Bridging the Gap in Morocco
Two youth leaders are working with their local police to increase safety and security in their neighborhoods
While growing up in Tangier, in northern Morocco, Fatima, 18, often did not feel safe while walking through her neighborhood.
Sometimes, she even heard the screams of women on the way to work at a nearby factory as they were being robbed. Not even her neighbors seemed interested.
She did not know what she could do to make her community safer until she started to spend up to six days a week at her local USAID-supported community-based association, which offers vocational training, tutoring and recreational activities for at-risk youth.
Previously the center’s location was the area dump — a black hole in the neighborhood. Now it’s been transformed into a place where area residents look to send their children.
Fatima, who had stopped attending school after ninth grade, managed to overcome her shyness to take on a leadership role at the center. She now volunteers alongside her neighbors in a group that works with police and local authorities to make the community a safer place.
In order to support a neighborhood clean-up campaign planned by the working group, Fatima canvassed the community and recruited 70 people, including women, youth and young children, over a three week period to paint and clean six streets.
Fatima understands that the purpose of such campaigns in Tangier and Tetouan has been for youth to join with their neighbors to take action on problems in the community that make people feel afraid and unsafe — and to open the door for residents to discuss local security issues with police.
The combination of dialogue and action has started to reduce mistrust between local communities and the police. Instead of giving in to the perception that their community is marginalized, residents now have an opportunity to volunteer and work with their neighbors and community-based organizations to improve their safety and security.
“Where it was dark, it’s now light,” said Fatima.
Improving Quality of Life
Northern Morocco, particularly the regions of Tangier and Tetouan, suffers higher rates of illiteracy, school dropouts and unemployment than anywhere else in the country. These, among other factors, create a challenge for building resilient communities that are also safe and secure.
In response, USAID is providing comprehensive support to communities in Tangier and Tetouan, as well as police and other authorities, to provide opportunities for dialogue and discussion, and promote collaborative action between authorities and citizens on a number of local safety and security concerns.
From organizing the visits of high school and middle school youth to city police headquarters to neighborhood soccer tournaments and clean-up activities, USAID is providing a platform for resident volunteers, such as Bilal, to contribute to a safer neighborhood.
A native of Tetouan, Bilal, a carpenter and father, was fearful that his children might be run over on their way to school because the streets they traversed lacked sidewalks, visible crosswalks and signs to alert motorists of the presence of school children.
Through USAID support, he and other fathers met with police and school officials, organized shifts of volunteers and the orderly drop-off and pick up of hundreds of primary school children in the neighborhood. Tetouan police sent a marked police unit to patrol streets near neighborhood schools and also contacted local authorities to support the effort. In turn, those authorities put up signs for motorists, re-painted crosswalks and even put in sidewalks around the busiest of area primary schools.
Bilal takes pride in taking action with other residents to make his neighborhood a safer place for youth and in being a role model for his children.
“I want my children to go further than myself,” said Bilal.
To date, USAID-supported activities have reached more than 13,000 citizens — almost half of whom are youth. Additionally, 900 community leaders have been trained to facilitate dialogue between residents, police and local authorities, and to organize community-building activities. At least half of those trained are women and a majority are under 35.
Citizens such as Fatima and Bilal, are helping transform and improve security in their communities — and residents are increasingly feeling more comfortable raising safety and security concerns in an open forum with local police.
About the Author
Jessica Benton Cooney is the Communications Specialist of USAID’s Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance.
