Note: This document may not always reflect the actual appropriations determined by Congress. Final budget allocations for USAID's programs are not determined until after passage of an appropriations bill and preparation of the Operating Year Budget (OYB).
MOROCCO
FY 1998 Development Assistance .......... $15,672,000 Introduction
Morocco continues to actively support the Middle East Peace Process and enforcement of United Nations sanctions against Iraq and Libya. As a temperate voice in this volatile region, Morocco is a role model for economic and political moderation among Islamic nations, and a bulwark against anti-Western Islamic fundamentalism as reflected in neighboring Algeria. Nevertheless, Morocco remains vulnerable to threats from internal and external radicalism, and the pace of political reform remains slow. Both Morocco and the United States have an important stake in Morocco's stability, and THEIR facilitative regional role. As Morocco liberalizes its economy and opens up its political systems, it is showing increased interest in institutional approaches and policies utilized in the United States. The United States and Morocco are committed to broadening business and institutional relationships through a new Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). Commercial and political linkages between the U.S. and Morocco continue to accelerate, fostered by assistance initiatives and a continuing dialogue on areas of mutual interest.The Development Challenge
Morocco, a country of 27 million inhabitants, including 38% under 15 years of age, continues to make global economic progress. With per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimated at $1,150 in 1994, Morocco falls in the lower-middle-income (LMI) country category. Economic growth is expected to reach 10% in 1996 (largely as the result of an exceptional cereal harvest), although the country only averaged a -0.25% growth rate over the previous four years, essentially due to drought and the slow pace of reform at the sectoral level. Natural resources are scarce. The most significant -- phosphate and its derivatives -- accounted for 25% of exports in 1995. Only 20% of the land is arable, and stable agricultural production is largely dependent on irrigation. Morocco's successful structural adjustment program is producing results: the budget deficit was about 5% of GDP in 1995, with debt servicing at about 33% of exports; the currency is based on realistic, market-based pricing, with convertibility for current balance of payment transactions; and inflation is expected to be below 4.5% in 1996.
In spite of recent progress at the macro level in economic stabilization and more reasonable patterns of growth, Morocco's development is not shared equitably, nor is the rate of growth keeping pace with expansion of the labor force. Lack of jobs and inadequate access to housing, land, credit, and other productive resources remain the chief causes of poverty and are major contributors to social instability. Low labor demand contributes to the creation of a pool of disaffected educated youth, from which extremist appeals find adherents. Poverty and illiteracy remain extensive, especially among women and female-headed households. Large family sizes strain meager incomes and government services. Natural resource degradation and industrial, urban, and agricultural pollution pose threats to the productive base of the economy, to ecosystems, and to human health and productivity. Morocco's problems are reflected in its social indicators, which generally lag behind those of similar nations: (1) an infant mortality rate at 57 per thousand compares to 39 as the average for LMI countries; (2) the annual population growth rate is still 2.1% versus 1.5% in LMI countries, and will double the country's population in approximately 33 years; (3) the illiteracy rate is 48% of the adult population, compared to 19% for LMI countries; (4) an estimated 5.9 million people, or 22% of the population, live at or near the poverty level, with two-thirds of the poor in rural areas; and (5) nearly 20% of the labor force is unemployed, and this percentage is increasing at a rate of 7% annually. In short, social indicators have not kept pace with economic progress.
Morocco's development progress is still fragile and requires considerable support from the Western world. Current planning for USAID's transition to a smaller program by FY 1999 focuses on building a sustainable institutional capacity to address equity problems. That capacity should be substantially developed during the following decade. By 1999, USAID plans to successfully complete its bilateral programs of assistance for family planning, health service delivery support, small business development, and agribusiness promotion. More recent initiatives in water resource sustainability, microenterprise finance, and basic education for girls will require more time to establish lasting, fully-sustainable programs. At the national level, Morocco requires support in making the tough decisions necessary to establish policy and institutional frameworks which redress social inequities, poverty, environmental degradation, and gender or regional disparities in education. USAID's program focuses on helping Morocco make those decisions by developing the local capacity to understand and to analyze the reform options and potential outcomes of those options, and to build a consensus for implementing the required regulatory and institutional changes.
