Yallah: A Life Skills program promoting Math, Science, and Peacebuilding in El Hajeb, Morocco Student: [Scarlett Sanudo Cox] Supervisor: [Alberto Cabedo Mas] Tutor: [Alberto Cabedo Mas] Castellón, [October, 2018] Abstract For the past 20 years the Maghreb region of North Africa has been experiencing a rise in youth unemployment. This has been brought on by a youth bulge, a small increase of positions in the private sector and decrease of positions in the public sector, and a mismatch of skills necessary for employment. Many youths leave university unable to find employment because their degrees in humanities or language studies do not adequately prepare them for private sector employment. As seen in the Arab Spring in Tunisia, lack of employment can result in feelings of deprivation which can escalate to violence. One proposed programmatic method has been to change the focus in education towards science and mathematics. This project will propose a program which teaches life skills and promotes Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics- (STEM-) for young women at youth centers (Dar Chebab) in the Atlas Mountains near universities in Ifrane, Fez and Meknes. The program would be enacted in collaboration with Peace Corps volunteers and national volunteers of Morocco. The proposal for this project will be primarily based on academic research and anecdotal experience working with the United States Peace Corps at a youth center in El Hajeb, Morocco. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ...............................................................................................…...1 1.1 Relevance to Peace and Development……………………………..………..4 1.2 UN Programs related to Youth and Peacebuilding……………………….....6 1.3 The Capability Approach………………........................................................8 2 Education ...........................................................................................................9 2.2 Education in Morocco ....................................................................................9 2.3 Female Representation in Moroccan Education............................................10 3 Development Approaches ................................................................................11 3.1 Active Labour Market Programs............................................ ……………...11 3.2 Moroccan Governmental Initiatives………………………………………...13 3.3 Initiatives in the Maghreb………….……………………………………......14 3.3.1 Tunisia…………………………………………………………......4 3.4 Initiatives through Non-Governmental Organizations ...................................17 3.5 Science and Technology Based Programs ......................................................19 3.6 Dar Si Hmad............................................................................. ……………..20 3.7 The US Peace Corps……………………………………………………........21 4 Project ...............................................................................................................23 4.1 Preconditions……………………………………...........................................23 4.2 Justification………………………………………………………………….24 4.3 Objectives…………………………………………………………………....24 4.4 Inspiration for Project………………………………………………………..24 4.4 Stakeholder Analysis………………………………………………………...25 4.5 El Hajeb……………………………………………………………………...27 4.6 Sustainability………………………………………………………………...28 4.7 Implementation……………………………………........................................29 4.7 Calendar of Implementation…………………………………………………32 4.8 Resources……….……………………………………………………………35 4.9Limitations……………………………………………………………………36 5 Future Proposals……………………………………………………………….38 6 Conclusion……………………………………………......................................38 7 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………...41 Appendix 1: Table of Constraints and Interventions…………………………….45 Appendix 2: Stakeholder Analysis Table…………………………………………46 Appendix 3: Life Skills and Leadership Manual Table of Contents……………...48 Appendix 4: STEM Table of Contents……………………………………………49 1 Introduction The Maghreb region, consisting of Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco has one of the highest rates of youth unemployment globally. While these three countries have made great strides in the availability of public education, committing roughly 20 percent of their budgets to education (Subrahmanyam 2011, p. 5), there is still a disconnect between the education youth receive and the needs of the labour market. This commitment to education is positive, as the current generation in the Maghreb is much better educated than older generations. The literacy rate in Tunisia, for example, grew from 16 percent in 1955 to 74 percent in 2003 (Subrahmanyam, 2011, p.5). However, due to the previously mentioned disconnect between education and the needs of the labour market, the education youth receive does not make them competitive applicants both nationally and internationally. This results in large populations of university- educated students untrained for what is needed by the actual labour market. While this population may have the financial resources to attend university, they are still vulnerable to poverty and unemployment. In fact, a university education is now known to make youth less hireable. In 2003 it was found that 61 percent of young people with higher education in Morocco were unemployed (Subrahmanyam, 2011 p.7). Universities have created an oversupply of students in arts and humanities-based subjects, while there is an undersupply of engineers, scientists and technicians. These are noted as careers which drive economic growth in other regions. The private sector would rather hire skilled workers, and what the universities produce are unskilled youth with specialties in ‘soft’ subjects (Subrahmanyam, 2011 p.7). While more students may be educated, that does not mean that there are more opportunities available or created for those students. 2 (Population Pyramid, 2015) Unemployment in the Maghreb is also affected by quite a large youth bulge, as youth aged 15- 30 make up most of the population. These ‘youth bulges’ occur at one point in nearly every country, when rapid mortality and fertility rates slow down, meaning that more infants and children survive childhood. This later results in a large group of young people at the prime working age. The above population pyramid demonstrates Morocco’s youth bulge, as of the 2015 census. According to the 2015 census, women ages 15 to 30 makeup 12.9 percent of the population, and men make up 13.3 percent, 3 creating a country with 26.2 percent of its citizens between ages of 15 and 30 (Population Pyramid, 2015). Youth in Morocco, if we define youth as people between the ages of 15 and 30, constitute over a fourth of the population. Although they make up a large portion of the population, they are challenged with marginalization, exclusion from the labour market, and misrepresentation in governance. If handled strategically, youth bulges can be a great opportunity for countries and their labour markets. This has been the case in countries such as Japan. However, in the case of the Maghreb, “Both supply and demand factors have been responsible for the rise in unemployment. On the supply side rapid population growth of earlier periods has increased the size of the labour force, especially the young, and on the demand side, economic growth and job creation have fallen far behind the labour supply” (Messkoub 2008, p. 12). Job creation has not been fast or sustainable enough for the demand, resulting in a rather large part of the population (i.e. youth and women) facing marginalization and exclusion from the labour force. This also creates a situation where youth are seen both as docile agents in the problem to be solved and the people who created the problem. They are not given the opportunity to change or find solutions to the problem, but instead policy makers decide what is to be done for the youth, especially in terms of unemployment and peacebuilding. This has also created a situation where young Moroccans have felt the need to leave the country to find success. This ´brain drain´ has occurred as educated young Moroccans have not been able to find stable employment which matches their skill set. The fact is that, more than 3 million Moroccans, roughly 10 percent of the total population reside outside of the country (Bordat, et al. 2011, p.98). Many of these young Moroccans, both urban and rural, have emigrated abroad to work as migrant workers. Therefore, the lack of employment has caused young educated Moroccans to take lower level positions in other countries because of an assumed stability and higher wage. Due to this, the United States Peace Corps 4 has reached an agreement with the Kingdom of Morocco to supply skilled youth development volunteers to work with both urban and rural university and secondary students. Peace Corps volunteers work with these youth in terms of gender and development, life skills, community economic development, among other programs. Relevance to Peace and Development The youth unemployment situation in Morocco and associated youth development programs directly relates to positive peace and sustainable development. Positive peace, as outlined by Johan Galtung, is described as a pattern of cooperation and integration within societies, and therefore, as social welfare for all citizens (Galtung, 1983, p.283). This social welfare relates to a society rooted in equality for all citizens, whom are free from economic, social, and political marginalization. As positive peace is more than the absence of violence, programs related to enhancing peace should not