From Regional to International to Intergalactic

On our last day in Rabat, we were literally flying across the city, cramming in our last few meetings. At one point we were literally shoving chicken shwarma down our throats between in the preschool van between meetings. Nevertheless, these meetings were some of the most valuable since it was the first time we really branched outside of the MoE departments and focused solely on practitioners and organizations that worked on education outside of the formal system. It was a great way to broaden our perspectives and round out our waning hours in Rabat.

Higher Council of Education

Our first meeting was outside of the city center, and I had the pleasure of viewing the drive from the front seat next to Brian. As we escaped from the bustle of downtown, the streets began to widen, and we saw rows upon rows of palm trees. There were signs also indicating new development and construction projects, The buildings themselves were obviously more modern and contemporary, with sloping curves  juxtaposed against steep angular architecture. One of the more beautiful buildings featured Mediterranean style balconies at each room, and we initially thought they were condos or luxury residences (upon closer inspection, they turned out to be rooms of a hospital). Next door to the hospital housed the offices of the Higher Council of Education.

Rita prefaced us about the Higher Council by referring to them as a Ministry “watchdog” organization. Although they are funded as a public organization, they are an independent, non-partisan public organization who is responsible for monitoring and evaluating the progress of the MoE. They were the ones who penned the report in 2008 which demonstrated the deficits of the National Charter, giving way to the Emergency Reform Plan in 2009.  More recently, their responsibilities have expanded to offering advice and recommendations on all matters related to education, from early childhood all the way to higher ed and vocational.

We had several questions about their complex organizational structure, which includes a General Assembly composed of stakeholders such as teacher unions and student groups. While I’m still somewhat unclear on their actual role within the government, they seem to play a valuable role in a game of checks and balances.

UNESCO

Our next stop was the UNESCO offices, which as Meaghan has demonstrated below, are absolutely gorgeous. I loved the domed ceilings and the latticework mosaics – it gave the illusion that the walls and ceilings rose forever. The conference room where we convened  was reminiscent of a college professor’s office, with bookshelves that wrapped around the entire room and colorful posters that peppered the walls. There was a period in my life when I dreamed of being an academic, and I fantasized about having a study like this to display all the Barnes & Noble classics I accumulated over the years.

Someday I can afford all this on my educator's salary

Speaking of collegial, this meeting just had a much different vibe from the other ones that we visited. Although they grabbed our passports at the entrance, the meeting felt much more informal. It was conducted the most like a roundtable. It also helped that one of the representatives spoke excellent English. So well, in fact, that he was flying through his presentation to save room for Q&A (also a sign of collegiality!). This is the first time that there are some missing bullet points in my notes, since I could not scribble quickly enough to keep up.  I realized then and there that amid the back and forth of translation, we had become fat and indolent in our notetaking. Now that we were back in English, there was no time to let our mind wander in between phrases. After weeks of vacation, it was a great warm-up for getting back into Harvard mode.

Then again, there is also the distinct possibility that I was distracted by the officer's rugged good looks, impeccably styled hair, flashy purple shirt, and the penchant for uttering adorable phrases such as “Mauritania’s Eskimo society” and “backstage shadow ruler” (both in reference to matriarchal households where women are the decision makers).

I think he shops at Express

Either way, once I pulled my jaw up from the floor, the presentation turned out to be very enlightening since it provided a more global, “big picture” perspective of the region within a larger context. This UNESCO branch actually operated in the entire Maghreb region, which included Tunisia, Algeria, and Mauritania. In our past meetings, any mention of international systems tended to refer to first world powers, such as the US, UK, France, or Japan. While these countries certainly serve as “bright spots” around the world, there clearly is a cultural and economic disconnect that would complicate any policy transfer. For this reason, it was fascinating when the presenter mentioned Romania and Spain as countries that underwent successful reforms under similar conditions of instability and unemployment.  These unorthodox, but no less germane examples, only go to demonstrate the importance of understanding context in comparative study.

USAID

From UNESCO, we bolted down our chicken shwarma wraps and french fries before heading to the USAID offices. You could tell it was an American office from the metal detectors we had to walk through. Upon passing the onerous security, however, the meeting itself turned out to be one of the most relaxed, pleasant experiences. Since it was a beautiful day outside, Tricia had the foresight to invite us out into the backyard. Since we’d be returning to Boston shortly, we all relished the opportunity to stock up on Vitamin D deficiency. I have to admit, midway through the meeting, I slipped off my shoes to enjoy the feel of green grass on my feet.  