Other Donors
Donor assistance to Morocco totals somewhat more than $1 billion per year. An estimated 80% of donor assistance, mostly in the form of loans, loan guarantees, or commercial credit is utilized for infrastructure development (roads, ports, dams, railroads, electricity, water, housing, sewerage, telecommunications). The largest donor programs in Morocco are those of the World Bank, the European Union, France, the African Development Bank and Spain.The United States is a relatively small provider of assistance (grants and housing guarantees), currently accounting for perhaps 10% of total grant assistance. Nevertheless, it remains one of the most visible and active donor programs, and plays a role far larger than the size of its assistance size would indicate, including substantial leveraging of other donor resources. This influence has been possible because of (1) a strong USAID field presence, (2) the ability to address problems in the context of local policy, (3) the risk-taking and innovative nature of U.S. assistance, and, (4) the Moroccan realization that the United States can provide world leadership in technical and managerial innovation.
FY 1998 Program
USAID's strategy for assisting Morocco to achieve an "improved quality of life for poorer Moroccans through equitable and sustainable social and economic development" is built around four carefully focused strategic objectives: (1) reduced fertility and improved health of children under five and women of child-bearing age; (2) improved water resources management in the agricultural, urban, and industrial sectors; (3) expanded base of stakeholders in the economy, targeting people of below-median income; and (4) increased basic educational attainment for rural girls. The USAID/Morocco program has been very substantially restructured over the last two years, in response to significant resource reductions and changed Agency program priorities. As is noted below, these four strategic objectives for Morocco are themselves explicitly linked with global USAID program priorities. Restructuring of the program has also meant the closure of several successful activities from the previous portfolio, and the start-up of a new generation of more strategically relevant ones. No new activities are proposed to be initiated during FY 1998.Finally, several cross-cutting themes of specific importance to the local Moroccan development context have been integrated into program strategy where relevant, including appropriate attention to policy frameworks, emphasis on the integration and empowerment of women, and the use of non-governmental and private agencies in portfolio implementation.
Agency Goal: Stabilizing World Population Growth and Protecting Human Health
* Strategic Objective 1: Reduced Fertility and Improved Health of Children Under Five and Women of Child-Bearing Age
The achievement of improved quality of life for poorer Moroccans through equitable and sustainable social and economic development is predicated on stabilizing Morocco's population and assuring the health and vitality of its people. Sustainable delivery of essential social services, acceptable levels of income and employment generation, especially for the young, and sustainable use of natural resources, especially water resources, cannot be achieved without reducing family size, especially as a large cohort of young Moroccans reaches child-bearing years.
Over the last 25 years, USAID has become the Government of Morocco's (GOM) principal external partner in family planning and maternal child health (FP/MCH). This FP/MCH collaboration has become one of the most successful such programs in the Arab world, including strong results in contraceptive prevalence (rising from 42% to 50% in just the last three years) and a similarly rapid decline in total fertility (down 25% between 1987 and 1995). The total fertility rate in Morocco's urban areas is, in fact, now approaching replacement levels. U.S. assistance also has supported GOM efforts to increase childhood immunizations from 76% to 85% since 1992, and to increase the usage rate of oral rehydration solutions for treatment of diarrheal diseases from 15% to 29% over the same timeframe. The private sector now increasingly is providing family planning services, and social marketing of oral contraceptives has reduced the cost of contraceptives to the consumer by 27% since 1991. Private sector sales of contraceptives has grown by 50% over the last three years.
In spite of this progress in extending FP/MCH services, there remain many weaknesses in the health care delivery system, especially in rural areas. The gap between desired childbearing and use of family planning services persists. User rates are still low for long-term and permanent methods of contraception, and infant mortality continues to be high due to diarrheal disease and acute respiratory infection. To enhance the sustainability of health service delivery, progress has been made on several major initiatives, including: decentralization of integrated service delivery management, encouragement of rapid expansion of private sector participation in the provision of health services, strengthening of management and logistics system, and an increasing assumption of costs for preventive health care activities (the GOM now meets about 60% of our combined program costs).
Funding is requested in FY 1998 to continue the momentum of this integrated activity, and to fund a challenging transition plan out of our current program of bilateral assistance for service delivery by the end of the decade, to one of more modest, centrally-funded assistance in support of the sustainability of FP/MCH systems. As more women enter their reproductive years, the sustaining and expanding of current rates of contraceptive prevalence and FP/MCH service utilization will be critical. Supportive policy signals from the highest levels of the GOM are providing an opportunity for USAID to move farther and faster in this sector than previously had been thought possible. The Ministry of Public Health is developing a policy and regulatory environment that encourages sustainable service delivery. USAID will continue to support such an environment, and the array of service delivery models that translate this high-level commitment into cost-effective results.
