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Rabat – Nouzha Bouchareb, a member of the Popular Movement (MP) political party, will serve as the new minister of housing and urban policy. She replaced Abdelahad El Fassi Fihri, whose Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) decided to withdraw from their coalition with the ruling Justice and Development Party (PJD).
Bouchareb is one of four women on the list of 23 ministers who will serve on the updated government after its reshuffle on Wednesday, October 9.
Born in Tangier, Bouchareb is known as a women’s rights advocate, fighting for gender equality in high impact positions within the government.
In May 2019, she organized a seminar about “The position of women in Morocco’s political scene.” Bouchareb is the president of Connecting Group International, a cross-sector international network aiming to improve women’s positions in organizations.
The new minister earned a PhD in environment and territorial development from the Mohammadia School of Engineers, in Rabat. She also graduated from the Higher Institute for Business and Management (ISCAE).
Bouchareb is a national council member of MP, and the president of the women’s section of the Harakie movement, a division of MP comprised of the younger members of the party.
The official has already served as an expert consultant within several ministry departments. She also worked for international organizations such as the World Bank, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).
One of the main issues Bouchareb will need to tackle as minister of housing and urban policy is the problem of slums. In 2004, Morocco launched the “Cities Without Slums” programme, targeting 85 Moroccan cities with the aim of making them “slum-free.”
The programme was expected to end by 2011. However, 2018 statistics from the ministry of housing declared that the project met its goals in only 58 out of the 85 target cities.
