After more than 15 years of successful project work, DVV International will finish its engagement in Morocco at the end of June 2024. This actuality engendered a closing conference which took place at the Mohammed V University in Rabat on May 10, with the participation of 50 partner representatives from state, civil society and university institutions. DVV International was honoured as a pioneer organisation which contributed on a number of different levels to strengthen adult learning and education in Morocco.
While at the beginning of DVV International’s effort 15 years ago the focus was mostly on literacy, today a broader understanding of adult learning and education is solidly anchored in Morocco. This is mirrored in an African foundation for lifelong learning which is currently being established.
From the very beginning, a central partner of DVV International inside the Ministry of Education has been the National Agency for the Fight against Illiteracy (ANLCA), which has risen to the status of an independent agency, accompanied and advised by DVV International along the way, as its Director Abdelouadoud Kharbouch emphasised in his discourse.
Support for adult learning and education at every level
In Morocco the name DVV International is also closely linked with the REFLECT method, a participatory literacy method that enables competence in reading, writing and math by connecting them to relevant everyday situations and tasks, for example in the areas of health, farming, running a business or citizenship. This method is currently in use throughout the country and is recognised as the national approach for attaining literacy.
In addition, DVV International and its partners developed educational opportunities in prisons. In this context, Benaissa Bennacer from the General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR) praised a model distance learning project for the incarcerated in the Salé prison which has, in the meantime, been expanded to include five other prisons.
Another milestone was support for adult education centres, especially the University for All (Universités pour Tous – UPT), inspired by the example of the German Volkshochschule. The result is that there is now an umbrella association that currently has a membership of 10 UPTs.
Moreover, Abdellatif Kidai, a representative from the Adult Education faculty of Mohammed V University, called attention to the contribution made by DVV International toward the qualification of adult educators in the country: in 2020, with the support of DVV International, a Masters programme in adult education was established at the Mohammed V University.
Morocco as important regional and international advocate for adult learning and education
The speakers at the conference were unanimous in their opinion that DVV International, since 2008, has contributed meaningfully to build a strong adult education system in Morocco: sturdy state structures, a broad provision of adult education centres, modern methods and a well-prepared staff of educators. Not to be forgotten is an active civil society which has organised itself into two networks in order to represent the interests of adult education also vis-à-vis state authorities and is aiming to expand into the Maghreb in the future.
Although the project work of DVV International will conclude in June 2024, Morocco will remain a central partner in the regional and international context for the interests of adult education.
Further information
Publication on the work of DVV International in Morocco as a PDF download (English and Arabic)