Agency Goal: Protecting the Environment
* Strategic Objective 2: Improved Water Resources Management in the Agricultural, Urban, and Industrial Sectors
Morocco's lack of water is a key limiting factor for economic growth and for meeting basic human needs. With water demand expected to exceed supply by 2020, the sound management of water resources is key to their future economic success. Water always has been a key part of Morocco's economic and social fabric, and its depletion and degradation provides a focus and organizing principle for USAID's environmental strategic objective.
Despite the relative newness of this strategic objective, USAID environmental programs already are registering substantial results. Clean technology activities have reduced surface water pollution in targeted areas, and offer the potential for future marketing of U.S. systems in Morocco. New laser land-levelling and level-basin irrigation technologies, as well as canal construction and management, have demonstrated potential improvements in water use efficiency of 20% in one of Morocco's largest irrigation areas, and nation-wide replication is already planned for other irrigated perimeters. Modern sewerage and potable water systems have been brought to over 450,000 people (70% of whom earn a below-median income). Benefits such as reduced seasonal flooding and related water-borne diseases have reached an additional 250,000 low-income people. Initiatives are under way to improve toxic effluent controls, safe wastewater reuse, and reduction of soil erosion.
USAID's most recent efforts focus on policy and institutional strengthening, pilot activities and leveraging of USAID resources. Sustainable environmental practices are seriously constrained by the absence of a transparent and binding policy and regulatory framework which provides reasonable benchmarks and incentives for improving performance. Awareness of, and access to, improved environmental technologies also are limiting factors. Finally, limited public awareness of environmental problems and limited capacity to mobilize people to address problems within their communities constitute further constraints to sustainable resource use and pollution prevention. In connection with reduced funding availability for this strategic area, the timeframe for initiating and completing most activities will be accelerated significantly. The ability to replicate successful initiatives under this Strategic Objective also will be affected.
Agency Goal: Encouraging Broad-Based Economic Growth (Expanding Access and Opportunity)
* Strategic Objective 3: Expanded base of stakeholders in the economy, targeting people of
below median income.
Morocco's highly dualistic development has led to low growth, low employment and low incomes for the poorer segments of the population. Poverty is a persistent phenomenon in Morocco, with about 22% of the population living at the World Bank-defined poverty level during a good rainfall year, and more during drought years. Sustainable economic growth must address equity issues. If the numbers of economic stakeholders are not expanded in Morocco, political and economic instability are more likely to ensue. Higher employment levels and better living conditions also are closely linked to broader USAID efforts for reducing fertility, improving family health, and realizing a more rational, efficient utilization of water resources.
In response to changing resource availability, the maturation of certain past efforts, and evolving partnerships with other donors, USAID's initiatives recently have been re-focused upon microenterprise finance, small and medium-sized enterprise development, export-oriented agribusiness expansion, and urban infrastructure improvements. USAID activities concentrate on ameliorating policy and institutional constraints which generate disincentives, costs and administrative burdens for businesses. The program provides access to credit (to start and expand businesses and to finance home construction for the poor), and enhances the competitiveness of Moroccan firms to enable export-led growth and job creation. It also strengthens business associations and NGOs that bring the disadvantaged into the economic mainstream. Current efforts have produced substantial results, including some $80 million of exports (mostly to non-tradtional markets), which have led to over 10,000 person-years of employment, largely for women and other members of lower-income groups. The potential for future, sustainable, benefits is substantial and can be expected to grow rapidly over the next few years.
The lack of a positive enabling environment imposes limits on the performance of the economy and on economic opportunity across the board, through negative impacts on the trade regime, the financial sector, the labor market, business start-up and growth incentives, and in training and human resource development. All elements of the existing portfolio contain components which will continue to addresspolicy and institutional constraints. The availability of financial services also will be addressed so that efficient micro- and small-scale entrepreneurs can invest, generate employment for themselves and others, and finance home construction. Due to anticipated funding shortfalls, USAID/Morocco will re-evaluate the breadth of its objectives under the recently launched (FY 1995) Microenterprise Finance Activity, and will accelerate the effort to reach sustainability of its pilot microcredit institutions by FY 1999.
Agency Goal: Encouraging Broad-Based Economic Growth (Investing in People)
* Strategic Objective 4: Increased Basic Educational Attainment Among Girls in Selected Rural Areas
The education of women and girls, especially in rural areas, is linked directly to their participation in the social, economic and political life of their communities and their country. Women who have had at least a primary education have an enhanced awareness of their rights and responsibilities as citizens in the economic, social and political arenas. Investment in girls' education reduces susceptibility to Islamic extremism, which often argues for restrictions on women's societal roles. Educating girls also enhances women's contributions to: the economy and to their families' economic well-being; improved environmental management and the wise use and regeneration of renewable resources; wider acceptance of family health services; and, their participation in civic society and democratization.
