The National Initiative for Human Development (INDH) in El Jadida province is continuing its efforts to strengthen rural women’s skills and expand their opportunities to enter the labor market by supporting and assisting initiatives and programs aimed at promoting women’s economic empowerment.
INDH is supporting and equipping education and training centers to help women and girls, particularly in rural areas, acquire professional and digital skills that promote financial independence and improve their prospects of entering the labor market.
One such facility is the women’s education and training center in the commune of Sidi M’Hamed Akhdim, in El Jadida province. Supported by INDH, the center offers a range of services, including training and vocational qualification programs designed to promote women’s and girls’ economic and social integration.
Speaking to MAP during a visit to the center, Khalil Ahl Ben Taleb, communications officer at the Social Action Division in El Jadida province, said the facility had been equipped with a fully furnished computer room thanks to INDH support.
The aim is to expand the center’s training offer by incorporating digital skills alongside its cutting and sewing courses. He noted that the center welcomes more than 22 girls each year who receive training in these two fields.
He added that the facility is one of 26 centers equipped with INDH support across the province, as part of 47 projects with a total cost of approximately DH 16 million, of which around DH 15 million was funded by INDH.
He also highlighted INDH’s efforts to support rural girls through the construction and equipping of around 25 student boarding houses, known as Dar Taliba, as well as assistance with their management. These facilities accommodate at least 1,500 schoolgirls.
The facilities were developed through 46 projects costing more than DH 53 million, including an INDH contribution of more than DH 45 million. These efforts help strengthen the economic empowerment of rural women and girls and promote their professional integration, he added.
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For her part, Rachida Dallal, president of the Ennassim Association for Social Services, which manages the center, said the facility offers a one-year vocational training course in sewing and embroidery, culminating in a professional diploma. The qualification gives participants the opportunity to pursue professional activities or launch income-generating projects.
She added that the new computer room would broaden the center’s training offer and give trainees the opportunity to acquire digital skills that could help them develop their professional activities.
For her part, Touria Zrika, a supervisor at the association, said the center is open to girls who have dropped out of school and stay-at-home women. It aims to teach them cutting and both traditional and modern sewing skills, helping strengthen their economic independence and improve their social conditions.
She said some graduates had gone on to establish their own sewing workshops while creating job opportunities for other young women in the region.
Fatiha Arachi, a graduate of the center, said she had set up her workshop at home and periodically hired her neighbors from the douar to help fulfill orders.
She expressed hope that the center would diversify and expand its training courses and workshops to meet the needs of young women in the region and offer them new opportunities for training and professional integration.
This experience highlights the role of education and training centers in rural areas in strengthening women’s economic and social empowerment, developing their professional and digital skills and expanding self-employment opportunities. These efforts contribute to increasing women’s participation in local development in El Jadida province.
