Capacity Building Program Closing Ceremony

Written by DSH fellow Katie Tyler

After eight months of lots of hard work, learning, relationship building, and fun, the Capacity Building Project has come to a conclusion!

This past Saturday we met with our participants and two of our trainers for the Capacity Building Closing Ceremony. Each pair of participants from the same NGO presented on their organization’s work to launch a new project based on the knowledge they have gained throughout the training workshops. Our participants have been hard at work during the past six weeks to turn their visions into concrete plans for change.

We were incredibly impressed by their innovative ideas as well as the amount they have learned over the course of the past eight months. The participants used tactics such as SWOT analyses, SMART goals, problem and solution trees, and GANTT charts to analyze their projects’ potential impacts and make thoughtful action plans. We expect to see great things from each participant in the coming months, as well as throughout the duration of their long and successful careers! 

After the participants finished sharing their plans for new projects, two of our trainers gave their feedback on the presentations as well as their final thoughts on the success of the training workshop series.  Our NGO president, Aissa Derham, and our Executive Director, Jamila Bargach, also gave concluding remarks on the work that went into developing this program. We celebrated our achievements with a delicious lunch prepared by our cooks Aatiqa and Hadda.

However, the impact of the Capacity Building Program does not end here! We have developed a Capacity Building Training manual in Darija that covers useful information for NGOs to develop their organizations. Each participant was given extra copies to distribute among interested leaders in development across southern Morocco. We also plan to make this manual available online to those who want to learn more about building their NGO’s capacity and maximizing their organization’s impact.

Although the program has officially ended, I hope that the participants will continue to maintain their relationships with each other and with Dar Si Hmad in order to support each other in their tireless work to support their communities. Since the goal of the Capacity Building Project was not merely to deliver instructions for change but rather to equip participants with the tools to improve themselves and those around them, participants will be able to continue to draw upon their knowledge to build NGOs’ capacity. Perhaps Dar Si Hmad will launch another Capacity Building Workshop, and these participants will lead their own initiatives to build other organizations’ capacities! 

RISE Citizen Journalism Closing Ceremony

Written by DSH intern, Ms. Salwa El Haouti

Group picture of the Graduated RISERs

It was ten in the morning when RISE participants of this year’s edition started gathering in Dar Si Hmad’s conference room. As they all came packed with journalistic realizations to present during the closing ceremony, they also took great delight in gathering again with their fellow RISERS with whom they have shared this incredible journey.

When the small talks and chit-chats began to end, the presentations started taking place.  While attending the ceremony, one would hardly fail to notice the pride and contentment that RISE organizers and facilitators expressed towards the satisfactory work that the young ‘’future citizen journalists’’ have demonstrated. The realizations varied from articles and op-eds on the scams that tourists face in Agadir to expressive photographs on homelessness in the city. 

Ms. Hasna Belkdim during her presentation

The journalistic realizations of the risers also included audio-visual reportages, one of which had absorbingly conveyed the idea of losing the sense of guilt and how such a thing can result in ingrained heedless and defective habits. Podcasts were also produced for this closing ceremony. One of them tackled the issue of using chemical products in the agricultural domain, and further inspected their aftereffects on the environment and the laborers of the fields. Overall, the risers made use of different means of communication to discuss and report divers’ topics and matters.

RISE 2019 closing ceremony was marked by two breaks. The first one was a game in which everybody had to disperse in the room and walk randomly in different directions. Once the signal is given by the coordinator of the activity, each person had to join the closest person walking near them. When assembled, they had to find out three mutual things between them and share them with the class. In the second round of the game, the two regrouped participants had to start the walking again until they are told to gather with the closest duo to them but this time to learn four non-previously mentioned common things between them. 

The final reflections game 

The activity carried on the same way until all the participants ended up making one large circle and trying to discover as many mutual things between them as possible. It was gladdening to learn that everyone, spoke Darija pretty well, though not everybody was Moroccan or grew up in Morocco. The second break, on the other hand, was a moment of food sharing on the rooftop of the building where a buffet of finger food and drinks were served.

