The Association du Docteur Fatiha stands for the empowerment of women, for them to reach an adequate standard of living, including the right to social inclusion and education. ADF mainly acts in rural zones, where women’s situation is especially alarming : women only have a limited access to education (early-school leaving age, geographical isolation…) and the illiteracy rate can be as high as  87%. Therefore, they are financially dependent on their family and have little prospect of evolving economically and socially. It is also very hard for them to get a job without access to professional training.

A group of craftswomen in Chouihiya, Morocco

Professional training

ADF stands for the empowerment of those women in a situation of fragility in order to help them build a better future, while preserving their environment.

We provide them with a new skill, based on recycling and eco-creation. Therefore, they can benefit from stables incomes and improve their daily life.

Because it builds their capacities, the project helps develop the women’s self-confidence. As they start to contribute to their household incomes, the role they occupy in the family evolves, little by little.

As a consequence, ADF passes the craftswomen a know-how, which enables them to access income generating activities and a well-paid job, while building their professional autonomy.

Literacy courses

In order to give a deeper impact to the project, literacy courses were put in place. Every women living in the village and willing to attend can access the courses freely, under the same conditions as the craftswomen.

Thanks to ADF recycling project, the women working together with ADF benefit from :

1. professional training for a new job,
2. regular incomes,
3. literacy courses,
4. an improved social life, via the cooperatives dynamic,
5. a sensitization to environment protection.

ADF wants to hand over all its projects to the main recipients

Our association aims to make every cooperative self-sufficient. However, it takes quite a long time to reach that level of autonomy. As the women we work with are gathered in cooperatives, they learn how to manage a working structure. Beyond production management, it is essential that the cooperatives learn how to create their own outlets. Indeed, in Morocco, numerous working groups had to stop manufacturing since they were unable to sell their products.

During the Southern Oasis Program, effective between 2010 and 2012, ADF brought full support to 7 basketry and weaving cooperatives. More than 100 craftswomen were trained in the product development and the marketing phase:

• Design : improvement of existing products and creation of new ones
• Added-value research
• Production processes establishment
• Technical training and order management
• Acquisition of communication and marketing skills
• Support for outlets research on local and international markets