A Paradigm Project for the Future

What makes for a great development project in Morocco? Which qualities imbue an initiative with longevity and sustainability, enabling it to meet a whole range of interconnected material and emotional needs? Is there a single concept applicable to a specific geographical location that exceptionally embodies those qualities?

- Yossef Ben-Meir

Yes! Allow me to introduce what I term a Paradigm Project – shovel-ready, with the potential to be inaugurated in the Kingdom of Morocco. In this context, a particular dimension of sustainability is germane.

The Paradigm Project in question is indeed a unique case, involving the Moroccan Jewish community playing an indispensable role in meeting Morocco’s need for one billion trees and plants and thus aiding in the dissolution of the harsh burdens of rural poverty. The initiative could inspire the world since it combines Muslim-Jewish collaboration with local-to-international and private public partnerships.

The Project’s multi-faceted nature and unique features have enabled it to meet the criteria for becoming a Clinton Global Initiative commitment to action

ORIGINS

A full 23 years have passed from the project’s conception to the consensus for the expansion of the resoundingly successful pilot. In my mid-twenties, I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco, living in the Tifnoute Valley on the south side of the High Atlas Mountains. Passing through the Ouarzazate region, I noticed a barren, eroding mountainside with majestic, ancient white structures nestled at its base.

I was both curious about the buildings and cognizant that the mountainside could be terraced, providing arable land for much-needed nurseries. Later I learnt that this site houses the 1000-year-old tomb of Rabbi David ou Moché, one of hundreds of Moroccan tsaddikim – Jewish saints. Other structures have been provided to accommodate the hundreds of visitors arriving every year, particularly during the fall, for the Rabbi’s hiloula