Again, without the delay of translation, it was easier to maintain a substantive dialogue between parties. It’s sort of the feeling you get when you’re backpacking in a foreign country and find yourself chatting up a storm with fellow travelers you meet in the hostel. After several days of only speaking English amongst ourselves, it was such a welcome relief to hear from fellow visitors.  It was also wonderful opportunity to hear about experiences that could conceivably become our own. At this point, it became less about the education system and more about sharing experiences. I was particularly interested in hearing about their experiences as Americans. There was an interesting dichotomy going on, in which issues like the government shutdown in Washington or the Iraq carried very concrete ramifications that rippled world wide. At the same time, most of the officers agreed that despite who was president or which political party was in power, at the end of the day, their “work” and their mission remained the same. Tricia went so far to say that sometimes she felt like she worked in a bubble. It was an interesting paradox that just reminded me of both the complex dynamics that govern our world and the shared commonalities that underscore them all. How’s that for waxing poetic?

(Note: I did far less waxing poetic that evening at the USAID cocktail party. I was however seduced by the dark side).

Beware of little girls in Spider-Man pajama pants

World Bank

Our last stop of the day was the elusive World Bank office which is completely unmarked from the outside. Fortunately, we had allowed ourselves extra time to walk, and we passed several foreign embassies along the way (the British one was notably plain and oppressive looking). The World Bank office was especially well-hidden, in that we had to answer three riddles before being allowed to enter the building. Inside the décor seemed to strike a nouveau Asian tone, which seemed oddly out of place. Nevertheless, the offices were immaculate, and from my seat at the table, I had a lovely view of a well-kept garden.

TLC must have done an episode of "Trading Spaces" with the Tokyo World Bank office 

The World Bank enjoys a certain level of prestige as a global organization, and refusing to disappoint, this presentation struck me as highly academic, with statistical graphs and thoughtfully-crafted answers.  In particular, their carefully measured language (“the trend is lightly positive”) would make Professor Terry Tivnan proud. It’s also possible that everything sounds more intelligent when spoken in European and inflected, nondescript accents (he mystery accent turned out to be a very well-disguised Kiwi with a background in syntactic linguistics). This presentation played heavily onto my humanities side, drawing on interdisciplinary literature from economics, history, politics and sociology. I completely nerded out when he used multiple lenses to try to explain the causes of gender disparity at the secondary level.  I confessed it earlier, but I thoroughly enjoy listening to people who really know what they’re talking about. I can just sit back, let them talk, offer an occasional nod of assent or bemused “hmm,” and just drink it all in. It makes me feel like I’m enriching myself as a human being. It was also fascinating to hear outsider perspectives on heavily contentious issues such as the political implications of Arab Spring or the language policy. Interestingly enough, perhaps it was their role as outsiders that allowed them to speak with a special level of openness and candor.

**Author's Note, obviously these posts are coming post-Morocco. Due to internet problems and overall jetlag/exhaustion, there will be a slight delay in the remaining posts. That said, I took copious notes, and I fully intend to finish my posts in the near future, before I become consumed with my spring coursework and you don’t hear from me for four months.  Thanks for your patience, and welcome any comments/feedback/questions!

Higher Education in Morocco: A Guest Blog from Mike Holland and Kana Shiota

As promised, here is the guest blog from Mike and Kana, our resident higher ed gurus!

During our meeting with the department of higher education, we were granted with a comprehensive presentation on how the country’s reform efforts have aimed to provide links to the socio-economic world and to help foster international cooperation.  Fortunate for us, the department of higher education was spoiled with English speakers, allowing our dear translator, Rita, some brief, well-deserved rest.

Much like what we had been hearing throughout our previous meetings, the challenge for higher education in Morocco has to do with quality.  This challenge is in many ways the by-product of having a system in which citizens receive free admission to public universities.  As much of our prior research has shown, free education usually means compromising quality.  Unfortunately, the system of higher education in Morocco is not an exception to this rule.  93% of all higher education students are at free public institutions, but these institutions offer poor quality and few economic returns. 

Our presentation started with a snapshot of the country’s higher education system, which includes 15 public universities, 197 private institutions a host of other vocational schools and even one American-international university. 

Efforts to reform higher education as a result of the National Charter (and a later consolidation of the charter) included the following principles: (1) structures (including increased autonomy for individual universities), (2) pedagogy (including renovated curricula and renewed approaches), (3) new mission (based on an entrepreneurial structure), and (4) adequate training for employment (so as to provide a practical link to the labor market which has been absent for decades).

All of these principles were designed to reform a system that was much too rigid for the 21^st century.  Major accomplishments of the reform included a new curricular focus on Information and Computer Technology (ICT), increased emphasis on research among faculty and the transformation of that research into practice, and expanded opportunities for Moroccan universities to participate in exchange programs with other universities all over the world. 

One of the most exciting changes to the system in our opinion was the adoption of the Europe’s Bologna process for awarding degrees to graduates.  Rather than offer diplomas to graduates that are only meaningful to Moroccan employers, universities can now present graduates with B.A.s, M.A.s and Ph.Ds, which allows them to transfer credits, conduct research and enter an international labor force much more seamlessly.   