Morocco's poor performance in education is a major contributing factor to perpetuating poverty and larger family size, especially in rural areas. Morocco's low ranking in the United Nations Development Program human development index is largely based on the nation's poor performance in basic education. For example, the average length of schooling barely reached three years in 1992, and 51% of adults are illiterate, including 70% of women. Nationwide, the net enrollment rate at the primary school level is only 58% (48% for girls and 68% for boys). In rural areas, the enrollment rate for girls is only 22%, and of these, only a net 9% complete five years of primary education. USAID assistance is targeting rural primary education for girls in the most needy provinces of Morocco. Improving access to basic education and improving retention rates for rural girls through the sixth grade are the principal objectives.
Funding is requested to continue this initiative, launched in 1996. Improvements in girls' education will contribute to the achievement of the Mission's strategic objectives in population and health, environment and economic growth. Several factors helped convince USAID that this is an opportune moment to address basic education constraints for rural girls in Morocco: (1) low levels of attainment and the marked disparity in education participation between boys and girls in rural areas; (2) the GOM's recently launched effort to reform the entire national education system, an undertaking which provides a rare opportunity for donors to influence education policy and to address real basic education needs; (3) the ability of USAID resources to closely complement the assistance of other donors, such as the World Bank (which also is assisting the GOM in basic education); (4) USAID's successful experience and expertise in other countries where educational opportunities for rural girls and women were severely limited; and (5) the role of basic education in helping to achieve USAID's strategic objectives.
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET PROGRAM: Morocco
TITLE AND NUMBER: Reduced Fertility and Improved Health in Children Under Five and Women of Childbearing Age, 608-SO01
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $7,672,000 DA
I NITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1995 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 1999
Purpose: To reduce fertility and improve the health of children under five and women of childbearing age.
Background: While extensive progress has been made in increasing and improving family planning/maternal and child health (FP/MCH) services, constraints to access and use of these services continue and are shown by gaps between desired childbearing and use of family planning services, limited use of prenatal and postpartum services, high child and infant mortality due to diarrheal disease and acute respiratory infections, and high rates of maternal mortality. Challenges include ensuring that FP/MCH services are readily accessible, that quality is sufficient to attract and retain clients and promote improved health practices, and that populations are adequately informed and motivated to use services appropriately. Enhancing sustainability of health service delivery has become the priority focus of Strategic Objective 1 (SO1) during the past year, as USAID prepares for bilateral assistance exit from the health/population sector by the year 2000 ("Transition Plan: Achieving Sustainability in FP/MCH Services", April, 1996). As part of the transition, the program also must increasingly address Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) capabilities and actions in establishing decentralization, integration of service activities, policy reform for expanded private sector participation in health services, institutional and systems strengthening, and diversification of funding resources.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: USAID initiated support for FP/MCH in Morocco in 1971, and since has become the Government of Morocco's (GOM) principal external partner in this program. Most recently, U.S.-Moroccan collaboration has resulted in an increase in contraceptive prevalence from 42% in 1992 to 50% in 1995; and a concomitant decline in total fertility of 25%, from 4.8 in 1987 to 3.6 children per woman in 1995. USAID's assistance has also supported GOM efforts to increase childhood immunizations from 76% to 85% since 1992, and to promote increasing private sector participation in family planning activities, with social marketing of contraceptives reducing the costs of contraceptives available to the consumer and resulting in approximately 450,000 couple years of protection achieved through private sector sales of contraceptives in 1995. With the finalization of USAID/Morocco's health/population sector Transition Plan, more recent efforts focussing on institutional capabilities required for sustainable programs have resulted in USAID support of in-country, inter-institutional partnerships for the channeling of synergistic resources to capacity building within the FP/MCH service delivery system. Most notable among these include schools of medicine being brought into the public health fold through family planning/reproductive health curriculum development as defined by public health needs; the MOPH's training expertise being applied to FP/MCH programs; and management expertise located within Morocco's School of Public Health (INAS) being applied to actual field program management situations. In addition, traditional areas of long-term USAID support in the management of the voluntary surgical contraception (VSC) program are being systematically transferred to and institutionalized within MOPH structures which now have the required expertise and resources for continuation. Finally, the substantial private sector physician population is being mobilized, through training and market incentives, to offer reasonably accessible FP/MCH services.
