of citizenship.

"The programme aims to choose 30 young men and women to be ambassadors of hope, who would look for local active young people," Hamraoui added. "This is in addition to networking local youth action and advocating for... young people".

Moroccan youths face problems in education, reproductive health, and access to public utilities, he said. "These problems make it necessary for us to find solutions that would help in the local development of the country."

Youness Jaouhari, director of the youth, childhood and women's affairs department at the Moroccan Ministry of Youth, voiced his support for the Ambassadors of Hope programme.

"We encourage and support all initiatives that create dynamism among young people," he said.

"The most important thing for us is that all Moroccan young people become real actors in solving their issues," he added in a statement to Magharebia. "We will keep up with any initiative that is suitable for young people, useful for the state, and is in conformity with the national youth strategy, especially as we're living in the international year of youth."

Director Amina Souidi of the National Institute of Youth and Democracy told Magharebia the initiative was "highly symbolic".

"We hope that the number of ambassadors will be much more than 30," she said.

According to the Moroccan Youth Forum, restricting the number to just 30 was merely due to regulatory controls.

With the selection process under way, many young Moroccans had questions about eligibility and standards.

Hamida Taha, communications director for the Moroccan Youth Forum, said: "In our choices of the Ambassadors of Hope, we depend on competency, spirit of responsibility, enthusiasm and the will to work in the framework of certain programmes."

So far, three candidates have been selected, with the rest to be named by September 1st. The first three were quick to express their preparedness.

Ahmed Medkouri, a 23-year-old student, told Magharebia that the initiative came at exactly the right time for him.

Related Articles"Moroccan young people have major concerns," he said. "We will do our best to come up with an accurate diagnosis of the issues facing them."

As to whether young people possess the necessary ability to communicate their important message, 16-year-old Imane Bergami said: "I think this point can be judged only after we receive the training course; if we all do our best, we will be up to the task that has been assigned to us."

Meanwhile, her colleague Mehdi Efrah, 19, said to Magharebia: "I think that our mission won't be easy, given the difficulty of the process of coming up with an accurate diagnosis of the problems facing young people."

Calling hope the "main gateway for development", Ismael Hamraoui said he hoped the programme would raise youths' job qualifications and work ethic, and ultimately serve as a model for others. "We will export this initiative, first at the Arab level, and then at the international level," he said


Naoufel Cherkaoui

Magharebia.