One of the issues which was not discussed was the issue of equality. In Morocco, there are two tracks: the technical and general.  The technical has a quota system (testing to get in) and attracts the elite (middle and upper class), while the general is open to all, thus accounting for 86% of all university students.  Not surprisingly, the general track has a higher unemployment rate than the technical track.  While we wanted to ask more questions about this important issue of equality and their strategies to address this, unfortunately we ran out of time. We were escorted out of a beautiful courtyard, and rode away on our preschool bus to our next destination: pre-school!

African Similarities: A Guest Blog from Afi Daitey

Closer than Perceived: Similarities between North and Sub-Saharan Africa

As we move further into the 21^st century there are more stories of Africa’s emerging economies, increasing middle class and improvement in access to basic education. While incidents of conflict, hunger and distress still populate the media; Africa is no longer being inaccurately portrayed as the “hopeless continent”. If you’ve taken a minute to read my bio, you may have noticed my interest in the relationships between the entire African continent. Our trip to Morocco offered a perfect opportunity to explore those connections. 

Educational similarities

Most African countries encounter difficulties when dealing with the issue of language and Morocco is different. During our meeting with the curriculum department, the director of curriculum compared Morocco’s struggle with language of instruction to that of South Africa. How can bi-lingual education work in the context of African countries? How long should the mother tongue be taught to ensure the best academic opportunities? Are local languages an issue of passion or practicality? To a large degree the issue of language is a result of colonialism and African countries must find a way to deal with the lingering effects.

Sister Cities Africa

On Wednesday, January 11^th, we were afforded the opportunity to meet with Mr. Mazoz, President and Founder of Sister Cities Africa. In his presentation he defined the objectives of Sister Cities Africa as, “creating a platform which encourages partnerships among African cities themselves and between African and American cities. Our main goal is to reduce the gap between the North and South and engage in mutual cultural understanding and appreciation.” His hard work was also responsible for the creation of the Sidi Moumen Cultural Center. Not only was I impressed with his life’s work but the fact that (our) Rita was the former publicity director for Sister Cities Africa!

At the end of Mr. Mazoz’s presentation on the work of Sister Cities Africa I got an opportunity to speak with him about what he considered similarities between countries on the continent. While he was quick to tell me that a much longer conversation was needed to discuss the many similarities, he did provide a few jewels: wisdom (and respect) of the elders, abundance of natural resources, importance of holding the family together and significance of traditional values.

One of my favorite similarities is the value and support of the extended family. It is very common for a child to stay with parents (or other extended family) into their late 20’s and even 30’s. There isn’t the same rush to step out on one’s own until the child is ready to make that move. The parents and grandparents can expect the same support in return, as it is very common for elder family members to live with their children instead of at a nursing home.

Mr. Mazoz

21^st century Africa

On Friday, January 13^th, Brain, Rita and I attend Sister Cities Africa’s 1^st Regional Conference. At this conference, there were representatives from East, North and West Africa. During the panel we attended, I noticed one theme: the need to rely more on neighboring countries on the continent. While it was clear that immense value lies in relationships between U.S. and African cities, there was a new push for relationships between cities on the continent.

We often hear of stark differences between Sub-Saharan and North Africa. There is no doubt that real distinctions exist, however there are many more things in common outside of the fact that the two regions shares the same continent. This piece is in no way an exhaustive list--as I am no expert--but as an Africanist, I looked for opportunities to connect us rather than separate. Based on the open and caring nature of the people of Morocco, I believe that we will see more opportunities for the entire continent to celebrate their similarities and opportunity to rise together in the 21^st century.  

At the conference. 

Day 7: Casa and Kids!

After spending the early morning packing and preparing for travel, we gathered in the training center library at 10:00am for our big moment: an interview with the reporter from L'Economiste, the Moroccan Economist newspaper. We bravely plunged into the interview sans Rita, with Rachel translating Arabic and Marisa translating French. The reporter would sometimes start a question in French and, randomly and without warning, would slide into Arabic while still looking at Marisa as though she should be able to understand him. Never a dull moment! We look forward to getting a copy of the article...and being FAMOUS.

Our bus was unexpectedly delayed, so we had time to walk up the street and have a lovely, relaxed lunch. We found a little restaurant and after almost accidentally ordering six whole chickens, were treated to a very tasty lunch for about $3. Can't beat that! After lunch we loaded our luggage onto the bus and headed out for the roughly two hour trip to downtown Rabat.

Traipsing through the alleys of Rabat.

Cute kids near the restaurant.

Afi and Mark making friends.

Marisa, Veronika, Asumi, the restaurant owner, small child, Julia, Meaghan, and Afi at lunch!

Upon arrival in Rabat, we headed up the six flights of stairs that took us to the headquarters of Sister Cities Africa, which happened to be one of Rita's former employers. They were wonderfully welcoming and started by giving us a tour of their office. Then we settled in to listen to a short presentation about the organization and their work. When we visited, they were in the throes of the final planning of the first regional conference for Sister Cities Africa, which would occur the next day. Rita, Afi and Brian attended on Friday morning, and Afi will go into that a little bit more during her guest blog post.

