HIBAPRESS – Ahmed Al-Musaid
As part of the National Initiative for Human Development programs for the year 2025, 769 projects and activities were programmed in the Oriental region, with a total financial cost of approximately 244 million dirhams.
The head of the Regional Coordination Department for Human Development in the Oriental region, Hafida Al-Hindouz, highlighted during her presentation on the progress of the National Initiative for Human Development programs in the region for the current year, on the occasion of the meeting of the Regional Committee for Human Development of the region, last Thursday, November 27th, at the headquarters of the Taourirt Province, that the National Initiative contributed more than 186 million dirhams to these projects, i.e. 76 percent. These projects are distributed over 227 projects that have been completed, including 201 in actual operation, and 529 projects in advanced stages of completion. These projects fall within multiple areas, including the rehabilitation and improvement of access to basic services, and support for local economic dynamism through the accompaniment of income-generating activities, in addition to strengthening the elements of social and economic integration of the target groups; contributing to the consolidation of social justice and the reduction of manifestations of fragility. A significant number of the population of the Oriental region, which includes the prefectures of Oujda-Angad (137 projects), and the provinces of Berkane (81), Taourirt (90), Jerada (50), Guercif (98), Driouch (108), Figuig (97), and Nador (108), benefit from these projects, which were presented during this meeting, which was chaired by the Wali of the Oriental region, the governor of the prefecture of Oujda – Angad, Mohamed Attaoui, in the presence of, in particular, the president of the Regional Council, the governors of the provinces of the region, and members of the Regional Committee for Human Development. During this meeting, the results of 20 years of human development in the region (2005-2025) were also presented, which, during its three phases, programmed approximately 11,000 projects with a financial value exceeding 6 billion dirhams, in which the National Initiative contributed more than 63 percent. In its first phase (2005-2010), 1,789 projects were programmed with a financial value exceeding 1,029 million dirhams (62 percent of which was contributed by the initiative), which were directed through its four programs towards reducing social and spatial disparities for the benefit of more than 808,000 beneficiaries (44 percent females) of the most vulnerable groups in the douars and areas that suffer from weak infrastructure. As for the second phase (2011-2018), it witnessed the addition of a fifth program, bringing the total number of projects programmed during it to 4,271 projects, with a financial value exceeding 3.3 billion dirhams, in which the initiative contributed 53 percent (1.7 billion dirhams), and targeted more than two million beneficiaries (44 percent females). The outcome showed that the National Initiative, during its third phase (2019 – 2025), worked to consolidate the previous gains, and reorient its interventions towards the intangible aspects of human capital development, especially those related to the younger generations, through integrated programs that address early childhood, support for schooling and the enhancement of employability, and youth entrepreneurship, where 4,826 projects and activities were programmed at a total financial cost exceeding 2.04 billion dirhams (81 percent contribution of the initiative). In a speech on the occasion, the Wali of the Oriental region, the head of the Regional Committee for Human Development, affirmed that this meeting is an opportunity to recall the size of the transformations that the development system has witnessed thanks to this ambitious royal project, which has reshaped the approach to social justice, and enabled the emergence of a new generation of public policies based on building the human being, establishing the foundations of spatial justice, and consolidating the culture of the spirit of initiative and economic empowerment. He pointed out that the new generation of integrated territorial development programs, which is being prepared in consecration of the high directives of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, which puts the citizen at the heart of his attention, will constitute, within the framework of the convergence and integration with the National Initiative for Human Development project, a qualitative addition that contributes to improving the living conditions of the population by strengthening employment and improving basic social services.
