Micro Credit Project and Human Development in Morocco

National Initiative for Human Development in Morocco (NIHD)

The National Initiative for Human Development in Morocco comes from a vision of economic and social development gained by the royal family, and was presented by His Majesty King Mohammed VI currently reigning, May 18, 2005. This initiative is thus part of a global vision based on three components objectives:

• political process of consolidation of the modern state: democracy, rule of law, promoting the rights of women and children;
• Reforms and structural projects to generate growth;
• Human development in its economic, social and cultural development, based on the principles of good governance through information, monitoring and accountability.
The initiative is therefore based on a global and integrated vision of social development, the objective of human being, in order to combat the social deficits that continue to afflict society and lay the foundation for a harmonious development between urban and rural.

It also seeks to enhance the action of the State Government and local authorities, without replacing the sectoral programs or plans for economic and social development of local communities.
To this end, provides a potential in additional funding, to support actions to support permanent, able to bring faster results and produce dynamics in human development of appreciable level.

She started as a central priority of economic and social policy of the country in the fight against poverty, social exclusion and precariousness, deciding strategy as a decentralized approach based on geographic targeting the poorest and most disadvantaged groups in society, on the principles of participation of beneficiary populations, strategic planning, collaboration with local stakeholders to ensure greater ownership and feasibility of projects and interventions and their convergence with the sectoral programs.

For the period 2006-2010 (NIHD) will be divided into four programs listed below

The transversal program

The transversal program aims on the one hand, support for projects with significant impact on human development through all the prefectures, prefectures and provinces of the Kingdom of the district, particularly in rural municipalities, the deprived urban areas, according to a procedure call to present driven projects at the provincial or prefectural level and on the other hand, support for job placement by dell’INDH at the regional level for training / capacity building, technical assistance, communication, evaluation, support to the Divisions of action social (DAS) and associations of municipal and district (EAC / Q) and support to associations of micro-credit.

Programme for the fight against insecurity

Piloted at the regional level, the program of fight against insecurity is designed for individuals marginalized and extremely vulnerable with the aim of:

• To encourage as much as possible the family reintegration of excluded people;
• Improve the quality of services offered to associations and public institutions to achieve quality standards that guarantee the respect of human dignity now;
• Build capacity and potential additional host where this is necessary.

The program to combat social exclusion in urban areas

This program involving more than 264 of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the big cities, aims to reduce social exclusion and poverty alleviation poorest communities by improving living conditions and strengthen social inclusion. The measures envisaged in this regard dall’INDH are grouped under four headings:

• Support for access to local services and facilities to the urban core (education, health, road, water and sanitation, etc.).
• Development of the local economy for income-generating activities;
• Support action and animation social, cultural and sporting activities;
• Strengthening governance and building local capacity.

The program to combat poverty in rural areas (Rural Tourism Development Project)

The program to combat poverty in rural areas covers 403 rural municipalities among those that have a poverty rate higher than or close to 30%, according to the paper published in poverty in 2004 by the High Commissioner in charge of the Plan (NIHD).

This program aims to improve human development in these communities, particularly through the following actions:

• Support access to basic infrastructure, equipment and basic social services for people in precarious situations (civil society)
• The development of the local economy for income-generating activities and employment;
• The support for the action and animation in social, cultural and sporting activities,
• Capacity building and local potential;
• In additional to the above programs, is provided for the commitment of expenditure to support the agency in support of the program (NIHD).

The analysis in each category must be refined to more accurately determine the needs of people, the degrees of uncertainty and to develop high-performance multi-sectoral programs.
The institutional and regulatory framework that governs the NIHD, innovative and ambitious initiative, is designed to ensure a work placement in accordance with the procedures that ensure transparency, agility and speed, giving a pivotal role to the regional committees, prefectural, county and local, and oriented management for contracting based on the results.

In this regard, about trust management, recipes and expenses pertaining all’INDH fall within the framework of a special account entitled (“Provision of support for the National Human Development”) created by decree, and that the ‘officer is the Prime Minister. Similarly, the mechanisms that ensure the regularity, transparency and speed of execution of the commitment and expenditure have also been provided.

A loan agreement was signed on December 15, 2006 between the Governments of the Kingdom of Morocco and the World Bank. It’s about helping finance dell’INDH in the amount of 78.9 million euros, equivalent to $ 100 million. This Agreement entered into force on 8 febbraio2007. For its part, the European Union has given a gift to Morocco 60 million, in the framework of the National Program from 2007 to 2010 and refinanced until 2020.

Actors interested in the program (NIHD)

Many actors can intervene in the development of the program (NIHD):

Associations and Unions, Elected local, external companies, local authorities, universities, the private sector, technical and financial partners.
Of all the actors mentioned, associations and cooperatives occupy a central place because the funding of projects NIHD must pass by them.

Procedural framework

The organization dell’INDH is based on a set of texts (circulars, ministerial notes of the Minister of the Interior, ordinances, decrees) as well as of 6 procedures manuals dedicated to:
• Procedures of income-generating activities (AGR);
• procedures of the program for the fight against poverty in the rural sector;
• procedures of the program to combat social exclusion in urban areas;
• procedures of the program to combat insecurity
• procedures for “call for projects” of the transversal program, fiduciary procedures.

Assessment methods

The lack of the following tends to penalize the ex-ante evaluation and design have been incorporated specifically by the World Bank:

• Lack of information on project monitoring, operation of infrastructure;
• Lack of information on the impact of the projects;
• Lack of mechanisms that allow recipients to give their opinion on the project, their use and their satisfaction;
• the specific provisions relating to the component of vulnerability is not present;
• the system of advertising, web-based, partially operational;
• the absence of further development of the projects after their completion.

Bodies external evaluation

Independent body established by the head of government and created in 2008, the National Observatory of Human Development (ONDH), has the mission to the permanent analyze and evaluate the impact of human development programs put in place and to propose measures and actions that contribute to the development and placement in work of a national strategy for human development, particularly within the framework of the initiative to the National human Development; the board shall submit annually to the appreciation of His Majesty the King a report on human development.

In addition, the Inspectorate General of Finance, IGF, and the Inspectorate General of territorial administration (IGAT) have been appointed by the government to jointly pursue the external auditing.

Participatory and inclusive processes

Participation is a central axis of the philosophy dell’INDH, his appreciation is however very difficult in the absence of comprehensive assessment available but also because of the many aspects that encompasses: information, training, consultation, taking into account the views, return of results, evaluation of participation, gender, communication, mediation, management of proximity communication with the people, the presenters of projects and in general all the local actors, is an essential element of the participatory process started.

To meet this requirement, communication programs have been assigned to the DAS, which have drawn up plans for local communication. In addition to corporate communication, many communication actions proximity have been put in place, such as, caravans, billboards, leaflets, meetings news, websites, radio and television programs.