Mr. Mazoz talking about the organization.

Sister Cities Africa is supported by a grant from the Gates Foundation (one of 24 cities that got the money to implement projects in health, sanitation, and water), as well as a MEPI grant from the State Department. They encourage people-to-people diplomacy that aims to create and strengthen North-South and South-South partnerships, featuring social mediation programs implemented in hopes of decreasing violence and confrontation.

The Morocco office has initiated a program to train 90 respected members of fifteen poor neighborhoods, giving them the skills necessary to provide mediation within families, schools, and greater society. They have also worked to equip a neighborhood hospital in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Casablanca (famous for suicide bombers in 2003 and 2007) with the supplies necessary to provide adequate health care for local community members. They also hope to promote cultural exchange by providing locals the opportunity to travel to Casablanca's sister city (Chicago) and have some residents from Chicago come here. They create cultural centers in poor/under-served areas including libraries, computer labs, art space, theaters, sewing workshops, sports fields, etc. They also provide blog/journalism training for kids living in poor areas, encourage youth to take care of environment and community, and organize cultural, educational and social activities Educational support activities attempt to reduce drop out and academic failure, and support to improve quality of life for children in some of the neediest communities in Casablanca.

Learning a lot about Sister Cities programming.

The goal of Sister Cities International is really to put a face on foreign countries and encourage dialogue and collaboration. As Mr. Mazoz, the director, noted, at times it seems that many countries have to have a disaster to be known to the American people. Most people know nothing about Casablanca, Morocco outside of the movie. Then, the suicide bombers put it back on the map. Sister Cities reminds us that we have to talk about the good as well as the bad and present all sides. Nothing replaces real human interaction.

Brian modelling the brochure.

At the end of the meeting we watched a short video about an organization called IDMAJ, which means "integration". This organization works with Sister Cities to help run programs in a community center, with the goal of integrating people from different neighborhoods in Casablanca. While watching, two quotes really spoke to me: "We don't tell them what to do, we show them what to do," and "We want them to dream, but at the same time we want to give them the hope and opportunity to make that dream come true." Luckily, after the meeting, we were able to go out to the center to see this philosophy in action.

So lovely and welcoming!

We pulled up to the center just after dark, driving through slums and city streets to get there. We were led around by one of the Sister Cities staff members and were greeted by children at every turn. We started with a tour, visiting the sports facilities, music rooms, art studios, and classrooms. Our tour ended in the "cafeterium" or cafeteria with a stage. The audience was full of students, some of whom performed for us: drumming, singing, rapping, and dancing. The evening even featured Mark, Afi and Sophia jumping up on stage for a hilarious rendition of Justin Bieber's "Baby"....only to be drowned out by the tweens in the audience. It was amazing. Afterwards we had a question and answer session in which we got to hear about the students’ hopes and dreams, sometimes in Arabic, sometimes in flawless English. The students learn English in the center, along with art, music, technology, and sports. They were universally positive about their teachers (who were quite obviously doing an incredible job) and spoke very highly of the center. When asked why they liked it, they said it gave them a place to go, learn, and have fun instead of being on the streets. It was wonderful to get to spend some time with kids instead of adults and see just how much of an impact this non-formal education setting has made on the lives of countless students in Casablanca.

The community center.

Such a good motto.

Drum group.

Rachel introducing us.

Students and their English teachers (in the brown hijab).

Singing in French.

This shy girl had a lovely voice (and killer English).

Singing in Arabic.

These four rocked the J.Biebs.

And so did these three...

Awesome rapping skills.

And some break dancing.

ADORABLE.

Not to toot our own horn or anything...but we take a damn good group picture.

He wants to grow up to be an English teacher. In shaa'Allah one day he will!

Just one of the boys.

Hanging out with kids before we head out.

Air.

One of the girls from the center made this amazing cake with her mom. OH MAN it was so good. 

After a wonderful time at the center (and lots photos!) we boarded the bus again and were whisked off to the MTA Tennis Academy, our absolutely stunning home outside Casablanca. We also made a quick stop at the Hasan II Mosque ( the largest mosque in the world after Mecca) on the way.  Wonderful dinner filled our bellies and everyone fell asleep in our warm rooms (after hot showers) with dreams of gyms and heated swimming pools dancing in our heads.

Night at the Hasan II Mosque.

DUH-LICIOUS.

Gym

Heated swimming pool

Sameera and Brian looking cute in front of a mosaic.

Hands down, without doubt, the best picture of the king I saw in Morocco.

Day 6: International Organizations

We headed into our first meeting of the morning, with the Higher Council of Education. There was some confusion about the day we were meeting with them (which the World Bank representatives later informed us is 100% par for the course), so the Secretary General was in another meeting. However, his team greeted us and ran the meeting.

