Highlights

This meeting, which was chaired by the Secretary General of the MEF, Mr. Abdeltif Loudyi, brought together officials from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Social Development, Department of Territorial Development, as well as representatives of sponsoring institutions based in Morocco.

In his keynote speech, Mr. Abdeltif Loudyi emphasized the importance of such a meeting. The progress report of the follow up committee and the recommendations made by financial partners would be useful for a more efficient resources management.

He also stated that the principle of Bringing standardized aid applies to this project which is being carried out with great efficiency.

Mr. Loudyi indicated that this project, which was at the beginning a recommendation of His Majesty Mohammed IV, provides leverage for economic development, and should help reduce poverty and social vulnerability, and open up prospects for income generating activities.

Mr. Aziz Dadas, INDH National Coordinator, delivered the first presentation and gave a thorough progress report on the implementation of such a project.

More than 12,100 programmes launched during the period 2005-2007 are now under way and have achieved more than a 67% completion rate. 3,300 new programmes have been identified or scheduled in 2008. These projects, which should benefit 3.9 million people, involve the sectors of agriculture and education, as well as other aspects of human development such as drinking water stations and social services.

The new computer system devised for the INDH was also presented during this meeting. It is an intranet site that speeds up the flow of information within the Ministry of Interior all over the country. It also enables users to make reports on a daily basis as well as in real time, and draw up the management chart needed for decision making.

In his turn, Mr. Abdellatif Bennani, Director of the Budget Department at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, presented the financing and auditing aspects of the INDH project.

According to Mr. Bennani, the budget allocated to the INDH project for the period 2006-2010 amounts to MD 10 billion. The state contributes with MD 6 billion while local councils contribute with MD 2 billion. The remaining MD 2 billion amount to contributions from international cooperation agencies.

Between 2005 and 2008, an amount of MD 4.6 billion was mobilized for public financing, while at present financing provided by international cooperation amounts to MD 1647 million.

INDH operations for the period 2005-2007 have been jointly audited by the General Inspection of Finance, at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the General Inspection of Territorial administration, at the Ministry of Interior. These two bodies have conducted more than 200 specific audits.

Out of 69 audits conducted in 2005, 15 have been certified with remarks. In 2007, however, only 3 audits out of 70 were subject to remarks. This suggests a noticeable improvement in INDH governance at the regional and provincial level.

At the end of this meeting, representatives from the World Bank and the European Commission made the following observations:
- The enforcement of procedures manual is insufficient, especially fiduciary and AGR procedures (Income Earning Activities). In response to this observation, it was indicated that the Ministry of Economy and Finance is currently working on simplifying these procedures to facilitate their enforcement.
- Progress report on the INDH computer system set up. A presentation of this system is scheduled for the following month. Work on this system should result in national information geography for the INDH.
- Putting in place internal and performance auditing procedures. It was indicated that such a system is now under study, following its successful implementation in Oujda.
- Mechanisms established to ensure on-going investment. In this respect, it was indicated that efforts are being made towards developing standards for operating infrastructure, especially in the Education sector , which is considered as a pillar of economic and social development in Morocco.
- The setting up of the Operation One Million School Bags : This operation financing way tapped into only 8% of INDH funds (about MD 20 million), the bulk of the operation was funded by the state budget and some other government institutions.
303. Central Guarantee Fund Wins an Award for its Commitment to Quality (9/22/2008)

On behalf of the Central Guarantee Fund, Mr. Hicham Zanati Serghini, in his quality of Secretary General, received the World Quality Commitment International Star Award. The award features in the Golden Gategory. The award ceremony took place in Paris on September 22nd, 2008.

The award was delivered by Jose E. Prieto, Chief Executive Officer of Business Initiatives Directions, and organizer of this international conference on quality during which 64 countries received recognition for their commitment to quality.

The award came to crown efforts made by the CGF in promoting commitment to quality. Prior to this award, CGF was granted ISO 9001 accreditation, Version 2000, for its quality management system. Further criteria for this award include innovation, customer service, quality management, and leadership.

The CGF quality management system involves banks that are direct customers of CGF products, and covers the entire range of tasks CGF performs, such as guarantee provision for investment credits, co-financing investment programmes and upgrading the guarantee of loans granted for low cost housing.

Alongside its approach to quality management, the CGF conducted a review and optimization of task processes in order to ensure on-going improvement of its performance and respond to the needs of relevant parties, by embracing fundamentals of quality standard ISO 9001-9002, such as customer care, process approach and on-going improvement.