USAID, UM6P, and GiveDirectly Partner on Cooperative Resilience Program

Today, at University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) in its Campus at Benguerir, Morocco, UM6P President Hicham El Habti, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power, and GiveDirectly Vice President of Partnerships Yolande Wright signed a Memorandum of Understanding to launch the Cooperative Resilience Program, a new initiative focused on supporting Morocco and its people to adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis. 

The program will provide training, coaching, and climate financing for vulnerable cooperatives and entrepreneurs primarily in rural areas, strengthening their capacity to adapt to climate change, grow their economic activities, and build resilience to climate shocks and water scarcity.  It is the first component of USAID/Morocco’s new climate portfolio and includes funding from USAID, UM6P, and GiveDirectly. The program will also be conducted in close collaboration with the Government of Morocco’s National Initiative for Human Development.

The program will provide cash transfers ranging from $3,000 to $9,000 of climate financing to more than 1,000 cooperatives and entrepreneurs, helping them to invest in equipment, raw materials, and improved techniques and processes that catalyze sustainable economic development and resilience to climate impacts. It will also foster collaboration among local  cooperatives, entrepreneurs, private sector, academia, the Government of Morocco, and international partners for sustainable socio-economic development. 

USAID, UM6P, and GiveDirectly designed the Cooperative Resilience Program in close collaboration with local cooperatives, some of whom met with the signatories prior to the MOU signing. Many of the cooperatives who participated in the program design had received previous support from a USAID initiative with GiveDirectly that provided a total of $14 million to over 1,600 vulnerable cooperatives during times of crisis and uncertainty, including the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing drought, global inflation, and the Al Haouz earthquake. Others benefited from the Mourafaka program, a spin-off of the UM6P’s Social Innovation Lab, which supports newly created cooperatives.
 

Contacts: 

Katie Bercegeay, USAID/Morocco: kbercegeay@usaid.gov, +212 (666694885
Khaoula Hafidi, UM6P: khaoula.HAFIDI@um6p.ma, +212 6 66 17 14 89
Sara Chedad, GiveDirectly: sara.cheddad@givedirectly.org, +212 (0) 618 828 388

About USAID

The United States Agency for Development (USAID) is an independent United States federal government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the U.S. Secretary of State. USAID supports international development and advances U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting economic growth, agriculture and trade, global health, democracy and conflict mitigation and management; and humanitarian assistance in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, North Africa and Arabian Peninsula, Asia and the Near East, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe and Eurasia. The U.S.-Morocco development partnership dates back to 1957, when the two countries signed an agreement in which the United States committed to providing a program of economic and technical assistance to Morocco. For further information, visit usaid.gov or usaid.gov/morocco.

About UM6P

University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) is a Moroccan university focusing on developing solutions to specific continental and more broadly global challenges. UM6P is oriented towards education and research, with strong links to industry, business, and innovation. The university commits itself to empowering a new generation of talents that will build and lead the future of Africa. It has a total of 5684 students, including 721 PhD students, with a research and academic community representing 33 nationalities.

UM6P sets sight on responding to the various needs of African economies. From its main campus in Benguerir, near Marrakech, and its branches in Rabat, Laayoune and Paris, the university offers a new kind of learning environment, inspiring innovation and entrepreneurship through its Living Labs and peer-to-peer learning philosophy. With academic departments and research programs spanning science and technology, business and management, humanities, and medicine, and based on a research solving-problem approach, UM6P is designed to benefit not only Africa, but the world as well.

For more information please visit: https://www.um6p.ma/en

About GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly is a nonprofit that lets donors send money directly to the world’s poorest. Founded in 2009, GiveDirectly delivers cash grants to recipients in refugee camps, informal urban settlements, and remote villages. In the last decade, GiveDirectly has delivered $800 million to over 1.48 million people across 14 countries, such as DRC, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, USA, Togo, Turkey, Yemen, and Morocco. The impact of their work has been measured by a dozen randomized controlled trials, which have shown positive improvement in nutrition, earnings, self-reliance, and women’s empowerment. On average, $0.90 of each dollar donated is delivered into the hands of recipients, mostly individuals or households. To learn more, visit GiveDirectly.org.