The HGE gives advice on training and education programs in response to requests for help submitted by the king, Ministry of Education or specific schools/organizations. A general assembly meets three times a year. They work on questions that are of interest to all levels (preschool through university) and all components of the education system (formal, non-formal, technical schools, and literacy programs). They aim to provide an exhaustive, objective evaluation of the system.

There is a general secretary who oversees the Director of Study and Research that coordinates information in response to requests for help from the Ministry or other schools. There is an evaluation team that evaluates the state of education and every two years produces a report. It was the 2008 report from this organization that sparked the Emergency Plan that has been the impetus for all the reforms we have been hearing about.

Getting down to educational quality business.

The new constitution has mandated a new role for the HCE, including completing more in-depth scientific research while continuing to provide training and their previously outlined duties. The organization is autonomous, and unrelated to the MoE. They do not produce the frameworks for the Moroccan education system, but they do consult on work that has already been done or questions that has been raised. Right now the Council is working on several projects, including producing a midterm report on equity and quality of primary and secondary schools nationally. This report will be released soon and we are looking forward to reading it (in French!) and seeing that their impressions are. The HCE is also working on an evaluation of learning acquired in professional programs and another regarding the issue of educated unemployment.

Aside from producing reports based on their mandated evaluations, the HCE also consults on issues like civic education, non-formal education, religious education, and private school offerings within the Moroccan education system. They have also produced a profile of the most common Moroccan teacher, and completed a study on all of the languages taught within the education system here (including but not limited to Tamazight). A colloquium was formed to share best practices for teaching languages and receive feedback from teachers. Workshops discussed methodologies for learning languages and investigated how the mind processes language learning. Surveys were also completed to find out what people in civil society think about linguistics and the learning of foreign languages within classrooms. This helped them understand popular public opinion while framing their research.

The HCE was instrumental in the program used to create the series of preschools like the one we had visited the previous night. The HCE worked with McKinsey to research and produce a report urging preschool education, which led to the creation of a pilot program of preschools like the one we visited. It was really interesting to see how their work has been put into practice. The Council also encouraged the implementation of a conditional cash transfer program that nearly eliminated the drop out of female girls in rural primary schools by providing roughly 100Dh a month to their mothers. Prior to the program there was a 62% drop out rate in the targeted areas. Now other organizations (World Bank, etc) are looking to fund the expansion of the program to new areas.

Learning what a watchdog organization does.

Sameera, Sohia and Julia wanted to better understand how the HCE chooses the topics that they take a deeper look at, if they are paid to do their consulting work, and what their personnel numbers looked like. They reported that they try and examine the most pressing issues in education, including language acquisition, educated unemployment, and non-formal opportunities within learning. The HCE does not charge to consult for different organizations, and the main budget (provided by the government) is used to pay salaries for the roughly 60 people who work on the council. There are also 105 members that are either experts that are appointed by the king or voted in by groups such as teachers' unions. They may be stakeholders in the education system or members of the general public. Much like the American Congress, there are also permanent committees formed with the members. These specialize in strategies regarding the reform, including curriculum material development and partnerships with outside institutions and organizations. These committees generate suggestions for research, and produce informational documents. A voluntary committee also acts as a sort of presidential cabinet and handles matters such as public affairs. 

We were wondering how the organization actually does its evaluation. They do not collect their own data, but instead access the information provided by the MoE, Bureau of Statistics, and reports from international organizations like UNESCO. They have created a longitudinal database containing statistics that have been collected since the HCE's creation in the 1970s. While doing research, there is a committee of consultants (both Moroccan and international) that ensures that their work reflects both international expectations and the public policy with which the products must align.

Mark raised the concern that suggestions or evaluations might be ignored due to outside political pressure. They agreed that it has the potential to be a problem, as politicians may have different opinions and priorities that conflict with the results presented, but it has not been a problem yet. Brian asked about other "watchdog" committees in Morocco, and they told us that there are currently some in operation such as the Economic and Social Council, Human Rights Watch Council, and Council for Moroccans Residing in Foreign Countries. In the future, more will be created to address other issues, such as a Council for Women's Rights, etc. After the meeting was over we headed out for the next in our line-up on this very busy day.

We debarked the preschool bus and headed into UNESCO, stopping to turn in our IDs and pick up visitor badges on the way. Fairly plain looking from the outside, the inside of the UNESCO building is absolutely stunning...nearly every inch is covered by beautiful mosaics and big windows. Jealous!

Pretty hallways!

I want this office.

UNESCO's Rabat office aims to ensure access to quality education for all the Maghreb Region (Algeria, Mauritania, Tunisia and Morocco). They have four main functions: 1) research, studies, analysis and evaluation, 2) technical assistance and advice, 3) capacity building through provision of training, and 4) exchange of best practices and sharing of successes between countries and projects.