The closing ceremony of RISE 2019 was concluded with Mrs.Bargach’s word and that of all the organizing team members of this year’s RISE program, namely MS.Mazoud, MS. Arjdal, MS.Tyler and MS.Elboute. The time left afterward was an opportunity for all the beneficiaries of the program and their trainers to express their gratitude to anyone in the room that they feel they deserve a special word of kindness. And of course, like any other final congregation of a group of people, the risers felt more connected to one another during the ceremony than any other day of the training. They expressed strong willingness to stay in touch with one another and even conceived and considered starting a new group project of citizen journalists.

Ms. Oumaima Maghfour accepting her certificate

Preparation for Summer Tech Camp 2019 is Well Underway!

Written by DSH intern, Ms. Saloua El Haouti 

Our team preparing to receive summer camp beneficiaries 

After the huge success that the first edition of the Summer Tech Camp had achieved, the program’s team members have planned for another prosperous edition with the same objectives. Dar Si Hmad’s summer camp targets middle school girls from underprivileged families and aims at introducing these young teenagers to the basics of Information Technology literacy.

With that objective in mind, the Summer Tech camp team headed to Abdelali Benchkroun Middle School in Ben Sergaou, one of the least served areas in the suburbs of the city of Agadir. In this educational institution, many students are unaware of the fundamentals of using a computer. In fact, most of them don’t even have one in their homes and thus far fail to turn it on, as was noticed from the previous edition of the camp and was also demonstrated by the applicants to this new year’s program.

Jamila, one of the summer camp facilitators

Dar Si Hmad staff is entirely committed to this program, but we also have a great team dedicated solely to Summer Camp, which consists of 3 young sessions facilitators who work with us as part-time consultants; Ms. Imane Arjdal, Ms. Saloua Elhaouti, and Ms. Jamila Bendhi who are led by Dar Si Hmad employee Ms. Mazoud.

In order to fairly and accurately choose the appropriate beneficiaries for the Summer Tech Camp, the organizing team has meticulously considered the girls’ grades in language and scientific courses, their aspirations for the future, their objectives for participating in the program and, above all, their possession for a digital gadget such as a mobile phone and a computer as well as whether they have a Facebook account or make any use of the internet.

Orientation session at Abdelali Benchkroun

The priority was generally granted to the pupils with the least access to technology and the ones with the greatest motivation and desire to explore the utilities and wonders of the digital world. With the awareness of the merits, usefulness and power of mastering numerous technological tools in this era, Dar Si Hmad Summer Tech Camp’s team has prepared a comprehensive program that will enable the beneficiaries to maximize their profit of using the computer for personal and educational purposes.

In the first week of preparation, prior to the beginning of the camp, Dar Si Hmad held the opening doors for the parents of the teenage girls who were nominated to participate in this year’s Summer Tech Camp. After presenting the organization’s mission and objectives, the camp’s team members gave an overview of the project’s program to which both the beneficiaries and their guardians expressed great interest and excitement, all with sincere gratitude for creating such an enriching and free of charge opportunity for their children.

During our meetings with the parents of the students

The following days were dedicated to update the program’s syllabi. The Summer Tech Camp organizer and facilitators gathered to work on developing the different courses which tackled multiple topics from the basic digital literacy to artificial intelligence and coding. This year’s program also includes an in-depth exploration course for the personality discovery and the acknowledgment of one’s self strengths, in addition to a guidance session on the different career paths the girls can choose to follow.

Indeed, the Summer Tech Camp is meant to instruct young underprivileged girls on the basics of the various uses of technology. Nevertheless, the program of this camp also includes multiple entertaining and amusing activities to make the learning fun and to ensure that the girls’ experience in Dar Si Hmad would stay as beneficial and memorable as possible.

Ms. Mazoud, the camp manager putting the final touches

Learning Across Continents: Let Me Tell You about the Mountains in Morocco!

