Working for Women Worldwide - Embassy of the United States

Success Story
Bringing Literacy to
Moroccan Women
“My name is Fatima Amad. I am 28
years old, and come from Asslim, an
oasis in Morocco’s Draa valley. Because
I was a girl, I did not receive ‘my right
to an education’; I did not go to school.
… A girl who would go to school would offend the traditions
and customs. Only boys could aspire to receive
education in schools. We, the girls, had to follow the
normal and burdensome destiny of any girl; we were
outside history and would continue to be so.”
Fatima’s complaint is illustrative of the challenges
developing nations confront in providing a quality
education to their poorer and/or rural citizens, women
in particular. Almost 70 percent of Morocco’s rural
population is illiterate, with the rate for rural women
reaching 83 percent.
Although Morocco’s government allocates a
quarter of its annual budget to education, the return
on this investment is low. An estimated 85 to 90 percent
of rural students who do receive an education
drop out after primary school.
The weakness of the country’s basic education
system in teaching fundamental skills and literacy contributes
to the chronic shortage of well-trained technical
workers, which, in turn, retards economic growth.
In response to this situation, the United States
has made educational improvement a major element of
its foreign assistance programming in Morocco. One
special focus has been increasing basic educational
opportunities for girls and women in rural areas,
where the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID) works in partnership with a U.S.-based
nongovernmental organization (NGO), Helen Keller
International.
Although best known for its work in 25 nations
around the world combating blindness and eye diseases,
Helen Keller International has found that this
effort requires a concomitant fight against underlying
social causes, such as poverty, illiteracy, and inequality.
For that reason, the organization expanded its activities
in Morocco to offer basic literacy training to
20,000 women in the south of Morocco, including a
literacy and sustainable-development program targeting
poor women in the desert province of Zagora.
The program has made all the difference for
women like Fatima. “I have started to learn reading
and writing, but at my age, I had to overcome the ‘lost
time,’ and I learned quickly,” she says. “Now, and God
be praised, I can read, write, and count. I understand
the meaning of words such as poverty, malnutrition,
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