Staff Profile: Souad Kadi

Dar Si Hmad has ten employees based in our Agadir offices. Thus far for the 16 Days Campaign, we have been spotlighting how our projects intersect with violence against women and women’s empowerment. But in addition to the multiple projects Dar Si Hmad runs that directly benefit communities in Agadir and Sidi Ifni, we are changing lives by building the capacity of the people who work on those projects.

Souad Kadi, Dar Si Hmad Staff Member

Today, we highlight Souad Kadi, a twenty-one-year-old who grew up in the Moroccan countryside in a mixed Arab and Berber village. Many of the girls who attended primary and secondary school with Souad were married before or just after completing their baccalaureate, discontinuing their education. Souad, though, moved to Agadir by herself and began studying English literature at Ibn Zohr University.

As an undergraduate student, Souad began teaching Darija (Moroccan colloquial Arabic) for Dar Si Hmad as part of the organization’s research support programming. Her enthusiasm for languages and Morocco soon led to greater responsibilities at Dar Si Hmad, and she began working as a research assistant for visiting scholars. Through this work, Souad learned about research design and fieldwork methodologies, gained experience with professional and technical translation, and shared her culture with people from around the world.

Souad has now graduated from Ibn Zohr with a bachelor’s degree in English literature. Her undergraduate thesis project explored the sexist portrayal of women in Moroccan advertisements. Using discourse analysis and media studies, Souad considered how commercials are creating and reproducing images of women as silly, superstitious, and requiring guidance. The vast majority of TV ads show women in the kitchen. Men are regularly shown to involve themselves in women’s decisions. Women frequently stop talking and are silent for the rest of the commercial as soon as men come onto the screen. Souad argues that these images and scenarios suggest “women are only looking to settle down in their house with their husband” and occupy a “limited place where she should only take care of her husbands and kids”.

Souad’s dissertation may show how Moroccan media assumes that a woman “cannot do her job by herself”, but Souad herself demonstrates that this assumption is clearly false. After graduating from Ibn Zohr, she was offered a full-time job with Dar Si Hmad as a RISE & THRIVE Program Liaison and Darija instructor.

Souad recognizes that Morocco has a long way to go when it comes to women’s issues. Sexual harassment, in particular, is a huge issue – and has to stop. But it is also important to remember that plenty of people in Morocco challenge stereotypes about the role of women in Arab societies. Working with Dar Si Hmad has given Souad the chance to grow her capacity, learning from a multitude of diverse projects and interacting with different people and cultures. She especially appreciates the Water School, believing that co-education is a powerful way to fight against sexism. Engaging boys and girls in the same class “where they can work on things and play and share and learn things together” encourages young people to see each other’s capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses. “When a boy sees a girl [who is smart like him], they are equal.”

Souad’s work at Dar Si Hmad is invaluable to our organization and the projects we do to further equality and justice in southwest Morocco. Happily, this relationship goes both ways, as the opportunities Dar Si Hmad has given Souad are continuing to build her capacity, enhancing her future as a powerful agent of social change.



This post is part of Dar Si Hmad’s 2015 #16Days Campaign to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Women RISE to economic and leadership opportunities

A few weeks ago, Dar Si Hmad kicked off their 2015-2016 RISE Program. Dar Si Hmad’s RISE Program is a one-year professional development initiative for university students and young professionals aged 19-25. The Program builds from Dar Si Hmad’s previous workforce development speaker series and professional development workshops to provide young Moroccans with the professional competencies to enhance their employability and entrepreneurship potential.

Tuesday 10 November 2015, fifty-eight young people from Agadir in southwest Morocco gathered at Dar Si Hmad to launch the 2015-2016 RISE Program, part of a new project on “Engaging the Next Generation: Unlocking Employability Potential among Agadir Youth”. Integration Day brought together students from around the city to get to know each other, celebrate their acceptance into the highly competitive program, and learn more about the skills they will gain over the next seven months.

RISE participants are university students who, given extant realities, currently have low employment prospects. More than 49% of Moroccan youth are either unemployed or no longer at school, and university students and recent graduates have an even higher rate of unemployment than those without a degree. Previous participants in Dar Si Hmad’s professional development initiatives have expressed frustration at overcrowded classrooms and the lack of practical training. There is little job security available and young people generally only have access to low-paying, exploitative entry-level jobs with few chances for advancement.