The education division of the Rabat office has a number of projects and publications that they work on each year. Annual reports like the GMR (Global Monitoring Report) are produced yearly to support Education For All (EFA) national forums and monitor progress towards the EFA goals. UNESCO also tries to integrate technology into classrooms and train teachers to use it effectively. The office also organizes symposiums that are used to evaluate how higher education is changing and expanding in North Africa and stimulate discussion about how to make improvements. They work to evaluate preschool programs in the Maghreb and try to determine best practices and how to expand services to all children. They hope to provide member states with the tools, skills, and strategies necessary to work towards meeting that country's needs in the field of education. They use an internal tool (UNESS) to evaluate the greatest needs for each country, and ensure that their actions are controlled, consistent and coherent across nations. UNESS also allows them to determine whether the needs of the country are aligned with the office's mission and capabilities, and structures their work.

There are a few main focus areas of UNESCO's Rabat Office, including literacy, citizenship, and HIV/AIDS awareness. Functional literacy is needed in order to speed progress in agriculture, handicraft manufacturing, and other fields that are being encouraged especially in rural Morocco. Community Learning Centers (CLCs) have been created to help women develop literacy and locally applicable income generating skills. New strategies are being developed and implemented that will provide non-formal primary education for out-of-school children and adults. Each country has their own projects that are targeted to the specific needs apparent at a national or regional level. Citizenship education is a sometimes hard to define area describing how a student understands their nation and its relation to others. One strategy UNESCO used to measure this was a research project that evaluated national identity in the western Mediterranean countries (Algeria, Spain, France, Italy, Morocco and Tunisia). Symposium were initiated by the UNESCO office in order to discuss the effects the Arab Spring had on citizenship education in the region. Tunisia was a focus of these symposium: they required a new system of civic education, which UNESCO (in partnership with UNICEF and other organizations) helped to design. They examined countries with similar backgrounds (conflict and reorganization of educational systems) such as Spain and Croatia in order to determine best practices and provide examples of successful past cases. This research was presented to the EU in hopes of raising a budget that can be used to help Tunisia rebuild their civic education system. Across the Maghreb, HIV/AIDS awareness is a key part of UNESCO's role. They completed an analysis of the responses of education systems to HIV/AIDS, and created a module that can be implemented by teachers in classrooms across the region. These will be released in the near future.

Marisa and the two UNESCO representatives we met with.

Jane asked a very interesting question about the challenges and frustrations faced as an outside partner coming in to provide advice and implement programs. Each one of the members of the Rabat UNESCO team works on a specific project, and covers a specific country. One major concern in the Maghreb is institutional instability and inconsistency, which one of the representatives described in some Mauritanian examples. Officials are constantly moved from one position to another, which makes it difficult to enact programs in the field. Also, sometimes there is government resistance to collaboration with outside agencies, or even allowing UNESCO to work with NGOs and non-profits from within the country. Much of the job is creating relationships and this can take a long time.

Sameera (and I think all of us) wanted to know more about the logistics of the literacy program that has been put into place for rural women in Morocco. Programs are usually conceptualized during close collaboration with the MoE of each country. UNESCO brings extra support to public policies based on key priorities for each country. In Morocco and Mauritania, there is big problem with literacy. Right now, roughly 30% of rural females remain illiterate. UNESCO has moved beyond simple program design, and are working to sustain and transfer programs that have proven successful. Local collaboration with NGOs, associations, civil society, and communities is very important when trying to combat a problem. Five years ago, as regionalization was cemented in policy, a foundation of skills and resources began to be built in rural ares. UNESCO is now working to branch out and involve more communities, especially in Moroccan regions like Ouarzazate, Zagora, Errachidia, Azilal and Tinghir. UNESCO also tries to coordinate networks of small, focused NGOs in order to increase efficiency and efficacy. Women have shown a great deal of motivation as they work with UNESCO's Rabat staff members to develop literacy skills and learn effective income generating activities. The skills that are taught are locally applicable and targeted to specific types of women. Implementation is, of course, not without challenges. Tribal communities  have strong cultural ties that make it more complex to provide the same program nationwide. These communities require modified programming to meet their needs.

This was definitely the pretties room we met in.

Sophia brought up citizenship and asked what skills and values are emphasized in the civic education programs implemented by UNESCO. We have found in meetings that the ministry especially struggles with issues such as language of instruction. UNESCO, obviously, cannot totally challenge the values of a specific areas, however they stand up for internationally held values, such as the rights of women and children. When thinking about language issues being faced by Morocco, it is very difficult for UNESCO to challenge policies, but they try to provide expertise and support. UNESCO supports local languages worldwide, however they must also work within political constraints of the country where they are located. This can be very challenging, and sometimes the team members feel that UNESCO is only viewed as  stamp on quality, without much of a say on policy. The Rabat team members work the the ministry and try to act as advocates for things they think are important, such as philosophy courses in school, objectivity of history lessons, and child-centered learning.