Description: USAID focuses on increasing use of quality FP/MCH services and on their longer-term sustainability through four activity areas: establishment of greater access to quality FP/MCH services responsive to client demand; re-enforcement of the institutional capacity to manage FP/MCH programs, with particular emphasis on decentralized approaches responsive to client need; improvement of thepolicy environment to support expansion of FP/MCH services; and promotion of increased diversification of the resource base for financing the delivery of FP/MCH services. Support is channeled primarily through the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), for strengthening the ability of the system to provide an expanded range of services, with emphasis on long-term methods of family planning, diarrheal disease control and quality safe motherhood services. Assistance is also provided in the areas of use of data for decision making and for effecting programs responsive to client needs and for private sector participation in preventive health care service delivery and family planning services. The GOM has been assuming an increasing percentage of contraceptive and local cost requirements for the FP/MCH program.
Host Country and Other Donors: USAID has, for the last three decades, been the lead donor in family planning in Morocco and has been an important contributor to MCH activities. UNICEF is a major donor in child survival, particularly for immunizations and diarrheal disease programs, including the oral rehydration salts (ORS) social marketing activity. UNICEF also supports acute respiratory infection control, safe motherhood and breastfeeding programs. UNFPA is an important donor in the area of population, including Information, Education and Communications (IE&C) activities and safe motherhood initiatives. The World Health Organization (WHO) provides support for AIDS control, public health training, communicable diseases and epidemiology. The European Union (EU) is assuming an increasingly significant role in the areas of population and health, specifically in post-partum family planning; and also contributes in the areas of vaccine production and safe motherhood. The World Bank and the African Development Bank are currently negotiating sector support with the GOM.
The MOPH continues to develop national plans and strategies for the sector, for which it seeks donor support. MOPH contributions include infrastructure, personnel, operating costs, pharmaceuticals, health facilities, etc. Family planning is a priority for the sector, and as an "engine" that promotes services and systems development in related areas. The GOM is currently financing 60% of all USAID-GOM program costs.
Beneficiaries: Children under five years and married women of child-bearing age in Morocco represent approximately 28% (7.6 million) of Morocco's population of 27 million. USAID-supported programs, which operate at the national-level, are reaching these beneficiaries in numerous ways.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: USAID implements most activities through a U.S. consulting firm, but important subactivities are being carried out by numerous U.S. companies.
Major Results Indicators Baseline Target
Total Fertility Rate(1) 4.2 (1992) 3.2 (1999)
Infant Mortality Rate(2) 57.0 (1992) 52.0 (1999)
Child Mortality Rate(3) 20.0 (1992) 18.0 (1999)
Maternal Mortality Rate(4) 332.0 (1992) 245.0 (1999)
Contraceptive Prevalence Rate(5) 41.5 (1992) 58.0 (1999)
Source: Demographic and Health Survey, 1992
(1) Total Fertility Rate (TFR) - Average number of children that would be born alive to a woman
during her lifetime if she were to pass through all her childbearing years.
(2) Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) - Annual number of deaths of children ages 0-11 months per
thousandlive births.
(3) Child Mortality Rate (CMR) - Annual number of deaths of children ages 1-4 years per thousand
live births.
(4) Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) - Annual number of deaths of women per 100,000 live births.
(5) Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) - Percentage of married women of childbearing age (15-49)
currently using contraceptives.
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: Morocco
TITLE AND NUMBER: Improved Water Resources Management, 608-SO02
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $2,500,000 DA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1995 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 1999
Purpose : To improve Moroccan water resources management practices and systems in the agricultural, urban and industrial sectors.
Background : The lack of water -- due to inefficient water management and the negative effects of water pollution -- is a key limiting factor for economic growth and for meeting basic human needs. With water demand expected to exceed supply by 2020, improved management of water resources is key to Morocco's future sustainable development. This "new" SO was developed in 1994-1995 and was the outgrowth of successful programs of assistance in energy demand management and agriculture improvements. The following activities are included in this Strategic Objective: Water Resources Sustainability (WRS), Urban and Environmental Services (UES), Housing Guarantee program (HG), and Tadla Resources Management (TRM).
