Nando Peretti Foundation | Construction of a hostel for young girls Project Description

Construction of a hostel for young girls

Project location: MOROCCO
Project start date: November 2005 - Project end date: November 2007
Project number: 2005-16

(photos of a pre-existing foyer)

The Fundation Mohammed V acts following a two-fold strategy:

1. Humanitarian Actions:

Assisting the needy, people in insecure situations and victims of natural disasters
Providing financial and logistical assistance to associations operating in the social field
Helping the needy to have a better access to health care

2. Action aimed at integration, development and improvement of living conditions (especially in rural areas)

Increasing the income of the needy
Reducing the precariousness of housewives, the disabled
Mitigating the impact of poverty on children

The foundation Mohammed V has (until end of May 2005) 42 hostels for young girls in rural areas in order to keep them at school, at least for primary education. The total number of girls concerned are 4.800. The issue of education drop-out is considered an important part of education difficulties encountered in Morocco. The number is dangerously high for the children entering the first year of the secondary cycle and concerns particularly girls from the rural medium. It finds its causes in aspects related to the precariousness of family media, and in the parents fear to separate from their girls, strained to continue their studies in colleges situated mainly in urban areas.

This project financed by the Nando Peretti Foundation aimed at

Encouraging the schooling of young girls
Contributing to decrease of the school rate of abandonment
Developing solidarity with the needy families

The objectives of the hostel for young girls are to accommodate and lodge the needy girls, particularly those issued from the rural medium, in order to create an educational environment and a decent housing, supporting their continuation of schooling under best conditions.

The hostels have generally a capacity of reception varying between 80 and 100 girls and are built on an average surface of 1.500 m2, including about 750 m2 of floor.

The installations of the hostels consist generally of a room of study, a multimedia room, bedrooms, a refectory, a kitchen, a room of monitoring and medical blocks.

The management framework is generally created through conventions between the Fondation Mohammed V for Solidarity, local authorities, economic operators and associations. A supervising committee is created with the charge of following up all the management and operational procedures.

The committee is in charge of establishing, on an annual basis, candidates list that is analysed regarding specific criteria such as origin, social situation, age, school results.

Similar hostels have been constructed by the Fondation Mohammed V throughout several regions in Morocco. These projects, based on standardized specifications of cost and technical aspects, have demonstrated the pertinences of such approach to address the problem of education drop-out.