7/8 Wajeeb up the Wazzoo

Our teacher basically gave us an entire chapter to do for homework (wajeeb bezef - darhija). We just might make that mark of ch. 8 by the end.

Lunch again at the CCCL, and then we take a bus to visit an NGO promoting child education (instead of child labor). The Moroccan Identity professor is the head of Adros ["I learn"], and he tells of the history of NGO’s and their presence here. The three most prevalent movements have been the push from women’s rights organizations (changing the Mudawana), the Microcredit organizations (microeconomics, a small-loan system which has been very successful in Africa, and is used mainly by women), and national organizations (started by affluent individuals which may or may not have a knack for what they start). On an interesting note, there is now government accreditation mechanisms to keep these organizations from corruption, though NGO’s would prefer simple transparency ones. Also, we noted how NGO’s in some cases help perpetuate a lacking government. Major problems with them include how historically money has been allocated without regard to the NGO’s capacity (though many feel this is just a phase), capacity problems (low staff, inactive members, lack of space, and heavy reliance on funding), lack of professionalism, lack of specialization (org’s will try amalgams of projects so long as someone wants to fund it), and lack of accountability. After he finished one of Adros’s workers explained how they work, targeting both little maids and drop outs. They help kids get to education classes, as well as promote public awareness of child rights and help build capacity of local orgs.

The rest of the surfing group was too tired to go today, so I headed to my café to work more on the application, before returning home to homework that kept me up to 3 AM.