A group of women from Laâyoune has just set up a cooperative named after Imam Boukhary.

The cooperative's activities vary from the production of pre-cooked Sahrawi couscous, the smoking of camel meat, carpet weaving, incense production, organic cosmetic products, the dyeing of malhafas (traditional Sahrawi women's attire) and the marketing of artisanal products. It aims to be a guardian of the preservation of Sahrawi cultural heritage. 150 employees, mostly women, work in this cooperative, with a monthly payroll ranging between 150,000 and 200,000 dirhams.

This payroll, according to the cooperative's president, Azza Essallami, comes from the sale of products made within the cooperative, which has enjoyed significant support from the Southern Agency, which financed the purchase of all the equipment essential for cooking, drying, and packaging certain products such as couscous and smoked meat. The packaging design allows for an attractive presentation of cosmetic products and incense. A team from the agency monitors the cooperative's activities and supervises the training of its staff.

This cooperative, which employs as many women as men, contributes to the fight against poverty in the Laâyoune province and will broaden the range of sectors targeted by the INDH, under which 179 income-generating projects worth 20 million dirhams were carried out between 2005 and 2012, according to data from the province's social action division. The 150 jobs created by the cooperative will be added to the 1,292 resulting from the 179 INDH projects at the provincial level.

In the Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra region, the promotion of income-generating and employment activities, through cooperatives or within the framework of the INDH, constitutes a strategic axis given the impact of increased income on improving the living conditions of the destitute and the valorisation of state efforts in terms of rural and urban development. During the 2005-2012 period, a budget of approximately 297 million dirhams was mobilised for the financing of 698 projects registered under the INDH in the Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra region.

In parallel with these projects, the region is seeing the launch of another income-generating activity (IGA) programme for the benefit of women.

Since its launch in November 2011, this programme has enabled the completion of 28 projects that have benefited 234 women for a total amount of 4.71 million dirhams. The first phase of the programme benefited the service sector with 56%, the food industry with 19%, textiles and clothing at 13%, while the craft sector benefited from 6% of the support. It should be noted that the Imam Boukhary cooperative is a pillar for the supply of Dar Al Janoub, based in Rabat. It was created with the assistance of the Southern Agency for the preservation and valorisation of cultural heritage and the marketing of local products from the Moroccan Sahara.