It was great to talk to the team about their personal experiences that led them to working for UNESCO and though there are big budgeting problems and little hiring now (thanks, America) they encouraged us to be persistent in looking at both the overall UNESCO website and the websites for regional offices and just be vigilant for job postings. The bus whisked us away from UNESCO and on to our meeting with Tricia (a woman I have been corresponding with for a while) at USAID. She had also invited one of the consular agents from the state department that works at the embassy in Rabat, as well has her incredibly cool and well traveled boss, so that was great. It was a lovely, relaxed meeting in the garden which was a change from the cold board rooms where we spent most of our time.

They started by sharing a little information about the new USAID Forward program. USAID has been doing business for 50 years, but recently they have changed their business policy in order to be more effective. The program is called USAID Forward and it hopes to do a better job bringing the governments together and working better with local organizations to get work done. In the past, USAID has just given money to US owned/run organizations, but now they are shifting to work with the local governments. They have to build capacity and increase transparency so that they can support the government to do what they are supposed to do and they find ways to effect change within the education system. You can't simply change one school, you have to change the institution. That is how you get impact sustainability and long-term effectiveness. USAID has had to really expand a lot more and coordinate with other donors, governments, organizations and the private sector. This leveraging of funds is so important as funds are limited and needs are so great. One of the project directors pointed out one example of using businesses to help aid workers. Coca Cola is available in hundreds of thousands of rural villages around the world, villages in which other organizations have difficulty delivering important supplies and medications. Leveraging Coca Cola's already existing delivery structure and system, they are able to ensure to supplies such as HIV medications are distributed to these remote areas. USAID Forward is about building local government capacity and partnerships.

Meeting in the garden.

Tricia discussed how many other international organizations implementing programs around the world use this strategy and its really just new to USAID. She used to work for the World Bank and of course you met with governments. A lot of changes are coming down the pike and its getting more and more likely that the organization will work with other donors and governments. The government to government strategy is "in the kindergarten stages...no at the toddler level..." in this process.

Those we met with, especially those from the state department, expressed their feeling that it is an exciting time to be in this region and see how things are changing and growing. It is certainly a time of transition with new governments (31 new ministers and cabinet members were just sworn in the week before our visit) led by the moderate Islamist political party (11 of these new ministers and cabinet members are alumni of former US government exchange programs like the Fulbright). Morocco has a different political and social dynamic than other countries in the MENA region, though. If the Arab Spring occurred 20 years ago under King Hasan II, the State Department believes that the reaction within the country would have been very different. The current king is very well liked and has done a lot more within the country. Rather than simply focusing on foreign policy (like his father), this king has reached out to populations and regions that were intentionally ignored in the past. Moroccan residents are interested in fighting corruption and securing jobs, but almost all are in support of the king (90-95% protesters during the Arab Spring demonstrations were carrying a photo of the king to show their support of the royal family).

One thing that as interesting to me was the State Department's strategy of reaching out to people who aren't currently in power but are seen as rising stars and might be in power in the future. The State Department works within the education sector, but do their projects without collaboration with the MoE. They have a budget of $10 million a year, but 75% of that budgeted is spent on exchange programs and never makes it to the actual embassy here. The remaining money is used to run programs at schools across Morocco. One example of a program run by the state department is the Youth Science Caravan which traveled through 8 cities in 2 weeks, serving 1000 kids. For this program, the State Department went straight to teachers associations to work out logistics, rather than the ministry. They feel that this elimination of the "middle man" makes the whole process more streamlined and effective.

Talking with the rep from the State Department.

There were some questions about the job market that will be awaiting us when we graduate from HGSE. The State Department has drastically reduced their number of employees since the 1970s. That being said, they are still looking to fill positions as people leave/retire. As for USAID, there are a few things to keep in mind. Education is not the main focus of USAID, they also work on health, development, and other issues. There is cross over between other parts of the organization (health, etc) if you look for it. You need to be a jack of all trades, and build your resume and portfolio and you re-present yourself every few years as you search for a job at a new embassy or mission.

Development theory says higher quality learning = less drop out. So, the USAID education program in Morocco focuses on increasing quality. The main focus is a few million dollar project for middle schoolers since that is an area where there is a big drop out problem. It aims to:

1.  Work closely with teacher training institutes to develop modules that are standardized, upgraded and relevant.

2.  Provide e-learning training that gives teachers more up to date materials that can be used in the field to gather resources, information, and lessons.

3. Encourage direct contact between USAID and middle schools who are given a little bit of money for teachers/staff to evaluate problems at their school and determine how to change it. It also supports clubs in the schools that may be academic or work on the development of life skills, job readiness, etc. This program has made teachers very excited and many are interested in volunteering. It is a relatively young program, so USAID is still determining what effect that had on drop out rates/retention.

