Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – King Mohammed VI inaugurated the youth platform “Argana” for listening and guidance in the commune of Ait Melloul, near Agadir, central Morocco, on Wednesday, February 12.
The establishment is part of the third phase of Morocco’s National Initiative for Human Development (INDH). The initiative, launched in 2005, aims to combat territorial disparities and improve the living conditions of citizens.
The new project is expected to improve the income and economic inclusion of young people. It seeks to provide youth of the region with a variety of tools to stimulate their initiative and entrepreneurship spirit, as well as guaranteeing them better socio-economic integration in the long-term.
The project will also enable young people in the Souss-Massa region to benefit from the Integrated Program to Support and Finance Enterprises, launched on January 27. The program includes several measures to finance young entrepreneurs and small businesses.
The youth platform cost nearly MAD 7 million (nearly €662,400). It houses a reception room along with several spaces for entrepreneurship, employment, and discussion. Other facilities include an auditorium, workshop spaces, a media library, a sports hall, and a mini-football field.
The platform will represent a meeting point for the various actors involved in integrating youth and responding to their expectations. The initiative aims to facilitate the access of young people to information on the labor market and to encourage them to set up their own businesses.
A staff specialized in orienting, listening, and supporting the young people through the launch of their professional projects will supervise the “Argana” platform.
Promoting innovation and creativity
In addition to the platform, the King inaugurated two more projects under the INDH. The first project, “Dar Momkin” is a cultural space in the Lagouira neighborhood, Agadir. The second, “Les Etoiles du Souss” is also a cultural space, in the El Farah neighborhood.
“Dar Momkin” required a budget of nearly MAD 6.7 billion (around €634 million). It offers a space for young people, aged 18 to 28, to develop vocational skills and learn new ones.
The cultural space aims to promote critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, openness to others, and citizenship values. It offers reading, writing, theater, music, and filming activities.
“Les Etoiles du Souss” is the third center of its kind in Morocco after “Les Etoiles de Sidi Moumen” in Casablanca and “Les Etoiles du Detroit” in Tangier. The project is initiated by the Ali Zaoua Foundation, created in 2009 by the filmmaker Nabil Ayouch and the artist Mahi Binebine.
The center represents a place of learning, discovery, sharing, and expression. It currently has 240 enrollees aged between 6 and 28 years. Around 53% of the enrollees are girls.
“Les Etoiles du Souss” offers lessons in theater, plastic arts, dance, music, and foreign languages, provided by 13 teachers.
Multibillion initiative
On the same day of the inaugurations, King Mohammed VI delivered 28 minibuses, including 26 school buses and two buses for the transport of athletes, to the presidents of rural communes of the region.
The minibuses are also part of the INDH and aim to improve schooling conditions, combat school dropout, and promote sports activities.
The third phase of the INDH, programmed between 2019 and 2023, mobilizes a budget of MAD 18 billion (about €1.7 billion). It revolves around four main programs, namely improving infrastructure and basic services, supporting people in precarious situations, improving the income and economic inclusion of young people, and developing Morocco’s human capital.
