Learning from the PeaceCorps model, CorpsAfrica launched a new model for Moroccan volunteers to help their own communities – particularly challenging when the culture of volunteerism is not that pervasive. MEPI has been a key partner to helping CorpsAfrica get started and established. Now in its third year of operations, CorpsAfrica’s project “Volunteerism and Community Development Opportunities for Moroccan Youth,” has deployed a total of 43 volunteers to benefit approximately 4,859 community members over 3 years. The volunteers have significantly impacted their communities by helping provide access to clean water, improving transportation access in the High-Atlas Mountains, improving educational access for children in rural communities, and supporting financial independence for rural women.
This USG – Moroccan civil society partnership includes OCP (Moroccan foundation), Kosmos Energy (American Energy Company), Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), and the Moroccan diaspora in America and Japan. In the Junior CorpsAfrica program at Casablanca American School children as young as 11-12 years are paired with CorpsAfrica volunteers to get involved in supporting the rural communities further spreading the model, impact and instilling a culture of volunteerism at an early age. MEPI has served as a catalyst for CorpsAfrica Marco to pilot a novel approach and deploy local volunteers to support their own country. This model’s success is now allowing CorpsAfrica Maroc to support the program expansion to Senegal, Malawi and potentially a few additional African countries.
