Like the rest of the world, Morocco is going through an unprecedented health crisis, with repercussions on all sectors of life, including the associative sector. The effects of this crisis are more profound for vulnerable groups, for whom inequalities and disparities are even more acute.
Today, civil society must indeed mobilize more than ever to reflect on local solutions and act to take part in building an egalitarian, inclusive and sustainable society. Although the confinement imposed is a constraint to action on the ground, there are alternatives to connect with the citizens of the world and conduct collective actions that are useful for the society.
With this in mind, LDA Northern Morocco organised an online debate on April 2nd on the role of citizen participation during the health crisis: if on one hand the current economic situation limits the social mobilisation of associations in the field, on the other hand it allows us to come up with new forms of civic and citizen participation.
The event was attended by partners of the EGAL project (Gender Equality in Local Action), while a second debate was organized on April 14th with ALDA’s involvement on the central topic of Citizen participation during the Covid-19 crisis and how we can organize our future together.
LDA NM also conducted a survey on the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis on youth organisations around the world and on their initiatives to mitigate the impact of the crisis. Following the dissemination of the survey’s results, the LDA then represented Morocco during a regional conference on the Youth and COVID-19: Response, Resilience and Recovery held on May 7th .
Throughout the period of confinement, more generally, LDA NM held online debates to encourage the expression of young people by giving them a voice to share their insights on the effects of this crisis. This weekly bilingual Talk “Young people and smart confinement” led to the creation of a bond of solidarity, relief from the isolation and growth of young people’s interest in debate and reflection on economic issues.
On May 27th, moreover, ALDA and LDA NM co-hosted a collective brainstorming workshop with a preparatory stage for the Young Voices in the Mediterranean forum, which will be held on June 8th.
In this occasion, young people were able to co-design a shared vision of what gender is, understand its major obstacles, issues and challenges to the progress of the companies in the Mediterranean region. At the end of this session, they were invited to write 15 recommendations for an egalitarian, innovative and inclusive Euro-Mediterranean area!