“On the way towards self-reliable, resilient and sustainable rural communities…”

The Association Ouazzaniyat journey started in 2009 in the rural village of Farraha, with the aim of catalyzing a creative dynamic of development locally.

The BMS has been supporting the Association since the very early stages. This is a pilot project of local development that Association Ouazzaniyat hopes to replicate in other villages around the province of Ouazzane, and elsewhere in Morocco.

The Story of Dar Lilkul Farraha

In 2010, the founders of Association Ouazzaniyat opened a small tutoring class in the village of Farrah, situated around 25 km from Ouazzane. A few months later, it became apparent that the room was too small and not suitable for the number of children attending each day.

The decision was taken to purchase land to build a centre – Dar Lilkul Farraha (House For All of Farraha). Dar Lilkul Farraha is the heart of the project, where all the learning and sharing happens.

Since 2010,  Dar Lilkul Farraha has been offering pre-schooling, after school tutoring, various activities and workshops catering to children and adults, men and women.

As time passed, the big questions of sustainability and autonomy started to emerge.

The overall goal is to make the centre autonomous of external donations so that members of the local community can finance and manage it.

This is where the Dreamseeders Re-learning for change project was born out of a fundamental question: how can the centre be sustained by the community it serves? 

From a simple tutoring initiative, the project moved onto a project of real local development where the local people concerned would not only be beneficiaries but also become agents of their own development.

About Dreamseeders

Dreamseeders is a social enterprise focused on the development of a small village, called Farraha, through education, arts and culture.

Dreamseeders adopts a systemic approach to development that interconnects 5 fundamental elements:

(1) The local community

They are the main participants and stakeholders. It all starts from here!

(2) The land

A quality biophysical environment is the sine qua non condition for human development.

(3) The Learning Center – Dar Lil Kul Farraha

Education is at the root of all development, be it physical, intellectual, psychical, spiritual and social.

(4) The Global Network – www.Dreamseeders.org

The global network of support, DreamSeeders, includes foundations, philanthropists, donors, voluntouristes, project holders…

Everyone is invited to take ownership of the project and collaborate with expertise and advice, time, money…

(5) The Local Association – Ouazzaniyat

It has a role of facilitator, coordinator and regulator. It guarantees the proper functioning of the system and its sustainability.

Ouazzaniyat Association

The Dreamseeders project led to the foundation of the Ouazzaniyat Association in 2011. The Association is the main agent of development on the ground whose mission is to unite, organize and coordinate initiatives to support the community.

Ouazzaniyat Association coordinates all the actions undertaken as part of the DreamSeeders project Re-learning for change.

Actions

Since 2010

Dar Lilkul Farraha has been providing pre-school for the 3 to 6 year olds; afterschool tutoring for the older kids up to 12 years old; training in agro-ecology, permaculture, eco-construction, rain water harvesting, rocket heaters, training for women on traditional wool preparation, and training on eco-tourism for the local youth aged 18 to 30 very soon.

Thanks to a 3-year sponsorship of the Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès from 2014 to 2017, the Association has organized numerous training courses for adults, in the fields of agroecology and eco-construction, bringing new know-how to local workers, for example mass heaters and stoves, “rocket” hammams, as well as cisterns made of ferro-cement.

An educational garden at the Dar Lil-kul centre was created by Raphaël Hannequin.

2022 Update

Since 2010, Ouazzaniyat Association has encouraged men and women of Farraha to express their choices about the type of training that they would like to have so that they can diversify their sources of income.

After years of building the necessary trust between Association Ouazzaniyat and the local community, two cooperatives (wool works and local products) have been created locally. Each has in their statuses the obligation to respect the environment, and to give 10% of their annual profit to the local association that runs the center Dar LilKul Farraha. 

On the request of local women, the Association set up a training workshop in traditional wool preparation. Women now learn to wash, card and spin the wool with the Weaving Cooperative of Ouezzane.

The photographs show wool training for the women, a compost-making workshop, a trip to Moulay on a natural reserve with some of the children.

In March 2021, five women created their own wool cooperative called “Frah man shafha” (“happy is he who sees her”) which works with the women to create quality, eco-friendly products from the wool. 

In February 2022 the Khayrat Ghzawa association was born to produce local products. 

A third cooperative operating in rural tourism is planned before the end of the year.