VZCZCXRO6532
RR RUEHLMC
DE RUEHRB #0638/01 0971827
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071827Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3342
INFO RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 1532

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RABAT 000638 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMCA EAID ECON SOCI MO
SUBJECT: MCA: MOROCCO HOLDS NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE WORKSHOP 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  On March 28-29, the GOM hosted a national 
consultative workshop with NGOs, local associations, 
academics, private sector representatives and members of the 
international donor community as part of its consultation 
process for developing a compact proposal to access funds 
from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).  While hastily 
organized and not always following its original schedule, the 
event allowed a large portion of civil society the 
opportunity to express their concerns regarding the various 
factors that affect poverty reduction in Morocco and their 
opinions of how to use MCA funding to address these problems. 
 The GOM speakers noted that it would hold regional meetings 
in the future to broaden the consultative process.  Few 
participants seemed to notice that there was little time for 
this unless the GOM significantly delays the submission of 
its compact proposal, currently scheduled for April 15, but 
likely to slip.  Most participants appeared less 
concerned/familiar with internal MCA procedures and focused 
more on the magnitude of the MCA program and the fact that 
the GOM had asked them for their opinion.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) In an effort to meet the Millennium Challenge 
Corporation's (MCC) request for broad, national consultations 
with  Moroccan stakeholders, the GOM invited approximately 
475 representatives from every region of Morocco to a 
consultative session in Ouarzazate March 28-29.  Organizers 
told econoff that 98-99 percent of those invited had 
attended.  The GOM chartered two Boeing 767s to transport the 
invitees from Casablanca to the desert town of Ouarzazate and 
paid for their accommodations. 
 
¶3.  (U) The GOM's Joint National Workshop was originally 
planned for March 25-26, but was rescheduled to March 28-29 
approximately one week before.  The night before the hastily 
organized event, participants received a nine page summary 
covering the basics of the MCA program, the GOM's current 
compact proposal, and King Mohammed VI's National Initiative 
for Human Development (INDH), which served as the basis for 
the GOM's original MCA proposal.  While the summary was 
informative, most participants appeared to have only an 
elementary understanding of the MCA program. 
 
¶4.  (U) Opening statements by Prime Minister Driss Jettou and 
the Ministry of Finance's Director of Studies and Financial 
Planning Mohamed Chafiki helped inform the audience of the 
GOM's proposal to use MCA funds to address agriculture, oases 
(and related water issues) and the INDH.  The GOM hoped that 
members of the audience would select spokespersons to address 
the issues that affect them, but with such a large audience 
and no opportunity for audience members to organize among 
themselves, this proved impossible.  As a result, there was 
momentary disorder as a large number of participants insisted 
on addressing their issues directly to the audience. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) On the positive side, participants demonstrated 
great interest in the program and a determination to be heard 
by the GOM and included in the consultative process. 
However, the large number of speakers necessitated changing 
the schedule of the conference and took potential time away 
from an actual discussion of the problems.  As a result, well 
over 100 people briefly addressed the audience on the first 
day of the conference.  While some of the speakers made clear 
and impassioned pleas for their causes, numerous others were 
simply rambling, redundant and time consuming.  The 
proceedings finally ended at 8:00 PM with a surprisingly 
positive mood because a large number of people were able to 
tell the GOM about their problems.  This alone probably 
validates the MCC's claim that the GOM needed to expand its 
consultative process.  Many participants told econoff they 
were pleased with the meeting because it was the first time 
the GOM had ever consulted them on the problems confronting 
their communities. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Early on the first day, the moderator of the 
conference organized two teams of rapporteurs to take notes 
and accept written studies from the participants as the basis 
for a two-hour discussion period on the second day of the 
conference and for a final report on the findings of the 
meeting.  A report of the proceedings that should be 
available by mid-April could be helpful for future meetings 
in the consultation process and the next compact proposal. 
However, a tight schedule still exists to incorporate the 
results of this meeting, and subsequent ones, into the GOM's 
next MCA compact proposal, given the GOM interest in rapid 
progress on the compact. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The second day of the proceedings concluded after 
 
RABAT 00000638  002 OF 002 
 
 
only 42 minutes.  The planned two-hour discussion of the 
lessons of the first day was reduced to a 10 minute summary 
of key points.  Interestingly, the first lesson learned that 
the moderator noted was that civil society was not 
sufficiently involved in the consultative process.  The 
second issue mentioned was a lack of coordination between 
civil society organizations and their failure to sufficiently 
monitor the results of their programs.  Of the other 
approximately 50 issues raised, some of the more prominent 
included improving the infrastructure of water resources, 
rationalizing land ownership, promoting micro credit lending, 
fighting illiteracy, increasing agricultural production and 
food processing, assisting the fishing industry and promoting 
traditional artisans.  Surprisingly, only one speaker on the 
first day suggested that legislative changes would be 
necessary to help assure the success of potential GOM 
programs. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Comment.  For the most part, the participants of 
the GOM's Joint National Workshop left the meeting happy that 
they had been asked for their opinions on the problems 
confronting Morocco.  The meeting failed to produce in-depth 
discussions of the problems.  However, it allowed many 
Moroccans to voice their questions and problems directly to 
the GOM for the first time.  Regional consultation meetings 
were scheduled to start in early April and the participants 
clearly heard the message that this conference was the 
beginning of the consultative process, not the end.  Although 
time is very short before the GOM submits its next compact 
proposal, this meeting may represent an important early step 
in the growing participation of Moroccan civil society in 
formulating public policy. 
****************************************** 
Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat 
****************************************** 
 
Riley