In 1978, a group of young students and teachers formed a popular university called Intilaqa to promote the culture and emancipation of civil society in the Rif region. Its slogan was: We don’t live on bread alone!

Twenty years later, and after a critical evaluation of the experience of Intilaqa, which was very valuable but also very controversial, a group of founders and coordinators of the NGO decided to change course. A new organisation was formed under the name of CECODEL. Its slogan was now: We don’t live on culture alone!

Bread and culture are fundamentally inseparable, because what is at stake is neither one nor the other, but living with dignity in a changing environment where civil society is increasingly called upon to offer solutions to a multitude of problems inherited from a difficult past, and to address concerns about a future whose outlook is uncertain.

It is not easy working for an NGO for development in the Rif. Here, every time you try to take the initiative, it seems like you are starting from scratch. Work in the Rif is a vast undertaking, where everything has to be done (or done again): we need to rebuild what was destroyed (and this includes man himself) and build the future that is ahead of us. This is why the risk is so great and is always a gamble.

CECODEL is already seven years old. We have spent these seven years putting the pieces of our organisation together in order to give it shape, and above all to equip it with meaningful substance. And to translate our philosophy into concrete actions, we were obliged not only to sacrifice a large amount of our time, and support our basic infrastructure with our own funds (our limited incomes have been the main source of funds for nearly three years), but also to demonstrate exemplary patience when putting in all this effort, since we believe that working in such a difficult terrain as the Rif (where institutional support for development, both locally and nationally, is almost unheard of) requires, through force of circumstance, this exemplary patience.

During our seven years of existence, we have been putting the pieces of our organisation together with great effort in many areas: work identifying and diagnosing problems, small projects supporting the needy, meetings, debates, and training seminars. We have been out in the countryside and in the towns, trying to pay close attention to the reality of the situation and listen to people’s needs. The task of a development agency is far from easy: how – on the basis of people’s needs, which are often very personal and subjective – do you express the needs of this complex social, cultural and historic entity which we call the Rif?

It is true that with the dedication, sacrifice, and exemplary patience we have shown, we have been able to gain support and projects. We already have twenty projects to our name (both those we have already completed and those currently underway). It is true that with our partners we have been able to jointly manage – with transparency and a degree of success – finances totalling around four million euros. With these projects we are learning how to manage money differently, how to run things on a cooperative basis, and to deal with life. The game of democracy begins here. To be or not to be democratic, that is the question.

Our projects, our messages. In this region that is so close yet so far from the rest of the world, at the margins of a Morocco that aims to modernise itself, what we hope to do via our projects is send out a message, primarily to our own people, to remind them that where there’s a will, there’s a way. Our messages are also focused on peace and the future. In Morocco, a land of tolerance, we promote the development of hope and peace, alongside work, cooperation and friendship between peoples.

Our projects, our messages. With our projects, we are ever-aware that women are important, that children are our future and that rural areas are there to support us. CECODEL is for everybody, but is aimed essentially at women, children and poor rural communities. In seven years, CECODEL has gone from being an NGO made up of men to an NGO made up of men and women (today, the ratio is almost fifty-fifty). It has gone from being an NGO based on ideas to an NGO based on ideas and practice in the vast field of sustainable development. With our willingness to listen, and also to act, we are already starting to see how hope is emerging again in a region that has long been pushed to the sidelines.

Nor is the task at hand easy when it comes to looking for support, convincing potential partners, and getting local people involved. From the hundreds of contacts we have made and a vast campaign communicating our work in search of support, the response has been minimal. We understand very well what is happening here: very few people, if any at all, want to take the risk of working in a totally new field, where the words NGO and development are still rare!

If we had to assess the past seven years of CECODEL’s existence, we would have to do it with our eyes set firmly on the future and putting our money on change and development. That’s the goal of the project!

CECODEL is itself a project, or better still, a vehicle for a project. With CECODEL, what we really plan to do is nurture projects. As a project, CECODEL can be seen as a vehicle for development and a space for the communication and creation of constructive ideas. As a project, CECODEL is also a platform for social action working towards a fairer and more dignified society.

And just like all projects, dedication and sacrifice are not enough in themselves. Development is a plural and collective undertaking. CECODEL’s mission for the following ten years is to transform the Rif from an arid terrain into a big worksite, but this is not possible without considerable support from local institutions and our European partners, in whose countries many members of our diaspora and workforce are offering their services and increasing profits. Nor is it possible without raised awareness on the part of local authorities and our fellow citizens about the need to take a step towards substantial change and sustainable development.

 Kais Marzouk El Ouariachi