Many of the RISE finalists are young women. Morocco is making strides toward greater gender equality, but young women continue to face substantial career barriers and challenges. Investing in young women is a powerful way to break the vicious cycles of gendered inequalities that perpetuate violence against women. Dar Si Hmad’s RISE program builds young women’s potential alongside young men’s, ensuring that all of Morocco’s young people have brighter futures. Training together, men and women benefit from each other’s skills and learn to value everyone’s contributions.

RISE’s curriculum includes a variety of personal and professional skills and topics. Recognizing that some of the issues covered may be sensitive, RISE will run parallel workshops for male and female participants when necessary. The program seeks to ensure that both genders have the space to express their ideas while regularly challenging negative assumptions about women’s capabilities and encouraging young people to learn from each other’s experiences. Explicitly tackling the gendered challenges that both men and women face in the workplace is a necessary step in achieving gender parity.

Nadia Kamra, a RISE participant

Meet Nadia Kamra, a twenty-four-year-old who grew up in Oulataima and is now studying at Ibn Zohr University. Nadia applied to RISE after having incredible experiences working with PeaceCorps volunteers on their community development projects. Nadia hopes RISE can “help me develop my personal and professional skills and help me continue finding other great opportunities”.

After graduating from university, Nadia hopes to do an exchange program in the United States. Yesterday’s post on #ViolenceAgainstWomen highlighted Dar Si Hmad’s Ethnographic Field School and its role in breaking down stereotypes and the violence of racism. The Ethnographic Field School brings students and researchers from Europe and America to southwest Morocco, broadening their horizons and challenging their perspectives. Programs like RISE help young Moroccans to do the same in reverse.

RISE’s curriculum includes sessions on writing personal statements and applications for initiatives like Global UGRAD. This attention improves the competitiveness of Moroccan youth for international exchange programs and ensures that the cross-cultural relationships fostered by Dar Si Hmad’s Ethnographic Field School go both ways.

One day after a RISE program, we asked Nadia what she learned from the session. “My favorite part of today was realizing my strengths and weaknesses when working in a group.  In one of the games, I realized I was good at looking at the big picture, but I tended to jump into things without a plan, and I wasn’t so good at paying attention to the details and figuring out how to get to that big picture.  Through the group activity, I discovered more about my personality, and I learned how everyone has different strengths that can be combined in a team to get the job done.

Youth development programs are vital to helping young people like Nadia build their skills and realize their potential. Long-term, Nadia is hoping to work for a non-profit organization. It is young women like her who will actively shape Morocco’s future. We know they will RISE to the challenge of improving their lives and building their communities.



This post is part of Dar Si Hmad’s 2015 #16Days Campaign to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Dar Si Hmad’s Ethnographic Field School: Breaking down stereotypes, building relationships, and bridging cultures

Thus far for the 16 Days Campaign to prevent Violence against Women, Dar Si Hmad has focused primarily on the issues faced by rural Moroccan women and impoverished communities around the world. Today, we highlight the Ethnographic Field School and its role in nuancing the stereotypes frequently held by students from Western countries about those communities.

Dar Si Hmad invites international researchers and students to be a part of their inspiring work with local communities by facilitating academic and cultural programs, service learning, homestays, and language classes in Modern Standard Arabic, Darija, Tashelheet, and Hassaniya. The Ethnographic Field School brings students from around the world to southwest Morocco to explore its rich socio-cultural and environmental heritage. Ethnographic Field School attendees participate in locally driven development initiatives and engage in innovative dialogue with communities.

This weekend, thirteen American high school students are in Sidi Ifni exploring Dar Si Hmad's projects. The students are temporarily living in Marrakesh, studying at the Center for Language and Culture's Arabic Language Institute. Their time in the Bled with Dar Si Hmad is introducing them to a very different side to Morocco than they have seen thus far in Marrakesh.

It is these kinds of nuanced experiences that the Ethnographic Field School seeks to create. Past programs have included activities and discussions on Berber history and literature, argan production and the impact of female-owned cooperatives in southwest Morocco, colonialism, trade routes and transaction practices, rural livelihoods, gender, religion, perceptions of healing and water, and portraits of a culture including cuisine, expressions, and rituals.

Students from Rollins College join with Moroccan youth
in cross-cultural exchange during a program with
Dar Si Hmad's Ethnographic Field School

One of Dar Si Hmad’s core Ethnographic Field School courses examines “Gender and Society in Regional Contexts”. The class considers various local issues, including:

• Gender-specific problems in southwest Morocco’s regional culture; 
• Women’s rights and emancipation from local perspectives; 
• Gender, society, and social justice; 
• Media discourses of youth, identify, and family; 
• Origin stories of the people of the Aït Baamrane; and 
• Migration and population. 