USAID Role and Achievements to Date : USAID supports programs related to water management in the agricultural, industrial, and urban sectors. In the current SO form, activities were first initiated in 1995. Therefore, achievements to date are limited, but do include the following: (a) Improved system-level irrigation canal construction and management, as well as laser leveling and level-basin irrigation technologies, have demonstrated significant improvements in water use efficiency in one of Morocco's largest irrigation perimeters, which is now seen as a model for the national irrigation system. Irrigated agriculture is responsible for nearly 90% of Morocco's water use. (b) Public participation in irrigation management has expanded rapidly in the past year to include a significantly more important role for water user associations in local decision-making. (c) Environmental audits have reduced toxic emissions from the tannery sector. Clean technology activities will continue to reduce surface water pollution in targeted areas, and to improve conditions for both workers and the public. (d) Under USAID's urban environmental programs, modern sewerage and potable water systems have been brought to over 450,000 people (70% for whom are below median income), with indirect benefits such as reduced seasonal flooding and related water-borne diseases for an additional 225,000 low income people over the last decade.
Description: USAID's WRS activity focuses on policy and institutional strengthening, with pilot activities demonstrating improved technologies relating to erosion control, urban wastewater reuse for agriculture, and reduction of heavy metal effluent from the tannery and metal plating industries. One demonstration activity will not be initiated if adequate funding is not forthcoming. Also, the timeframe of the initiatives that are undertaken will need to be accelerated. Activities were first initiated in 1996 and are largely in the planning/feasibility assessment stages. Partial implementation of pilot activities will commence in 1997.
The UES activity, started in 1996, works with national institutions, local governments and citizens on improving environmental services delivery, strengthening key urban development institutions, and providing basic environmental infrastructure, such as sewers, potable water and sanitary landfills. Measurements of progress directly tied to this activity will be provided in 1997. Owing to unexpected funding shortfalls, all UES activities will be completed by FY 1999, and the breadth of initiatives will be decreased correspondingly.
The TRM activity was initiated in 1993. It concentrates assistance in the irrigated agriculture sector for the promotion of water-savings and water quality improvements through integrated pest andfertilizer management technologies and strengthening of participation by farmer water user groups in decision-making related to water management.
Host Country and Other Donors: The World Bank supports complementary programs in irrigated agriculture and municipal finance. They are planning a new loan which will be able to take advantage of USAID program models for pollution reduction and water savings. European donors -- especially France -- are increasing their support for this sector. The host country contributes at least 25% of the total cost of the USAID interventions.
Beneficiaries : Beneficiaries range from farmers, to urban residents (in particular poorer families), to workers in polluting industries (such as tanneries). Benefiting families for all aspects of the program currently total over 120,000 (600,000 people), with a potential for several times that amount over the next four years.
Principal Contractors, Grantees or Agencies: Numerous U.S. firms and local organizations, including NGOs, are involved in implementing this activity. U.S. firms include Chemonics, Environmental Alternatives Unlimited, and Technical Support Services as principal contractors. Subcontractors include various U.S. and local firms.
Major Results Indicators: Baseline Target
Amount of water pollution in 100% (1994) 25% reduction (1999)
target areas (chromium, nitrates,
other pollutants)
Volume of water savings in target 0 million m³/yr (1994) 70 million m³/yr (1999)
areas
Percent of poor urban household 35% (1994) 70% (1999)
units connected to sewerage and
potable water
Amount of soil erosion in target 740 tons/km² (1993) 580 tons/km² (1999)
areas
Number of farmers in viable water 200 (1995) 10,000 (1999)
users associations effectively
managing water resources at the
local level
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: Morocco
TITLE NUMBER: Expanded Base of Stakeholders in the Economy, 608-SO03
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998; $2,480,000 DA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1995 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 1999
Purpose: To encourage broad-based economic growth by expanding the base of stakeholders in the economy, targeting people of below-median income.
Background: Poverty among both rural and urban Moroccans persists, and contrasts with middle and upper-income portions of the population are stark. Morocco has recognized the need to integrate its poorer citizens into the mainstream of the economy, but has not yet demonstrated the institutional capacity to formulate and implement reforms required to effect this change. Although the country continues to make progress, and its leaders remain committed to economic reform, continued USAID assistance will serve as an important catalyst promoting an enabling market economy, business environment, competitiveness of employment-generating firms, and access to financial resources of micro- and small-scale enterprises. The "Economic Growth" objective currently comprises three activities: (1) New Enterprise Development (NED); (2) Morocco Agribusiness Promotion (MAP); and (3) Microenterprise Finance (MFA). Some of the relevant results of the Mission's urban housing activities also will be reported under this SO, as will certain policy-related initiatives under the Development Studies and Technical Support (DSTS) Project.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: Approved activities have focused on a set of direct, bilateral interventions, including policy, institutional, and regulatory reform actions, to stimulate micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprise development, access to credit for entrepreneurs, agricultural product, market, and export diversification, and low-cost housing construction. USAID's policy dialogue has resulted in several important reforms being adopted, elaborated, or undergoing official review, including the opening of a business registration center, a law for agricultural intellectual property rights (now pending in Parliament), and submission to the Ministry of Finance of a new law easing the legal requirements to create non-governmental associations that do micro-lending, and exonerating such associations from certain taxes. Through program efforts, the cost of road transport of agricultural exports has been reduced by 20 percent. MFA will begin operations in three cities, and will serve almost exclusively female clients during 1997.
Other achievements include helping Moroccan firms export $77.5 million worth of horticultural and other products through the program, which in turn generated 10,700 person-years of employment (60 percent women and nearly all for people from lower-income strata). Through the housing activities, urban households of below-median income are becoming home owners (about 50,000 families to date). An estimated 35,000 person-years of employment were created. Some 26 small business associations have been strengthened as advocates for member interests, policy reforms, and new market opportunities. USAID support has been crucial in the privatization of 45 companies (yielding $1.1 billion in revenues to the government), with an increase nationally from 10,000 to over 300,000 shareholders. Through housing and urban improvement initiatives, over 50,000 new homes have been built in the last decade -- most belonging to poorer families -- and many basic urban services installed (water, electricity, sewerage, etc.).
Description: The establishment of the original pilot lending programs during FY 1997 will catalyze the creation of additional associations of microenterprise lenders, and will encourage traditional banks to offer formal banking services to microentrepreneurs. However, the scope of MFA as originally planned, may need to be reduced, and the sustainability point may need to be advanced significantly, in the event adequate funding is not forthcoming.
The NED project assists small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and has promoted several reform initiatives, including creating a one-stop business registration center, a simplified tax reporting format, and association law to expand the NGO movement serving disadvantaged Moroccans. NED has a working capital loan guarantee component which will be fully institutionalized and will provide credit facilities to several thousand SMEs.
The MAP project will continue to expand markets and create jobs for the poor within Moroccan horticultural growing, processing and exporting firms, and will place increasing emphasis on strengthening key institutions and regulatory functions.
Through use of DSTS, USAID/Morocco will work with the GOM and private sector in the formation and operation of a policy formulation and reform "think tanks" largely in those areas relating to the Mission's strategic objectives. The emphasis will be on building linkages between U.S. analytical institutions and universities and their Moroccan counterparts.
Through housing loan guaranties and leveraging of private sector financing, USAID supports a program that provides squatter families access to serviced, titled housing lots, which upgrades urban environmental conditions for the urban poor in selected communities.
Host Country and Other Donors: Through separate activity agreements, the Government of Morocco will finance $15 million, and the private sector $16 million, of the total costs associated with the MAP, NED, and MFA activities. The Ministry of Agriculture and World Bank are using the MAP project as a model for the Bank's agro-industrial project which is currently being designed. The European Union has pledged 30 million ECUs for microenterprise, and its project is being designed as a complement to USAID's Microenterprise Finance activity. Spain provides limited funds targeted to NGO development and support. One U.S. NGO -- Catholic Relief Services -- implements microenterprise development activities in Morocco.
Beneficiaries: The principal beneficiaries of the activities under this SO are people from lower economic strata, both rural and urban, who gain employment opportunities, low-cost housing, and access to financial resources. Micro- and small-scale entrepreneurs acquire improved access to credit and other business development services. Private employers of all sizes, especially agribusinesses, benefit from enhanced productivity and opportunities to compete in international markets, and Moroccan consumers also benefit from increased availabilities of food products and improved food quality and safety standards.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: The primary contractors for these activities include: Development Alternatives, Inc., USDA/FAS, the University of Minnesota, Chemonics International, and Volunteers in Technical Assistance. Numerous subcontractors also are supported through these activities.
Major Results Indicators: Baseline Target
Person-years of employment for
below-median-income people
(60% women) 15,847 (1993) 97,710 (1998)
Increased number of below-median-
income households owning homes
(urban) 24,250 (1993) 70,000 (1998)
Business licenses issued to small and
medium-sized enterprises 16,000 (1993) 102,000 (1998)
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: Morocco
TITLE AND NUMBER: Increased Basic Educational Attainment among Girls in Selected Rural Areas.
608-S004
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998; $3,020,000 DA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1996 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2002
Purpose : To improve opportunities for educational attainment for rural girls by increasing their participation in primary schooling.
