The National Initiative for Human Development, a new way of thinking about development
By: Abdelaziz Karraky
The National Initiative for Human Development is evidence of the country’s awareness about the deficit of the development model that prevailed for a long time. This old model can no longer meet the growing and diverse needs of large proportions of citizens. Consequently, a number of social phenomena emerged, and it has become necessary to address them through development. The most prominent features of the new model are as following:
Firstly: Adopting a new approach in handling problems, by resorting to a participatory approach that puts citizens at the heart of the development process. Citizens are the only ones capable of identifying their needs and defining them very precisely, through a participatory social diagnosis that is open to different approaches of social sciences; a diagnosis that can identify key priorities that require urgent intervention, and which monitors the size of some social phenomena to obtain evaluation indicators of the development process in quantitative terms.
Secondly: Merging public policies, since the development model by sector is no longer able to meet the various challenges that both the State and society face and society, and sectors can no longer develop their plans separately. Building a school, for example, is no longer intended to only provide a space for teaching, a space that will remain unused after students leave; schools have rather become versatile spaces, benefiting various sectors and categories, and having multiple other roles beyond education, including training sessions, awareness campaigns, and entertainment activities. For their part, schools benefit from the involvement of multiple actors, as they bring comfortable conditions to both students and teachers, as well as the necessary means that the educational institution might have lacked.
Thirdly: Having civil society play the role of a partner that contributes – besides various State institutions – in the development process, in funding, as well as in managing a number of economic and social projects. Moreover, civil society might be assigned the task of diagnosing needs, seeking the involvement of the population on a large scale in the course of development, and thereby ensuring citizen involvement and presence in all stages, thus leading to some sort of a project appropriation.
Fourthly: Applying a proximity policy, by launching a number of small projects that have multiple effects on the population, and that touch various aspects of their daily lives. As a matter of fact, the diagnosis process in many areas came to the conclusion that the priorities of the population are not always correctly perceived by the officials located in the capital city. The population’s priorities might be simple things that are easy to implement, and which will help create an atmosphere of comfort and security.
The National Initiative for Human Development is considered a sort of strategic planning, which is constantly reviewed in order to adapt it to different variables. This makes the country greatly open to the community, by approaching citizens, and constantly listening to them. The State creates an atmosphere of trust between various actors, as much as it eases the burden of development on the public actor.
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Your Comments
commentsAnonymous About about 1 year ago
Talking about the National Initiative for Human Development is very interesting, but what we need to know is the negative points that resulted from this experience, for the Maghreb countries to avoid falling into them. I would have thanked you more if you presented in your article some of the negative practices surrounding the activation of the initiative, but your article only sheds light on the bright side, and I think that adding real examples of its practice would be more enriching.
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Anonymous About about 1 year ago
Human development, in general, emerges today as a dynamic concept that puts people at the heart of development, as you mentioned it, Professor. The implementation of any development program – not only by the Maghreb countries, but by all developing countries -, requires a transparent, rigorous and participatory governmental system (as you stated) that is based on the rule of law, and the protection of civil, political, economic and social rights; and relying on an efficient public administration that is responsible for its actions, and seeking the participation of everyone in the decision making processes. In order to ensure the success of these development policies in such countries that aim to improve the well being of humans, we need good will, training managers in relevant services, equity in terms of choosing individual and collective projects, and implementing rational and effective plans of action. All that can only be established through good governance and human security, which require a political reform that is a key element for development in its broadest sense. And since human development is a crucial social issue in terms of sustainable development – both on the national and international levels -, and in order to generalize this lesson that has marked the history of Morocco, we should find a cooperation modality to facilitate the joint management of initiatives that are carried, not only by local and national actors as you said, but also by international actors who care about supporting local development processes in compliance with national policies. Maya
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Anonymous About about 1 year ago
I believe that no State in the Arab world has experienced such a policy in the social field before, and I will limit myself to two areas: the first is convergence, and the second is the role of civil society, as it has been addressed in your article. However, the question that I would like to ask is: Was Morocco able to really eliminate poverty forever thanks to the NHDI? What is its impact on macro-economic balances?
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Anonymous About about 1 year ago
I consider talking about civil society, as you mentioned in your article, to be very important. It’s actually a real gate to the progress of Arab communities. I don’t know the different roles played by civil society in the Maghreb as a whole, but I think that as long as there is no rehabilitation of civil society to play pioneer roles in the Maghreb, development will remain confined to the State alone, whereas real progress for a number of international experiences had civil society play a crucial role. It should be noted that civil society is usually the one that monitors the authority, and can guide it back to the right path if it practices any excess on society. Therefore, I think that among the development indicators that can be relied upon in the assessment of the National Initiative for Human Development is measuring the roles of civil society before the initiative, especially in terms of creativity in the development field; and then measuring the extent of change that occurred after the launch of the National Initiative for Human Development in Morocco. Once we know that, we can accurately say that the experience can be applied to other regions in the Arab Maghreb, and even to all Arab countries. Only then can we say that there are lessons and experiences that can be transferred to other countries. El Mekki Ben Cheikh.
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Anonymous About about 1 year ago
Talking about the National Initiative for Human Development is indeed a good thing, especially since five years have now passed since its launch, making it possible to evaluate it, and identify things to avoid in the future. In objective terms, we can say that the dynamics created by the initiative amongst the various actors is palpable, but it still hasn’t reached the level of comprehensive activation for many reasons that we can’t fully detail here. However, I’d like to underline the idea of diagnosis as a mechanism that helps identify priorities. Based on what I know, what is meant by diagnosis today is a far cry from the real meaning of this scientific approach, and can be rather considered as collecting mere impressions from some actors and officials, based on their belief that people do not know their needs by themselves. Building development based on perceptions like these is what might make the initiative lose its meaning. Consequently, I think that the lesson that should be taught to everyone – not only in Morocco, but in the entire Maghreb region -, is the need to emphasize on involving the population in identifying needs, through field researches conducted in compliance with exact scientific approaches. Hamouda Al-Bidaoui
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Anonymous About 10 days ago
The National Initiative for Human Development represents a quality and distinctive leap, but the partners in particular civil society associations are exploited by profiteers who performed poorly … Is there a solution against the actions of some associations that only want to spoil everything
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