One major challenge in evaluating educational quality in Morocco is trying to determine what the actual issue is with early grade literacy. Are the low results on international benchmarks accurate, or is the testing flawed? Different forms of Arabic, for example, may partially explain low scores.

We also spent a while just discussing programming challenges and triumphs in international development work. It was great. One quote that really resonated with me was the statement "We never go on stage alone" Team work, whether inter- or intra-organizational, is absolutely imperative to the work that is being done to increase educational access and outcomes worldwide.

Walking off to the World Bank.

Our next meeting was at the very swanky, very difficult to find World Bank office. Fancy with a capital F. This office covers Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Malta. The World Bank works as part of a multi-donor approach to supporting the MoE's Emergency Plan. Many countries are moving from a teacher based approach to one that involves students and makes them a part of the learning and teaching process. Teachers are, obviously, still important, and must be supportive of the programs. Morocco consistently participates in TIMSS and PIRLS, even in the face of poor results. Not a single country in the MENA region has had students score in the high proficient or advanced level on the TIMSS test. Nearly 70% of Moroccan students didn't even make the lowest benchmark. Morocco is directly in the middle of the score distribution, scoring higher than Kuwait and Qatar, and their educational spending is equal to Singapore.

Why does it make sense for everyone to work together in a multi-donor approach? For the government is much easier, as they are able to speak with a united voice (when possible) and it is far less time consuming. Before this system was in place, the government was able to play one organization off another. Donors are able to provide more coherent financial and technical support, use resources as wisely as possible, and allot more weight to their combined opinions/voice. The donor consortium was developed in November 2007 by the former Under-secretary of Education. The seven separate agencies practice parallel financing, rather than co-financing. They have joint meetings every six months and produce documents as a follow-up in order to continue presenting a united voice.

International testing scores on the board in the front.

There is a strong governmental support in the central government, and they are working on increasing buy-in from the regional, provincial, and local areas. Once again we discussed that on paper the Moroccan government has great ideas, but implementation is an issue, especially in this great time of change. Teachers being told to do something (with little or no training) does not by any stretch of the imagination mean that they will do it. There is a major disconnect between primary and middle school, with many students dropping out in lower secondary school. Enrollment rates are especially bad amongst rural girls, with little hope of speedy improvement. If the trend continues as it is now, it will take decades for rural girls to catch up to urban boys.

Since we have spent a great deal of time on this trip discussing measures of success and quality, questions were raised about how the World Bank evaluates their programs and projects. The World Bank has a system in place to evaluate programs at the end of their cycle on at least two levels: report written by a colleague from within the organization or a consultant who used to work for the World Bank, as well as an internal audit by an evaluation group answerable only to the board of directors. The evaluation group completes a desk review of the project, and sometimes (infrequently) they will do field evaluations.

One example of project monitoring and evaluation is the funding of a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program that was implemented in cooperation with the MIT Poverty Action Lab. It was a targeted initiative to keep girls in class: the pilot was just run for primary education, but now its being expanded geographically to the rest of the country, and also into middle schools for some cohorts of children. There are always questions of sustainability when it comes to CCTs. The World Bank looks to the PROGRESSA program, which has been successfully operating for more than 10 years as evidence that they can be sustainable. Though many studies have been completed about why girls are dropping out of Moroccan schools, it remains unclear how to address these issues and make a real impact on attendance rates. Reasons range from economic (opportunity costs) to socio-cultural (unwillingness to let girls walk long distances to school). One proposed solution here is the establishment of K-12 schools with dormitories that allow students to stay during the week.

The World Bank admitted to loving bright spots (as do we) and sharing from one region/project to another. In fact, they consider that one of their strong suits.  When we asked what skills are needed to get hired/do well at the World Bank, they replied that yo should "Do what you like; do what turns you on. There is no checklist of skills. You just need to be able to learn, read, ask questions, think and write clearly. That is what will make you successful."

Soaking it all in.

Once we finished at the World Bank, we headed back to the training center to do some packing and rest before drinks and schmoozing at Tricia's house. When Tricia has invited us to her home for drinks and networking we jumped at the opportunity and we were not disappointed. Her house as beautiful, the food as delicious, her children were adorable, and the conversation was enlightening. There were representatives from USAID, the State Department, and local NGOs, as well as scholars from Morocco and the US. It was a wonderful evening and we were so pleased that Tricia opened her home to us. We returned home stuffed with food and wine to spend our final evening in Rabat before heading to Casablanca in the morning.

Schmoozing with representatives from the State Department and Peace Corps Response.

Mike, Jane, and Kana hanging out with Tricia and her youngest daughter Lola.

Their house was gorgeous but this room was especially lovely.

Rachel getting her mingle on.

Sameera and Afi learn about Creative International's projects in Morocco.

Jane, Veronika and I cheesing for the camera.

Amine (Rita's husband) prepared to defend all that is just.