Outreach
 Morocco

Bringing water to two remote douars deep in Morocco's Moyen Atlas mountains

Without water or electricity, it is difficult to imagine the living conditions of the populations of Douira and Ouled Saïd, villages which are typical of the mountain regions of Morocco, sidelined by the development policies of the country.

Fact sheet

  • Identity : Association Orme
  • Place : Douira et Ouled Saïd, Moyen Atlas
  • Sponsor : Nadine Blanc, Veolia Eau
  • Foundation grant : 6 500 euros
    Selection Committee: September 29, 2009

    The association Orme (Occasion de Reprendre son Élan) works to accompany neighborhood projects designed to improve the living conditions, and enhance the skills and economic self-sufficiency of populations left behind by progress. Created in 1995, this association, recognized to be of general humanitarian and social interest, first worked for eight long years on cooperation projects with Germany, Poland and Ukraine, in the areas of training, crafts and agriculture.

    In 2003, as part of the Millennium Objectives for development, it decided to focus its efforts on Morocco, by specializing in drinking water access programs for the isolated villages of the Atlas Mountains. Eight of them were accordingly equipped for a total of 5000 beneficiaries.

    At the same time, educational accompaniment projects (literacy, training of rural supervisors, health education, etc.) were launched, primarily aimed at the women and children.

    Water, a source of life for the inhabitants, will enable them to run their daily lives differently

    The projects concerning the douars of Douira and Ouled Saïd were conducted in close cooperation with the local authorities, and in partnership with the water service of the Provincial Equipment Directorate of Boulmane, which identifies the priority needs of the area to be served and follows up the operations.

    The wells will be sunk to a depth of 15 to 18 meters. The pumping units will be powered by solar panels and the homes will be supplied by gravity. The program calls for the training of a person in each village responsible for maintaining the installations and for collecting the user fees. Rural supervisors will also be trained for the functioning of the village associations managing the water and the promotion of the women in rural areas.

    Access to drinking water for these villages inhabited from time immemorial by tribes deeply attached to their soil, will make sweeping changes in the life of the inhabitants; the women and children, "water carriers", will be released from this slavery, and the land will be irrigated. Sanitation will make a major contribution to public health, in a region where chronic diarrhea affects half of the population several months every year.
    The economic and social development that these isolated populations rightly expect is also aimed to eradicate the emigration of the young generations to the urban centers.

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