Background : Approximately 70 % of Moroccan women are illiterate (50% of all adults). The primary school enrollment rate for both sexes in urban areas is 89.4%, but only 36.7% for rural populations. The enrollment rate for rural girls is a dismal 22% (50.4% for rural boys). Of the minority of rural girls who enroll in primary school, only four out of ten complete the fifth year of schooling. The GOM has acknowledged that the existing education system cannot meet Morocco's future development needs. Viable alternatives are being sought to address some of the existing problems, one of the most pressing of which is the vast disparity in educational attainment between rural and urban girls. Within the context of Morocco's strategy for rural primary education, the Ministry of National Education (MNE) is prepared and eager to test new approaches to primary education that can improve access, retention, attainment and achievement of both girls and boys in rural primary schools. USAID, based on successful experience in other predominantly Islamic countries, is committed to working with the MNE on interventions which focus on girls. This program was just started in 1996 and is not yet fully operational.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: In 1996, USAID began helping the MNE to test ways of improving retention of rural girls during primary school, in support of the MNE strategy for rural education. The MNE views USAID's role as critical to providing the necessary credibility to their strategy. USAID plays the role of "lead donor" in terms of its presence in-country and its use of Agency international experience to identify innovative interventions which will have impact and visibility in the pilot rural areas. Achievements to date have notably included the finalization of MNE national strategy and the completion of mutually acceptable agreements between the MNE and relevant community leaders to coordinate on the implementation of the strategy for improved rural primary education. USAID and the MNE now have signed a bilateral commitment to carry out our strategic objective in this area, including its intermediate results, targets and indicators. USAID assistance will be tried first in pilot schools in five provinces and then expanded to nine additional provinces.
Description: USAID assistance will support the broader application and improvement of multi-grade curricula in rural primary schools, and will train teachers and administrators in the use of multi-grade instruction and curriculum adaptation. It will promote pilot education programs which strive to remove obstacles to girls' access and retention. It will improve teacher training within the system of teacher colleges, with an emphasis on increasing the number of female primary school teachers and the introduction of systematic methods for performing operations research for primary education. It will develop processes for quantifying gender-desegregated, impact-of-education reform efforts and for evaluating progress toward pre-identified goals for girls and boys. Finally, it will support technical exchanges of U.S. and international experience on successful techniques for improving primary education for girls.
Host Country and Other Donors: The World Bank has worked in close collaboration with USAID to prepare a complementary assistance package in basic education within the same rural provinces. The GOM and the World Bank signed the Loan Agreement for the Social Priorities Program in September 1996, which includes an important basic education component ($54 million). UNICEF, UNESCO andthe UNDP all have modest programs that support elements of the MNE strategy for rural education. The host country will finance virtually all domestic staffing and other local costs associated with implementing pilot primary education efforts. The GOM has allowed for flexible school calendars in the selected areas and has developed a performance-based financial incentive award system for teachers, to make teaching in the selected rural areas more attractive. The expansion of primary school reforms beyond the pilot areas to the national level will also be funded by the GOM. The GOM will meet at least 25% of all program-related costs.
Beneficiaries: In Morocco, there are about 2.5 million girls of primary school age. Approximately, 1.3 million of these girls live in rural areas and are directly affected by the weaknesses of the rural primary school environment.
Principal Contractors, Grantees or Agencies: USAID will implement activities through U.S. institutional contractors. Current contractors for ongoing activities include AMIDEAST and the Institute for International Research (both have U.S. subcontractors). The principal grantee is the Ministry of National Education.
Major Results Indicators: Baseline Target
(1992) (1998)
Percentage of total number of eligible 22.3% 30%
rural girls enrolled in primary school
in selected rural areas
Retention rate for rural girls through 39.6% 45%
the sixth year
Percentage of girls who complete at 8.8% 20% (1999)
least six years of primary schooling
MOROCCO
FY 1997 PROGRAM SUMMARY
Encouraging Economic Growth
Stabilizing Population Growth and Protecting Human Health Protecting the Environment
Building Democracy Providing Humanitarian Assistance Total
USAID Strategic Objectives 1. Reduced Fertility and Improved Health in Children Under Five and Women
$7,672,000 $7,672,000 2. Improved Water Resources Management
$2,500,000 $2,500,000
3. Expanded Base of Stakeholders in the Economy
$2,480,000
$2,480,000
4. Increased Basic Educational Attainment for Rural Girls
$3,020,000
$3,020,000
Total Dev. Assistance $5,500,000 $7,672,000 $2,500,000 $15,672,000 USAID Mission Director : Michael Farbman
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