These issues are tackled by students in partnership with local voices. Moroccan university students, professionals from Agadir, and women from the Bled (countryside) join Ethnographic Field School participants in seminars. The organization and content of the program is meant to create a meaningful and just platform for cross-cultural exchange and learning.

Racism is a form of violence. It justifies and perpetuates global and local inequalities. Dar Si Hmad’s Ethnographic Field School works to combat reductionist stereotypes of Arab and African women, giving young leaders from around a world a more nuanced perspective of gendered power and agency in the region - and helping them critically consider their own societies. This type of awareness is vital in creating a world free from violence against women in all its forms.



This post is part of Dar Si Hmad’s 2015 #16Days Campaign to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

The People's Climate March and Violence against Women

On Sunday 29 November, the day before the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) kicks off in Paris, cities around the world participated in The People's Climate March.

In Agadir, Surfrider (one of Dar Si Hmad's partner associations dedicated to marine environmental protection and education) organized a march. Hundreds of students from scout and school assocations, citizens, tourists, and journalists joined together to make their voices heard. They were joined by Dar Si Hmad staff and volunteers fighting against climate change and for environmental sustainability.
 
In honor of the People's Climate March and upcoming Paris talks, Dar Si Hmad's fifth of 16 Days preventing Violence against Women highlights the gendered issues of climate change.

People gather in Agadir for the People's Climate March

Climate change disproportionately affects vulnerable populations. Persons living in the most developed countries consume most of the Earth's resources and burn the greatest proportion of fossil fuels. Their high levels of economic security and political mobility mean that they can easily adapt to the negative impacts of climate change. Conversely, those living in extreme poverty use far fewer resources and are thus contributing minimally to human-induced climate change effects but have less capacity for adaptation. The risks of climate change are borne by those who have not caused it.

Climate change is increasing the likelihood of disasters such as floods and hurricanes around the world. Disasters, in turn, increase the risk of violence against women as increased poverty leads to additional social stress and destroyed infrastructure remove safe spaces.

The infrastructural damage and forced migration caused by climate change-induced disasters also creates significant harm to systems of water for sanitation and hygiene. WASH has implications for violence against women, as we saw yesterday on Day 4.

Beyond disasters, the more everyday issues of pollution and environmental degradation place an undue burden on women. Rising pollution increases rates of illness; women are often responsible for caring for the sick. The overuse of resources makes it more difficult for women to access the water, food, and fuel they need to care for homes and families.

The disruptions, increased poverty, and social risk caused by climate change and environmental degradation also further diminish the likelihood that women are able to work outside the home or generate an income of their own, decreasing their economic security and personal empowerment.

Climate change is largely preventable and the result of inequalities in human systems. It is caused by the misuse of our planet’s resources and a lack of concern for our neighbors and future generations. In short, climate change and environmental degradation is violence – against women, and against us all.



This post is part of Dar Si Hmad’s 2015 #16Days Campaign to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

For more on the links between climate change and violence against women, read this blog from Jagoda Munic, Chair of Friends of the Earth International.

WASH: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Dar Si Hmad has been busy commemorating the 16 Days of Activism to prevent Violence Against Women. Today, we highlight another important global issues, its connection to gendered issues, and partnerships with the University of Colorado Boulder and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

19 November was World Toilet Day, calling attention to the 2.4 billion people lacking access to improved sanitation around the globe. This year, commentators pointed to the relationship between sanitation and violence against women. Millions of women and girls around the world do not have toilets inside their homes. Leaving the house at night to defecate in the open leaves people more vulnerable to attack, unfortunately including sexual assault and rape.

Dar Si Hmad proudly works with communities where WASH-related direct violence against women is not a widespread problem. However, the long-standing impacts of poor sanitation and hygiene on women's health, community standards of living, livelihoods, economic security, and empowerment cannot be ignored and contribute to more systemic issues of violence and poverty.

A toilet is more than just a toilet. It is personal security, and freedom from disease, and dignity.

And water is an integral part of sanitation. “WASH”, water for sanitation and hygiene, is necessary for safe food production and preparation, personal cleanliness, caring for the sick, washing up, and disposing waste.

Recognizing the intricate links between water, sanitation, hygiene, women’s empowerment, and community security, Dar Si Hmad has begun exploring a program to improve WASH systems for the villages included in its flagship fog harvesting project.

