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A few days ago, the Oulja Conference Palace in Sale became the setting for what Morocco’s Ministry of Solidarity, Social Inclusion, and the Family described as a “historic turning point” in the organization of social work professions.
Under the banner “Organizing Social Work Professions: A Lever for Improving Social Services,” the National Meeting on the Social Work Professions Program brought together ministers, government officials, university representatives, training institutions, professional associations, international organizations, civil society actors, and media, a gathering whose very composition provides testimony that reflected the weight of the occasion. At its center: the official handing over of accreditations to the first cohort of certified social workers in Morocco’s history.
Moroccan Minister of Solidarity, Social Integration and the Family, Naima Ben Yahya, positioned this event in the context of a broader social dynamic led by King Mohammed VI, a will rooted in strengthening the foundations of the social state. Royal speeches, she stressed, have consistently emphasized the inseparability of economic development and social progress, and the imperative to improve citizens’ living conditions as a national priority.
It is worth noting that Morocco has recently undertaken large-scale social reforms in this domain: the Generalization of Social Protection, the Direct Social Support Program, the Family Code revision, among others. The professionalization of social workers, the minister argued, has not only been desirable but necessary as well, a condition for having human labor with the professional and legal instruments to accompany a society undergoing rapid transformation.
Institutional reform reshapes social work sector in Morocco
The social landscape of Morocco is undergoing deep changes. Increasing rates of aging, changing family structures, and growing female participation in the labor market have all combined to create an increased demand for care and social support services, for children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and women in vulnerable situations. In this context, the Ministry made a decisive shift: away from social work as an individually initiated and voluntary model towards legally and institutionally based professions with professional categories, credentials for entry to practice, and standards of behavior enforced by ethical governance arrangements.
The first institutional or legal structure for this shift was provided by Law 45.18, enacted in March 2024. The law and its implementing texts determined the professional categories and sub-categories of social work, defined the conditions for accreditation and established standards in terms of professional practice. The Sale ceremony marked the law’s first tangible translation into lived professional reality.
The first certified cohort numbers 522 social workers, of whom 360 are women. Minister Ben Yahya cited this figure as evidence of women’s strong presence in the social work sector, and as an expression of the state’s commitment to advance their economic and social integration within the formal economy. This is far from incidental: in a field long sustained by t female labor, formal recognition carries symbolic weight and structural implications.
To support the large-scale rollout of accreditation, the Ministry established 12 regional offices, supported by provincial branches, to receive and assist with social workers’ application files. A total of 120 supervisors were trained to staff these offices and maintain service quality. Alongside this territorial network, the Ministry developed “Ishhad,” a digital platform that now serves as the primary channel for registration and processing of accreditation applications. The system streamlines procedures, improves transparency, and allows each file to be tracked electronically across its various stages of review.
The Sale meeting was also an opportunity to showcase the wider programmatic horizon of organizing social work in Morocco. At the level of training, the Ministry announced that it has expanded the network of social work institutes at a national level and signed partnerships with target universities and specialized institutions to enhance its training offerings, whilst, importantly, launching three new institutes in three regions of the North African country to accommodate ever-increasing demand for qualified social competencies.
The Ministry also introduced dedicated mechanisms to assess practitioner’s experience, alongside complementary training programs designed to help those who do not meet the academic requirements to gradually transition into fulfilling the new accreditation standards. The Minister described this transition as “smooth and equitable,” emphasizing the presence of a workforce that was part of Moroccan society long before there was even a framework to recognize it.
Toward organized professional representation in social work
The Ministry declared that it is preparing to create the National Union and regional professional associations for social workers, representative bodies that will help structure the sector, develop an ethical charter, and protect social workers’ rights on professional matters.
Perhaps most futuristically of all, Ben Yahya described professionalizing the field of social work as a lever for creating what she calls Morocco’s growing “care economy,” positioning it as one of Morocco’s most promising emerging sectors, capable simultaneously of creating employment and driving social and economic development.
She bolstered this argument with data from the International Labor Organization (ILO), which estimates that investing in care professions could create roughly 280 million jobs around the world by 2030 and a further 19 million, mostly in the fields of care work, elderly care, and assistance for people with disabilities, by 2035. This framing situates the social work profession not at the periphery of development policy in a context such as Morocco, which is undergoing both demographic transition and economic formalization, but rather as part of its productive core.
The logic is compelling: a regulated, qualified, and accountable social workforce does not merely improve service delivery. It creates formal employment, drives funding into training infrastructure, and builds a legitimate ecosystem, from specialist consultancies to accredited care homes/accountable institutions, that makes tangible contributions to the national economy.
The ceremony held on May 20 was described by all present as historic, and it is a fair description. Morocco has transitioned, for the first time, from legislating social work as a profession to certifying its practitioners. The inaugural cohort of 522 accredited social workers is not just a group of professionals; it is an entire system’s proof of concept.
However, milestones only derive meaning from what comes after. Expanding the “Ishhad” platform, launching new pedagogical institutions, activating professional unions, and mapping pathways for experienced practitioners, these are all components of the ongoing labor that will decide whether May 20, 2026 is remembered as a start or simply an event.
Minister Ben Yahya concluded her speech by calling for collective engagement: government sectors, occupation & vocational training institutions, universities, professional associations, international partners, and social workers themselves. This call echoes what Law 45.18 has always required, and that is not only a legal framework but also a professional community willing to inhabit it and populate it.
Morocco’s social workers have their first accreditations. The profession, at last, has its foundation.
