Morocco Villagers Go Alone

The serenity of the hills and valleys surrounding the village of Ait Iktel in Morocco's High Atlas mountains is a sharp contrast to the hardship that has been endured by the people. Ait Iktel's farmers for decades waited for the state to provide the most basic of services: roads, drinking water and electricity.

Then, a few years ago, a severe drought hit the region and not a single drop of water was left in the village. So the farmers stopped waiting.They contacted some of the 28 families that had migrated to the cities and, with their help, the farmers formed their own association. It raised funds from embassies in Rabat, bought an electrical generator and built a water system and a school to educate girls. Ait Iktel's ''self empowerment'' is now being emulated by surrounding villages.

 

It exemplifies a new drive in Morocco to capitalise on village solidarity and entrepreneurship to develop long ignored rural areas. Ait Iktel, 100km from Marrakesh, is one of an estimated 30,000 villages that make up a second Morocco, far from the trendy hotels of Marrakesh and the emerging stock market of Casablanca.

The neglect of rural areas, where 45 per cent of Morocco's nearly 28m population live, was until recently a taboo subject.

But in 1994 a census revealed shocking disparities and mobilised people into action. It showed that only 10 per cent of the rural population enjoyed access to electricity, compared with 81 per cent in urban areas; that only 14 per cent of rural Morocco had access to drinking water, compared with 86 per cent in the cities; and that only 11 per cent of rural girls were literate, compared with 51 per cent in cities.

The results led the Moroccan government to devise a plan to improve access to electricity, drinking water and roads. Although results are already apparent, the needs are so huge that many villages will not be affected for another 20 years. A series of elections this year, started with a local poll yesterday, are also aimed at decentralising decision making and giving Morocco's rural areas more control over resources.

With 75 per cent of Morocco's budget tied up in debt servicing and salaries, and spending constrained by a budget deficit, the government has been encouraging self-empowerment projects in the form of village associations and microcredit agencies to pick up part of the responsibility. Morocco counts many wealthy landowners, but agriculture is exempt from taxes and any attempt to change this and use the funds to develop the regions is politically controversial.

In Ait Iktel, inside the pink and blue-painted interiors, the villagers told the story of how the three water fountains now installed inside the village were saving time, especially for women who traditionally carry the water. Now the girls in the village are learning to read and write; the men have new jobs. Mohamed Amezdan, a farmer, became the treasurer of the association. Mahjoub Ait Ali studied to become an electrician and spent years in the cities looking for work before coming back to his village. Now he is the head of electricity. At the end of each month a few of them knock on every door to read newly installed meters and collect payments.

For most people here, the price of drinking water and four hours of daily electricity is very high. Although those who do not pay face penalties, solidarity in the village is such that someone is always willing to pay for his neighbour. A well-manicured local government official joined the group of development experts from the World Bank who toured the village recently. He explained in great detail the workings of the water system and electrical generation. nFinancial Times

So as not to lose control over areas it cannot afford to develop, the local government keeps itself well informed. In Ait Iktel it has recently suggested a joint effort: the government will turn over to the local association funds that were earmarked for paving the road leading up to the village, in the hope that Ait Iktel will be able to find additional money to carry out the work. The Ait Iktel association is a member of a larger group which was started by migrants who had gone to France but were forced back to a village near Taroudant, further south, after losing their factory jobs. They dreamed of starting their own businesses in their village but had to begin by building the infrastructure. They wanted to have a status but felt defeated. ''In this country, immigration is a form of wealth. You cannot come back and look like a failure,'' explained Ms Aziza Msaaf, an official from Migration and Local Development (MDL), the umbrella organisation which oversees associations in more than 50 villages. The

people of Ait Iktel complain that there is still much to be done: a road, a secondary school, a recreation centre. And Ali Amahan, the head of MDL who comes from Ait Iktel, worries about finding enough funds. Since the associations could theoretically afford to borrow money and be profitable, and the villagers, although the poorest of the poor, are willing to pay, he is trying to woo private entrepreneurs from the cities to venture into the business of rural infrastructure development. The problem was that there were no fortunes to be made, he said. And, so far, there was a kind of mental block. The rural and urban areas were so different that it was hard to find anyone willing to invest. Copyright Financial Times Limited 1997. All Rights Reserved.