Morocco plans new youth centers

A new program in Morocco will see the construction of hundreds of training and recreation spaces for youth.

By Naoufel Cherkaoui for Magharebia in Rabat – 05/01/11

Morocco will build about 500 new youth centers throughout the country in the next two years, as part of a national plan to expand activities, training and other resources for young people.

"Since the beginning of 2010, we've been working on preparing for the Integrated Youth Strategy," Younes El Jouhari of the Youth and Sports Ministry said about the initiative announced December 24th.

"We're now preparing mechanisms for facilitating its implementation," he told Magharebia.

"We've already signed program contracts with 450 youth associations," he said.

According to the ministry official, the new centers "will feature venues for partnership, employment, training, health care, as well as a space for music and an outdoor theater".

"The projects that the Ministry of Youth plans to execute are a good initiative and will help train young people and develop their abilities," Taoufik Mghiz of Skhirat-based Basma Association for Development and Combat of Poverty told Magharebia.

"The policy of nearness that the ministry has adopted will be clearer than before, given the big number of centers that are planned, which would necessarily include a large number of trainees. All of that will be positively reflected on young people."

For Mghiz, however, "the issue of not providing free-of-charge access to these centers is still a negative point".

"I'm against the principle of not providing free-of-charge access in this regard, as we all know the economic level of many Moroccan young people," he said. "Therefore, I suggest setting the subscription fee at 10 or 20 [dirhams] only."

Mohamed Sadki, president of the University of Skhirat, agrees that the admission cost is problematic.

"The ministry's vision is difficult to be implemented on the ground. I think that these buildings will be empty at a time when the categories that are targeted in this project will be in a tough situation. Therefore, it will be difficult for them to pay the subscription fee," he told Magharebia.

"I think they should have offered financial incentives to young people so as to join these centers," he added.

For his part, Afak Association chief Mohamed Fliou finds nothing wrong with the admission fee policy for the new centers, "provided that the financial capabilities of young people are taken into consideration".

"The Integrated Youth Strategy is very positive and may cover most of the needs of young people," said Fliou, whose organization supports youth with special needs and developmental disabilities.

In response to critics, the youth ministry's Younes El Jouhari pointed out that "existing youth centers are accessed by paying financial subscriptions, in spite of their modest level, as compared to the new centers that will be managed by associations, which will alone benefit from the revenues of these subscriptions".

"These subscriptions will be nominal and therefore affordable to young people," he added.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/01/05/feature-03.