Under the theme “ The economic inclusion of women in Morocco: challenges, perspectives and measures », a conference was held in the presence, in particular, of the Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills of the Kingdom of Morocco as well as the Minister of Development Cooperation and Major Cities Policy of the Kingdom of Belgium . The event was also attended by many representatives of international and Moroccan institutions involved in the gender issue.
This event was an opportunity to sign the agreement by the Moroccan and Belgian parties and officially mark the launch of the third phase of the Min Ajliki program for the period of 2022-2026. In a press release, the APEFE (Agency for the Promotion of Education and Training Abroad) and the Ministry of Economic Inclusion recalled that the Min Ajliki program is the result of a Belgian-Moroccan partnership with the objective of strengthening the economic empowerment of women in Morocco.
Thus, Younes Sekkouri, and Meryame Kitir, Minister for Development Cooperation and Policy for Large Cities of the Kingdom of Belgium chaired panels in which reflection was focused on the current situation, the challenges of female employment in the Morocco, and the various measures and initiatives put in place to promote the employability of women and female entrepreneurship in Morocco.
The event, co-organized by the Ministry of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills and APEFE, sees the contribution of other actors from other national and international institutions to share with the audience their expertise and experience in the field of female employment.
The current government considers the empowerment of women as one of its priorities for the 2021-2026 mandate, the ministry says, and to this end, it specifies, a roadmap for structuring programs is being put in place. square.
In this sense, it is pointed out, the Ministry of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills is part of the said strategy through programs for the promotion of women’s empowerment, for aspects of entrepreneurship and employability.
Min Ajliki, a growing program
Launched in 2013, the Ministry of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment, and Skills of the Kingdom of Morocco is the main stakeholder in Min Ajliki, this Belgian-Moroccan program which is based on the will Moroccan and Belgian public authorities to promote the economic empowerment of women, considered as an important lever for sustainable and inclusive growth.
Set up by the APEFE and financed by the Belgian Development Cooperation, Min Ajliki aims to act in favor of female employment in Morocco through the improvement of the socio-economic integration of women through the creation of an entrepreneurial activity or the improvement of their employability to access the labor market, explains the same source.
Since its launch, the program has focused on strengthening the action of direct partners in terms of digitalisation, communication and capacity improvement through the support and training of beneficiaries.
The first phase of the Min Ajliki program lasted from 2013 to 2016 and made it possible to contribute to the awareness of 18,000 women to the entrepreneurial spirit, continues the same source, the training of 500 executives in the support of project leaders. , and support for 1,200 pre-creation women’s businesses.
During the second phase, which ran from 2017 to 2021, the program carried out a national intervention and contributed, through its partners, to training more than 20,000 active and/or potential women entrepreneurs, to supporting more than 2,000 women during the formalization of their activities and to create more than 8,000 women’s structures which have made it possible to generate some 10,000 jobs for women. Min Ajliki has also helped create and/or support more than 15 business incubators, coworking spaces or even university spaces to promote student employment and female entrepreneurship, says the same source.
With this third phase, which covers the period 2022-2026, Min Ajliki will rely on several public, private and associative actors, for an advocacy in favor of a better economic empowerment of women through entrepreneurship and employability. The program will also aim to develop an inclusive local offer through the associative fabric.
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