Written by our former intern, Ms. Ambar Khawaja

Ambar during her stay in Morocco

Let me tell you about the mountains in Morocco. As you begin to climb them, you look up to see the sun shining through the clouds and the peaks peeking out above them. As you continue forward, you begin to find yourself in the fog. This fog can be bothersome, because you want to be able to see the top and the climb is no longer as scenic as it started out. It clouds your vision. It seems like forever until you are out of the fog, but as you keep walking you start to brim with joy and thankfulness because you can once again see clearly. You are high above everything, watching the world move along at what seems like such a slow pace in the grand scheme of things. Perspective.

I once was the girl who thought she had her life figured out:

1.    Graduate high school accomplished;

2.    Go to a good college and major in neuroscience;

3.    Get my PhD and do research on the brain;

4.    Get tenure at a university so that I can be a professor and have my own lab;

5.    Amongst all of this, travel the world

Truthfully, this was not entirely my dream. It was a mixture of the dreams of the people I’ve looked up to and it was sculpted by how society views success. I was equipped for this specific version of life and did not expect to deviate from it. I had such certainty chasing after these goals. Everyone was in awe of my drive and determination to reach the end; but it seemed like even if I did reach the end, I would never reach satisfaction. I felt empty without praise because my worth was based off of my achievements. It was no wonder that when I reached a new goal, I would either become stalled or feel like there was still something lacking. The thought that there is always someone better than me out there constantly seeped into my mind. This led to a cycle of chasing prestige, recognition, and anything else that I could use to make myself feel better about my worth. I never knew that success and despair could happen simultaneously, and that the former could cause the latter. I didn’t know how to just be.

Taken by Ambar

What do people do in the in-between of life? The in-between is what I refer to as the space that occupies the emptiness between my failures and my successes. It’s my worst mental enemy, but if handled correctly it can be my best mental friend. I would like to point out that this space that baffled me is actually just called life by most people, and that the accomplishment-hungry-me just didn’t know what living actually was yet.

While my goals and accomplishments were a large part of my life, they weren’t the only part, and I was neglecting the rest of myself. I was becoming unaware of the many other layers I contained as a person, leading me to be hollow.

At times like this, far away from home on another continent, where people speak another language and I know virtually nothing, I am sitting in my room reflecting and writing about the changes I have noticed in the month and a half I’ve spent here. Worries are less, small mistakes are forgiven easier, and I am not basing my value on achievement. Here, people do not care about what you have done as much as they care about the kind of person you are; whether you are kind and how willing you are to try and learn. Finally, in a place where I know nothing, I can learn everything without self-judgement. I do not have the pressure to always be doing something in a society that puts emphasis on busyness. What a privilege. Finally, I am learning to act in the in-between. I am emptying the pot that everyone poured their hearts and souls into and putting it in storage so that I can begin to fill my own. Each is important. One is what I came from and what I am made of, and the other is what I will become.

My community pumped me with love and purpose, so even though I didn’t expect to deviate from my original life plans, I was prepared for it. My family, mentors, teachers, and friends are only some of the people who helped inflate me so that I could learn to fill up my skin. Creating a community for myself was a conscious choice. Yes, I am uncertain about my future place in the world. My plans are changing, and I don’t know what I am meant to do. Purpose is such a heavy word that calls my name. At a time like this, I have found that my immense skill of worrying is truly no help to me, but the simple human action of breathing serves to be the best mechanism to assist me. Life has taken me this far, and the universe has created a path and given me all the signs I need to follow it along to my destination.

Every day I may find myself in the foggy place, I remember the top of the mountain I’ve always reached, regardless of my worries, confusion, and uncertainty. Faith is showing me my way, step by step. I need to take the time to pause and remember the grand scheme of the universe. Every small mistake I have made will not crush me, and every person who doesn’t like me doesn’t diminish my value.

Where do I go from here? Besides wherever life is taking me, I have learned that I need to place more effort into self-validation rather than external validation. I need to remember to learn from everyone, because everyone has something to teach me, whether good or bad. It’s silly to think that any given life has nothing of substance. I should not be so quick to judge others and instead I should grow my patience by realizing that I too have made mistakes. However, I need to continue to become better at discerning those who are toxic and become wiser with how I invest my energy and who I invest in. Above all, I want to become a person that jumps into the unknown quicker because it is always an opportunity to grow, and I must always make time to reflect on how far I have come and where I want to go next.