THE STORY
A non-profit organisation that operates independently of any government, typically one whose purpose is to address a social or political issue.
What is a NGO?
What is the issue?
Very few girls from rural communities in Morocco get the opportunity of continuing their education after primary school. To help tackle this, Education For All, a Moroccan NGO, is building and running girls’ boarding houses near secondary schools, so girls from rural families can continue their education.
Who are Education for All Morocco?
Education For All (EFA) was established to help provide the opportunity of a secondary education for girls from the High Atlas mountain region. They build and run high-quality boarding houses for girls from 12–18. Everything is provided for free. They offer 3 nutritious meals a day, hot showers, cosy beds, access to computers, study support via an international volunteer programme and dedicated, local housemothers. The overall environment makes it easy for the girls to settle in and thrive in their studies. EFA Morocco see an average of 90% pass rate across all years and now have 50 girls enrolled at university!
EFA’s first project opened in 2007, giving access to secondary education for up to 36 girls. It was challenging to convince parents to send their daughters, but after only a few years they needed to expand to meet the demand for places!
In September 2009, they opened a second boarding house in an even more remote area of the High Atlas 100 km from Marrakech in the town of Talaat n’Yacoub. This increased the intake to 36 more girls and in 2010 they built a new one in Ouirgane. Since then EFA Morocco have opened 2 more houses, including the most recent one in Asni in 2016, bringing the total to 5. The most recent one is their biggest to date, with a capacity of 48 girls. EFA Morocco now houses a total of 185 girls!
Why Educate Girls?
Most of us have come from countries where we have been fortunate enough to take the lifelong gift of education for granted. Despite the Moroccan Government’s support of education policy and women’s rights, half of the country is not literate, and in rural areas, up to 83% of women are illiterate. EFA Morocco believes investing in girls’ education is essential, as an educated girl educates her family and whole community.
READ: In Morocco’s Atlas mountains, Berber girls find the way out of rural poverty: an education
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Fatima's Journey to School
UNESCO - 'Morocco’s enrollment of female students is on par with male counterparts at primary levels of schooling. But adolescent girls in Morocco continue to drop out of school. Those living in remote, rural villages are most likely to stop around the age of twelve because of lack of access to middle and higher education in their immediate vicinities. Parents of teenage girls are often unwilling to let them travel long distances away from home due to concerns for their safety and social restrictions. As a result, retention of girls in schools remains a pressing issue in Morocco, a country with visible disparities in quality of education – between public and private schools and between urban and rural areas'.
What are the boarding houses like?
"The bunk-beds, originally built for four girls to sleep in each room, had been adapted in response to demand for places and now stood three high – each room sleeping six to NINE girls"
READ: For schoolgirls in Morocco, attitudes outpace infrastructure
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READ: 'Dormitories of Hope' Read the article by British Ambassador to Morocco, Mr Thomas Reilly, on his visit to a dormitory in the Atlas Mountains.
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READ: 'Op-ed by British Ambassador Thomas Reilly on tourism in Morocco'
Op-ed on the importance of tourism by British Ambassador to Morocco, Mr Thomas Reilly
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LetterGovernor_200904.pdfEFA also has the support and thanks of the local Governor of the Province of Al Haouz, Monsieur Bouchaib El Moutaoukil
READ: His letter to the Charity (In French)
ROYAL VISIT
On 24 February 2019 as part of a 3 day official visit to Morocco The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Prince Harry and Meghan Markle) visited the Education for all Charity at its first Boarding House in Asni
Put 'harry meghan education morocco' into Google and have a look through the results
How might the charity/girls education in general benefit from this visit and the publicity?
More information including quotes from some of the girls here:
Royal visit promo single pagevf1.pdfWatch and Listen to Mike McHugo, founder of Morocco Education for All and owner of Discovery Ltd and Kasbah du Toubkal: