Highlights

Holding of the 11th session of the Strategic Orientation Board of the MCA-Morocco Agency

27/04/2021
Holding of the 11th session of the Strategic Orientation Board of the MCA-Morocco Agency

The 11th session of the Strategic Orientation Board (SOB) of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Account Morocco Agency (MCA-Morocco) was held on Tuesday April 27th, 2021 in Rabat, under the presidency of the Minister of Economy, Finance and Administration Reform, Mr. Mohamed Benchaaboun. The work of the Council was attended by Mr. Saaïd Amzazi, Minister of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research, in addition to the other members of the SOB or their representatives.

This session was dedicated to the presentation of the implementation report of the cooperation programme object of the "Compact II", concluded between the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco and its American counterpart, represented by Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the monitoring of the implementation of the resolutions adopted at the last session of the SOB and the approval of the resolutions recorded in the context of the implementation of the projects.

On this occasion, the President of the Council expressed appreciation for the significant progress made in the implementation of the various activities under Compact II. He noted, in this regard, the sustained progress made in the realization of the infrastructure works planned under several Compact II activities, in particular with regard to the rehabilitation of 15 secondary education establishments in the Tangier-Tetouan -Al Hoceïma regions, construction or rehabilitation of 13 of the 15 vocational training establishments (VTE) receiving support from the “Charaka” Fund, development works at the level of three projects supported by the Sustainable Industrial Zones Fund (FONZID ) and off-site works at the level of the three pilot industrial zones in the Casablanca-Settat region.

Furthermore, the President of the Board reviewed the main achievements made within the framework of the various activities of Compact II. Hence, the “Secondary education” activity recorded the launch of three new mobile applications to facilitate access to the services of the “Massar” information system, the ongoing delivery of teaching equipment to the three beneficiary regions, the launch the training program for 6,000 pedagogical and administrative executives, the digitization of the 26 training modules for teaching and administrative staff and their posting on the “Etakwine” ministry platform.

On its part, the "Vocational training" activity was distinguished by the launch of the acquisition procedure for the benefit of the VTE beneficiaries of the "Charaka" Fund, including the deployment of the technical assistance provided to these VTE in terms of, the development of basic and continuing training programs, the preparation of the training plan for administrative and technical teaching staff and the implementation of management tools.

For its part, the “Employment” activity was marked mainly by the partnership agreement with the consortium “Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) -OCP Solutions-Atlas Cloud Services” for the implementation in real time of a digital platform of information, on job offers and applications, based on artificial intelligence and big data. This activity also saw the training of 3,851 beneficiaries of the Results-Based Funding (RBF)’ Employment Program and the integration of 953 of them, including 2,649 and 661 women. Likewise, this activity has reported the launch of the BCURE “Building Capacity to Use Research Evidence” program aimed at strengthening national capacities in terms of production and use of the most reliable scientific evidence and data in the process development, implementation and evaluation of employment and labor market policies.

The “Industrial Land” activity was marked by the signature of an agreement with the private partner “CAP Holding” relating to the planning, development and management of the Bouznika industrial zone within the framework of a public private partnership (PPP), the continuation of the capacity building program for the staff of the Ministry of Industry, Trade, Investment and the Digital Economy in terms of land mobilization in the service of industrial investment and the start of the diagnosis of the current electronic platform on industrial land, with the aim to identify avenues for technical and functional improvement of this platform in order to set it up as a complete information system.

The “Rural Real Estate” activity was mainly marked, in the component of the deployment of the melkization operation of 66,000 Ha of collective land located in the irrigation perimeters of Gharb and Haouz, by the finalization of plot and household surveys on 47,681 Ha, the execution of subdivision plans on 11,500 Ha and the installation of terminals on 7,388 Ha. The accompanying measures for the melkization operation have seen, as part of the functional literacy program carried out in partnership with the National Agency for the Fight Against Illiteracy (NAFAI), the development of additional modules and the start-up the capacity building program for literacy teachers and NGO managers mobilized for the opening of literacy classes. The measures initiated in cooperation with the National Office of the Agricultural Council (NOAC) focused on the implementation of the axis of partnership relating to agricultural entrepreneurship in favor of women and young people, through the development of a project financing mechanism.

The “Land governance” activity recorded, for its part, the organization of a round table on improving women's access to land and their participation in its governance, with a view to developing a common vision of the design and modalities of establishment of a Center for the inclusion of women in land. This activity also saw the start of the work of the Technical Committee set up following the signing with the Ministries of the Interior and Agriculture of the implementing agreement relating to the "Land governance" activity.

On the other, the Resident Director of MCC in Morocco, Mr. Richard Gaynor, described the results of the last quarter as honorable, acknowledging in this regard the commitment and support of all the partners and the mobilization of the staff of the MCA-Morocco Agency. He also called for regular meetings of the steering committees of the various activities of Compact II with a view to accelerating their implementation and promoting greater ownership of these activities by the partners.

The Director General of the MCA-Morocco Agency, Ms Malika Laasri, presented subsequently to the members of the Council a detailed report on the progress of the implementation of Compact II since the last session of the COS, emphasizing that the rate of commitment of the funds is currently 75.10%, the equivalent of nearly 338 million dollars.

At the end of this meeting, the Board approved a series of resolutions, which mainly concern the approval of agreements concluded as part of the implementation of Compact projects and the Agency's Procurement Program as updated.