Launched in 2022, and coordinated by the National Institute of Agronomic Research of Morocco (INRA) as project leader, MountainHER aims to put rural women at the forefront of social and economic progress in mountain communities in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Croatia, Italy, and Lebanon, through cooperatives. It targets women’s cooperatives working in durum wheat and barley crops and associated traditional food products, promoting sustainable business models that fairly distribute profits along ultra-short value chains. The Moroccan Cooperation Development Office (ODCO) today lists 7,360 women’s cooperatives in Morocco, representing more than 13.5% of all cooperatives in the country. Support for their promotion is largely part of several national development initiatives and programs, aimed at strengthening their relationships with public institutions, and encouraging their development and professionalization, mainly in rural regions, impacted by the effects of climate change and the exodus of young people to the city. OXFAM in Morocco has been working for several years with its national partners to promote the central role of women in the socio-economic development of the country, particularly through cooperatives. True engines of change, women’s cooperatives play a key role in the empowerment of women and their integration into the formal economy. Experiencing real momentum, they offer new employment opportunities, create additional income and strengthen the resilience of women. Their impact also contributes to the development of local communities by stimulating the economy and promoting solidarity, equity and gender inclusion. Read also: Under the microscope, Moroccan women in figures Supporting this dynamic of development of rural women’s cooperatives, the National Institute of Agricultural Research of Morocco (INRA) coordinates the MountainHer project, in which it works alongside OXFAM in Morocco and the International Center for Agricultural Research in Arid Zones (ICARDA) in the two pilot regions of Fez-Meknes and Souss-Massa. Funded by the international non-profit organization PRIMA Foundation (Partnership for Reasearch and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area), the project aims to establish rural women as pillars of socio-economic progress in mountain communities through cooperatives. It focuses specifically on women’s cooperatives in mountain areas producing grains, such as durum wheat and barley, and the processing of grains into marketable food products. Food products derived from cereals, such as couscous, offer real economic development opportunities for rural women’s cooperatives. The added value of these processed products can reach more than ten times the selling price of harvested cereals, offering promising market prospects both nationally and internationally, where demand for local, healthy and nutritious foods is growing. Thanks to its extensive experience in implementing on-the-ground projects in rural areas, OXFAM supports several dozen women’s cooperatives targeted by MountainHer in Morocco in improving their governance, helping to consolidate their knowledge and confidence, in order to overcome social barriers and develop equitable and sustainable businesses. Women farmers are thus supported by experts in strengthening their skills, in terms of entrepreneurial management, administrative logistics, access to financing, traditional and digital markets, and sales and marketing. For their part, researchers from INRA and ICARDA appo are using their scientific research expertise to offer farmers varieties of cereals more adapted to mountain areas and the challenges of climate change, promoting their resilience. Thus, for two years, several varieties of cereals have been tested in the INRA experimental station at Annoceur in the province of Séfrou, and farmers are regularly invited to discover them and share their impressions. Cooperatives are also made aware of the importance of using local cereals with superior nutritional qualities, and of the need for a transition towards more sustainable agricultural technologies, such as agroecology promoted by the Moroccan government. The MountainHer project thus develops a global approach that intervenes throughout the value chain: “From farm to fork”, by promoting social inclusion, encouraging income generation and reducing the impact of agriculture on the environment, while highlighting the importance of governance and equity.
