World Bank Supports National Initiative for Human Development in Morocco

Contacts:
In Washington: Dina El Naggar (202) 473-3245
Delnaggar@worldbank.org

In Morocco: Najat Yamouri (212-37) 63 60 50

Nyamouri@worldbank.org

 

WASHINGTON, December 12, 2006 — The World Bank’s Board of Directors approved today a US$100 million loan for the Morocco National Initiative for Human Development Support Project.

 

The project responds to the high level commitment to reducing poverty and vulnerability as manifested by the King’s announcement on May 18, 2005 of the National Human Development Initiative (INDH).  This poverty reduction program targets over 250 urban neighborhoods and 400 rural communes among the poorest and most excluded communities with multi-sectoral public and revenue-generating investments, and also has a component focusing on the most vulnerable populations. 

 

Over the last decade, significant progress has been achieved in providing access to basic education and narrowing gender and rural/urban gaps in Morocco.  Nevertheless, 15 percent of the population in Morocco is still considered poor and an additional 25 percent are economically vulnerable.  Roughly two thirds of the poor live in rural areas, with rising poverty in urban areas. Symptoms of poverty in rural and urban areas vary. Child and adult illiteracy is high in rural areas. In urban areas, high levels of unemployment, limited economic opportunities and poor access to basic services represent the main challenges for the poor. More particularly, the needs of vulnerable groups including women living in difficult circumstances, homeless children, elderly people, and people living with disabilities are inadequately addressed by existing programs.

 

The INDH Support Project aims at demonstrating a shift from a top-down, single sector tradition to dealing with poverty to a community-driven, multi-sectoral approach that can accommodate the needs of the poor in urban slum and rural areas.  The role of local decision makers will be further enhanced by the project through the adoption of governance principles and institutional capacity development. The project will also support access of vulnerable groups to social and economic services delivered by government and non-governmental organizations.  Using the results of the Morocco Poverty Report, the project relies on better geographical poverty targeting than poverty reduction programs of the past.

 

INDH is a highly visible program, promoted by King Mohammed VI, spearheaded by the Prime Minister, and implemented by the Ministry of Interior, with support from three other key ministries (Social Development, Rural Development and Finance). The INDH Support Project is one of the main lending vehicles to support the Morocco CAS (2005-2009) objective of improving living conditions and economic opportunities for the poor and vulnerable population in rural, peri-urban and urban areas. It also contributes to the cross-cutting objective of the CAS which is to improve governance as transparency, accountability and inclusiveness are the principles on which INDH is based.