Engineering students Nicholas Valcourt and Rebekah Daniel
visited the villages of Zekri to study WASH issues in
connection with Dar Si Hmad's flagship fog harvesting project

June-July 2015, Dar Si Hmad conducted a survey on water and sanitation in Aït Baamrane in conjunction with engineering students from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities. Nicholas Valcourt and Rebekah Daniel visited Dar Si Hmad as part of their course practicum. Using the spatial information, photographical documentation, and soil samples they collected on their visit, as well as the summer survey data, Nick wrote a report for Dar Si Hmad about the extant sanitation infrastructure system. With attention to the local culture, existing technology and knowledge, and community needs and desires, Nick has proposed an engineering framework for improving the system.

Students from the Worcester Polytechnic
Institute visit the fog harvesting project

Building from Nick’s work, undergraduate students at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute have developed three techniques for greywater recycling in the fog harvesting villages.

Dar Si Hmad’s fog harvesting project works in Agni Ihyia, Tamerout, Agadir Id Lghachi, Id Soussan, Aguejgal, Id Sator, Timtda, and Id Achour – the villages of Zekri in the Anti-Atlas Mountains of southwest Morocco. Some 300-450 people live in the villages. The population is highly variable, given regular migration to urban centers and even Europe for work.

Water for sanitation and hygiene, as well as
adequate toilet facilities, remain a challenge
in the Aït Baamrane region

Thanks to the pioneering technology of Dar Si Hmad’s fog nets, 52 of the households in the villages of Zekri now have running potable water in their homes. However, the vast majority of the homes do not have adequate systems for waste disposal and sanitation. Typical toilet facilities include a floor-level squat plate with a seat toilet or cover, a cement rather than cleaner tile floor, no water tap, and no vent.

Mr Valcourt’s report identified major goals for a sanitation system: protecting and promoting human health and protecting the environment while being simple, affordable, and culturally acceptable. He also pays explicit attention to the need for the system to work for everyone, addressing the common and specific health needs of women, men, and children.

The report highlights the need for universal coverage, such that every household in the community has accessibly hygiene. High levels of interaction between households can facilitate the easy spread of bacteria and disease. Reducing the health burden in the villages of Zekri is an important step in continuing the fog harvesting project’s work in advancing local livelihoods and building economic security. With the continued partnership of universities, Dar Si Hmad can leverage the existing community organization and relations built by the fog project to further promote empowerment in southwest Morocco.



This post is part of Dar Si Hmad’s 2015 #16Days Campaign to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Tackling problems with their own hands, one kernel at a time

Yesterday, Dar Si Hmad’s #16days campaign introduced the fog harvesting project. Bringing reliable sources of potable water to rural villages in the Anti-Atlas Mountains has created a number of opportunities for women’s empowerment, as time once spent collecting water is now available for other activities. With the help of trained facilitators, many of the villages are exploring co-ops as routes to personal and communal economic security. For Day 3 of our exploration of the links between empowerment, violence against women, and human rights, we’re introducing argan and Dar Si Hmad’s partner projects.

Last year, Dar Si Hmad held a seminar on Argan Oil Cooperatives to celebrate the International Day of Rural Women on 15 October. Students were joined by two professors and an Amazigh member of an argan co-operative who shared their experiences and expertise. After the seminar, student Ali Tatousst from Ibn Zohr University’s English Department wrote the following:

“Morocco is known as the only country to have land covered with Argan trees. Argan oil, which is produced via many stages of transforming Argan seeds to a liquid form, is believed to have many medical and cosmetic beneficial properties. Argan Oil is becoming an important product within the international markets...
“Argan oil is exported in the pure (unaltered) liquid form to many international companies. The latter mix it with other items to create other cosmetic products, earning 20 more times the price they bought it from the Moroccan cooperatives, a considerable loss for the Moroccan market. The pharmaceutical transformation of Argan oil is not yet possible for local cooperatives or associations given this requires investment, training and research...
“Argan oil producers are predominantly females in rural areas. These women have the know-how of traditional Argan production and use these skills to earn an income in order to meet their needs and that of their families. However, inability of accessing the progress in the field of Argan production limits them and the local industry alike...
“Another challenge facing the Moroccan Argan market is the lack of unity within the companies and cooperatives in Morocco. As long as each cooperative is working on its own, the Moroccan competitiveness remains weak in the international markets. The recommendation that the professors presented is how local producers should form one unified alliance if they are to challenge the international companies. There are some efforts to bring all the cooperatives in Morocco together, however the process is long and requires collaboration and dedication...
“Argan oil is a treasure that the people of Southwest Morocco hold close to their hearts. Its profits have contributed to the growth of the local economy and has offered income-opportunities for thousands of rural women. I am happy to have had the opportunity to attend this seminar; I learned a great deal about this special tree and its impact on our communities. I am hopeful for the future of Argan production and the opportunities that it can bring to the people of Morocco.”

