The tasks of civil society are “militant”… and the “Capacity Strengthening” program is awaiting generalization

Mustafa Paytas, Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister in charge of relations with Parliament, stressed that civil society is carrying out great tasks of struggle for the benefit of developmental, educational, cultural and awareness-raising issues, noting positively the “interest” of the teams of the Second Parliamentary Chamber in the issue.

Paytas said, during his answer to three immediate oral questions in the House of Councilors, on Tuesday evening, on the topic of “Measures to increase the capabilities of civil society,” posed by the teams of the “National Rally of Liberals,” the “Independence for Unity and Equality,” and the “General Union of Workers in Morocco”: “I salute the three teams for their interest in this topic, which reflects an important aspect of the values ​​of volunteering and contributing to public action in our country.”

“Since my appointment to assume responsibility for this sector, I have reviewed a group of pioneering international experiences concerned with civil society in the world. I have also been keen to review the various reports issued in our country, especially the report on the new development model that places civil society in the rank of a partner, as well as the reports of constitutional institutions.” And in general,” the government official mentions himself before speaking about “empowering civil society with a range of capabilities, especially in the fields of training and management, in order to contribute alongside the first and second sectors.”

Activating the “Naseej” strategy

He continued, explaining: “These efforts culminated in the issuance of the Naseej strategy, which was launched after its presentation in the government council held on April 14, 2022. It was given the status of a public policy that can be implemented, and then later subjected to the possibility of evaluation, especially by Parliament and other institutions.”

The official government spokesman highlighted that “the strategy includes two main axes: The first, horizontal, supportive axis aims to support independent, structured, organized, and strong civil society, while its second axis seeks to enhance civil society’s participation in development in an effective and influential manner,” he said.

While Paytas stressed that the supportive horizontal axis concerns “the supportive environment for civil society,” including “the legal, regulatory, and tax environment for associations,” he stressed that “the Ministry has begun activating this strategy in cooperation with a number of partners, whether international donor institutions or private territorial groups, at the forefront of which are “Regions,” pointing in particular to an important pioneering experience in the Fez-Meknes region with the aim of spreading it nationally.

Strengthening the capacities of associations

In response to parliamentary questions, the Minister responsible for relations with civil society explained that the latter decided to “activate the first program related to strengthening the institutional and organizational capacities of civil society associations, launching it in the Fez-Meknes region as the first stop, in close partnership with the region’s council and state authorities.”

According to Paytas’ statements, the program includes 8 “training units,” covering issues of “the legal system of associations, financial and administrative management, strategic planning, technique for preparing projects and tracking their implementation and evaluation, building partnerships and mobilizing resources, collective networking, collective communication, and then techniques for collective advocacy.” .

He explained, “This is being done under the supervision of leading national associations concerned with activating this program, and an agreement was also concluded with an international donor institution that contributed to supervising the project alongside the ministry.”

“On the horizon of generalization”

In a related context, Paytas announced to the advisors that “supporting administrative and institutional capabilities has been completed for the benefit of 30 associations; At a rate of three individuals from each association and a total of 120 association actors to strengthen the internal governance of society in this region, with the horizon of spreading it to include 650 associations in the region.”

He also stated that a regional pole for collective competencies has been created in the Fez-Meknes region, which remains a pioneer in this regard by encouraging cooperation and joint exploitation of means by unifying the work spaces of the associations (a framework for joint work and equipping the spaces).

Paytas concluded, “The prospect of generalizing this experience seems promising by also currently working to activate the same thing with active associations in the regions of Guelmim-Oued Noun and Casablanca-Settat.”