The initiation of a new partnership between the Catalan Agency and the Targa association follows the interest expressed by the Agency to associate its action with that of Targa. The association is currently intervening within the framework of a Support and Accompaniment Programme for the development of Communal Development Plans (PCD) that it has been leading in the north of the Kingdom since the beginning of 2010, in partnership with the General Directorate of Local Authorities (DGCL) and the Agency for the Promotion and Development of the North (APDN).
This programme aims to strengthen the capacities of communes to plan their development in a participatory and sustainable manner, taking into account the gender dimension. This process, spread over time, is also seized as an opportunity for the establishment of a culture of consultation and the exercise of the practice of local democracy. Characterised by its scale, both in terms of its intervention scope (two regions, ten provinces, nearly 200 communes) and the actors associated with it (institutions, elected officials, communal staff, civil society, populations, etc.) and the issues it addresses, the programme has so far gone through the stages consisting of taking stock and establishing participatory diagnoses by almost all the communes and the preparation of the PCDs of some of them. In parallel and in the same area, the Integrated Development Programme (PDI) is being implemented, which consists of carrying out development actions and projects of an integrated and concerted nature at the level of communes under the influence of cannabis culture. It aims to boost the local economic fabric in order to create the economic conditions to make the communes autonomous in their strategic planning choices. Implemented by the APDN as the project owner, with Targa for implementation, the PDI also brings together several ministerial departments.
It also aims to be a unifier of the various stakeholders in the development of the region, namely: authorities, external services, elected officials, representatives of civil society, etc. In this, this programme joins the objectives of the PCD Programme. The reflection undertaken, in parallel with these exercises, has brought out perspectives for actions falling within the continuity and complementarity of the process. This notably concerns the harmonisation of the products of communal planning at a higher territorial scale (province, region, territories). Indeed, work on harmonising communal situations at the regional scale is unavoidable and will allow for the identification of development actions exceeding the communal framework, falling within the logic of territories and inter-communality.
The integration of communal data at a regional scale proves all the more relevant when one observes the place held by the region in the ranks of local authorities. As provided for by the new constitutional reform that the country is experiencing, the region constitutes a territorial level with major prerogatives in terms of socio-economic development, a level which is moreover in the process of consolidation, through the advanced regionalisation project currently being led.
This project provides for a model of extended powers for the region. More broadly, the approach falls within the current context of promoting local democracy and good governance promoted by Morocco, through the strengthening of decentralisation and deconcentration. The project relies on the harmonisation of the products of communal planning at higher scales which, through an organisation of sectoral information and territorial analysis, will allow for the identification of common situations and the consideration of actions complementary to those provided for by the PCDs.
It consists of detecting the issues that go beyond communal borders, based on the realities of the field, since the study is based on knowledge of the environment and the guidelines produced by the communes themselves. Not substituting itself for the exercise of regional planning, and falling within the continuity of communal planning, the project will allow for the identification of actions for complementary support, registered in a logic of optimisation of available means, pooling of efforts, and synergy of territories.
The involvement of local actors is an integral part of the principles intended by the project, which we understand as the implementation of a consultation process. Local actors are informed, sensitised, and consulted at each stage, which allows for the implementation of the principle of transparency. In a complementary manner, academics will be called upon for the project, in order to contribute, through their expertise, to the expected analyses, and to be part of the research-action approach and exchange of good practices promoted by Targa-AIDE.
The information produced by the communes in their exercise of developing the PCDs is organised, at the provincial level first and then regional, and analysed in such a way as to bring out common characteristics, both in terms of potential and shortcomings.
A map of the vocations and issues of the area is drawn up, development actions, notably promising sectors. The measures to accompany their development are identified. A methodological approach for harmonising the products of communal planning is developed. The implementation period of this project is one year starting from October 2011. The calendar of activities, which extends over one year, relies on the estimated time allocated to the various activities provided for in the project.
-* Are concerned by the planning:
-* 7 provinces or prefectures and 95 communes
-* These are Larache (17), Tangier-Assilah (8), Fahs-Anjra (7), Tetouan (18), M’diq-Fnideq (2), Chefchaouen (27), and Ouezzane (16).
