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The US State Department announced a grant now open for proposals aimed at boosting inclusive economic growth in Laayoune and Dakhla, southern Morocco.
The US mission announced the news on Tuesday, noting that the funding covers a $500,000 budget.
Grants.gov, an official website of the US government, has emphasized that competitive proposals will support activities targeting underserved communities, including the empowerment of women, youth, and people with disabilities.
“The beneficiaries should receive some combination of soft and job skills along with entrepreneurship training,” the statement added, noting that the bids need to be innovative to support civil society in the regions.
“The project will also help create the economic conditions that, in turn, allow associations and businesses to organize and approach local officials on questions and issues important to them, whether resource allocation or gender equity,” the source added.
The project reflects America’s determination to continue boosting Morocco’s development in the region.
Through Morocco’s New Development Model (NDM), King Mohamed VI aims to turn the country’s southern provinces into an engine of development at the regional and continental levels.
Morocco also seeks to boost the GDP of southern provinces from $988 million to $2.2 billion between 2010 and 2025 as well as to create 120 jobs.
In addition, the US grant also reflects the country’s position supporting Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
In December 2020, the Trump administration signed a proclamation supporting Morocco’s territorial integrity. Notably, the proclamation described the Moroccan Autonomy Plan as the most serious and credible path to a lasting and realistic political solution to the dispute over Western Sahara.
Not only US
In addition to the US grant, there have recently been converging reports that France is also seeking to fund projects in the southern provinces of Morocco.
According to Africa Intelligence, Paris seeks to boost its investment in Western Sahara.
This comes amid France’s efforts to mend diplomatic ties with Morocco. It is time for France and Morocco to “move forward” in further deepening their relations, the French foreign minister said last February during a visit to Rabat, arguing that his country has supported the Moroccan autonomy plan since it was first presented to the UN Security Council in 2007.
Similarly, the French ambassador to Morocco, Christophe Lecourtier, stressed last month that France was “among the first [countries] to say that it [the Moroccan Autonomy Plan] was a good solution.”
“Perhaps we did not give enough signals, and we should have expressed our positions more openly,” the French diplomat noted, signaling France’s readiness to embrace the Moroccan plan by saying that Paris “has chosen to move forward” and cement its relationship with Rabat.
