The Council of the Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceima region, in partnership with the Catalan Fund for Development Cooperation, has concluded the first phase of the Regional Initiative for Capacity Building.
Some 53 rural communes in the Tanger-Tétouan region have benefited from the 1st phase of the Regional Initiative for Capacity Building in terms of gender and equal opportunities, initiated by the Council of the Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceima region, in partnership with the Catalan Fund for Development Cooperation.
The speakers at the closing ceremony of the 1st phase of the project and the preparation for the launch of the 2nd stage, held on Thursday at the headquarters of the Regional Council, stressed that 53 rural communes have benefited from training sessions on gender, equal opportunities, participatory democracy and the methods for developing participatory diagnostics and action plans. This training was organised within the framework of this initiative which aims to strengthen the skills of these communes and to qualify civil society to transform itself into a force for proposals within the framework of its consultative role.
Speaking on this occasion, the Vice-President of the Regional Council, Soumaya Fakhri, emphasised the importance of this initiative in supporting local governance, through the strengthening of the capacities of rural communes in terms of the gender approach and equal opportunities and the creation of synergy between local authorities and civil society. She stressed that this meeting was part of the preparations for the launch of the 2nd phase, which consists of extending this initiative to other rural communes in the region, especially those in the Al-Hoceima province after the new territorial division. In this context, she assured that this initiative, implemented by the Mediterranean Local Development Association (ADELMA), aims to integrate the projects of the beneficiary communes into the communal development plans of the territorial collectivities concerned, reiterating the willingness of the Regional Council to support such initiatives aimed at strengthening the role of communes in local and national development.
For his part, the project coordinator, Mohamed Ali Tabj, stressed that this project, which was part of the implementation of the 2009 communal charter and the provisions of the new Constitution in terms of participatory democracy, had set itself the objective of strengthening the capacities of rural communes in terms of the gender approach and equal opportunities. For her part, the President of the Catalan Fund for Development Cooperation, Meritxell Budo Pla, stressed that this initiative was part of her institution's policy aimed at developing joint strategies between Catalan and Moroccan local authorities, in order to support the advanced regionalisation process launched by the Kingdom. The Catalan Fund, which brings together more than 300 local authorities in Catalonia, aims to establish partnerships with local authorities in Africa, Latin America and the Mediterranean to carry out local development projects. Furthermore, the Council of the Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceima region, which will meet in an ordinary session for the month of March, will examine an agreement with the Catalan Fund for the implementation of the 2nd phase of this initiative.