There are now more than one hundred argan co-operatives in Morocco. The tree is endemic to the southwest region, also home to Dar Si Hmad. Driving around the villages served by the fog project, you’ll see argan trees – and even goats in the argan trees, since they love them as much as we do! Argan co-ops employ thousands of rural women, helping the women to pay electricity bills, keep children in schools, and access healthcare.

Former Dar Si Hmad staff member Renda Nazzal now lives in San Diego, California, where she helps run The Argan Project. The Argan Project works with local women’s co-operatives in southwest Morocco to tackle some of the issues Ali mentions above, including argan oil processing, corporations’ profits, and collaboration.

The Argan Project highlights Morocco's endemic argan tree
and the goats that infamously climb to its highest branches

The organization sells pure culinary argan oil (delicious on salads, as a dip for breads, or as a cooking oil), amlou (a traditional Moroccan almond butter made from argan oil, almonds, and honey), cosmetic argan oil (used to moisturize and replenish face, hair, skin, and nails), and pure red saffron. The amlou is made by The Argan Project in California, helping Moroccan women share their local dishes while keeping shipping costs down and involving local Californian farmers in the supply chain. These relationships prove beneficial for women in agriculture on both sides of the ocean.

Purchasing more directly through women’s co-ops cuts out the corporate ‘middle men’ that profit off women’s work. Consumers get better prices and qualities, and producers receive fairer prices.

Working with multiple co-operatives, The Argan Project is able to ensure a steadier supply to conscientious US consumers and a bigger market to the Moroccan producers.

Women in the Bled (Moroccan countryside) regularly serve homemade bread and argan oil to student visitors from Dar Si Hmad’s Ethnographic Field School. It is a great gift of hospitality, as creating argan oil requires a great deal of time – up to twenty hours for one liter. The hard fruit must be harvested from trees and stone-cracked to reach the nut inside. The nut is then cracked again to reveal the argan seed. It is these seeds that are roasted, pressed, and filtered to make a delightfully nutty oil.

With the time now available to them thanks their work with the fog harvesting project, women in Dar Si Hmad’s five partner villages can increase their production of argan or other goods for sale. Many of them are considering starting their own argan co-operatives. Initiatives like these co-ops play a role in preventing violence against women by putting control over their lives directly into the hands of women themselves. The co-ops value the local environment, celebrating Morocco’s endemic argan tree. They involve women in traditionally appropriate but empowering economic employment. And they improve educational and livelihoods opportunities for entire households. Through Dar Si Hmad’s partnerships with female co-ops, droplets of fog and fallen argan kernels are changing lives.



This post is part of Dar Si Hmad’s 2015 #16Days Campaign to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Environment for Empowerment: Catching fog for capacity building

Yesterday, Dar Si Hmad kicked off a 16 Days Campaign in conjunction with the United Nations’ focus on violence against women, girls’ education, and human rights. The Days run from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day.

Visiting Researcher Becca Farnum wrote a piece on violence against women in North Africa that featured Dar Si Hmad’s fog harvesting project. Today, we explore how Dar Si Hmad is engaging in capacity building training with Berber women in the southwest Moroccan countryside in more detail.

Rural villages in the Bled (Moroccan countryside) have not previously had access to potable water. Berber households would gather the limited rainwater in internal cisterns, but Morocco’s increasing drought conditions would require them to buy water, expensively delivered to cisterns via water trucks. Open wells around the countryside are used to water livestock. Those wells, many of them quite far from residences, are also where women would go collect water to supplement whatever little amount of rainwater they managed to collect. During the summer months, Morocco’s dry season, the water level is especially low and women have to get to the wells before sunrise if they want water. Walking often starts before 4am, and a woman may travel five kilometres to fill her buckets. Because many households rely on just a few wells, women have to take turns filling their containers. In between turns, everyone has to wait for the water table to rise again. Between the distance and the waiting at the well, this seemingly simple chore takes Berber women and children hours to complete.

There is drought in the area, but plenty of fog floats
over the Anti-Atlas Mountains in Aït Baamrane

The 380 villages in the Aït Baamrane region live in constant water stress, using only around eight litres of water per person each day. In Morocco’s urban cities, residents consume more than ten times that amount, around 85 litres per person per day. Dar Si Hmad’s founder, Dr Aissa Derhem, spent a great deal of his childhood in the Bled and saw his country’s vast inequalities in water access. He also saw the vast quantity of what Berbers call “dead water”, the fog that constantly drifts over the mountains, visible but previously useless to the villagers.

 

Fog harvesting uses nets to catch and collect
tiny water droplets from fog

In 1989 while living in Canada, Dr Derhem came across FogQuest, a non-governmental organization that builds on an ancient idea from the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands: capturing fog. The water droplets from fog can be caught in mesh or metal nets, condensing on the net’s material and dropping into collection troughs. Dr Derhem, knowing his homeland’s abundance of fog and the intense need, decided to pull together a team to try implementing fog harvesting in southwest Morocco.

An Amazigh woman turns on the tap in
her home to receive fog water. Photo credit: AFP

Today, Dar Si Hmad oversees twenty fog nets. The system provides around twelve cubic metres of water a day. A research team from Germany’s Wasserstiftung is experimenting at the collection project to find the most efficient kind of net. Soon, Dar Si Hmad will replace old mesh nets with the winning model to increase fog water yield even more. Currently, five villages in the Anti-Atlas Mountains have taps in their homes with access to clean water. Other villages will be targeted as production increases. The amount of water available in recipient villages has nearly tripled, with Berber households receiving some thirty litres per person per day. The completely pure water harvested from the fog is mixed with clean groundwater to mineralize it and boost production even further.

Many development projects focus on water. Ensuring access to clean water helps combat rates of water-born disease, especially among children. When more water is available, food supply and cooking becomes easier. Cleanliness and sanitation improves.

Many of these programs claim a gendered approach, assuming that women’s burdens will be eased when water is supplied. But it is important to remember that, in many water-scarce regions, women have a privileged ancestral role as water guardians. Serving as resource gatekeepers is a source of power for women. It may be one of the few ways women in villages can materially exert their agency. Water supply projects that do not take these considerations into account can inadvertently create harm, disrupting traditional gender norms and women’s habits without facilitating positive alternatives.

Dar Si Hmad surveyed families
in the Bled (Moroccan countryside)
before the fog project

Before starting the fog harvesting project, Dar Si Hmad conducted surveys in the villages to identify these concerns. That research has helped the organization to build attention to gendered issues and women’s empowerment into the program from its very beginnings.

Recognising that water has been a source of power for Berber women in village households, Dar Si Hmad worked to ensure women continue to have control over their water in the new fog system. Staff, volunteers, and international researchers led ICT trainings for the Berber women. For many of the villagers, it was their first time tackling literacy. With careful attention to the challenges but faith in the women’s abilities to overcome them, the program taught women how to text with their mobiles. Today, the women monitor their water system by reporting data and any problems via SMS message.

Berber women send texts to monitor the fog water system

Through the ICT reporting, Amazigh women have retained their status as water guardians while expanding their own literacy and capacities. Texting, writing, and basic numeracy has proven useful for much more than capturing fog data.

The fog harvesting project also creates a de facto equality of time between the sexes, as hours once spent walking to fill containers of water have been freed by the reliable taps. Women and children now have more hours in the day available for chores, education, and luxury. This enables more girls to stay in school into their teenage years. To ensure women are able to use the newfound time in ways of their choosing, Dar Si Hmad runs capacity building workshops in the villages.

Trained local facilitators work with the women to explore projects like agricultural co-operatives as routes to economic empowerment and personal satisfaction. Combined with the text message reporting systems, these workshops ensure that the power once held by women through water collection is replaced and expanded. Regular community consultations and village water committees flag issues to be addressed in the project’s continued implementation and expansion. 

Dar Si Hmad runs capacity building workshops in
recipient villages to help women consider agricultural co-ops

Through Dar Si Hmad’s fog harvesting project, what was once “dead water” to the Amazigh people is now bringing new life to the region. Through their sustained attention to women’s empowerment and community relations, Dar Si Hmad is harnessing fog for the future. It is these kinds of locally initiated, holistically informed development projects that are vital to the prevention of violence against women through continued empowerment and security for everyone.

This post is part of DarSi Hmad’s 2015 #16Days Campaign to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.