Support from the top

Formal government institutions could have blocked the community development process, but the late King Hassan II allowed some political loosening in the mid-1990s that enabled local advocacy NGOs to emerge. Without this opening, Ait Iktel could not have set up an association or sought external grant funding. Another boost came in 1997 when the minister of basic education introduced a pilot program of community-based schools. The program's budget is less than 0.01 percent of the ministry's budget, but it allowed local NGOs to set up schools, benefiting the many girls for whom the public system was not a viable alternative. It also allowed communities to adapt rules to local conditions, identify teachers, and promote stronger community involvement in education. The cost of these schools is 25 to 50 percent that of public schools, with impressive results. The program has remained a small pilot. The ministry, cautious about the initiative, is taking time to consider the many changes the program introduced.

To reach remote populations in cost-effective ways, national institutions need to be flexible-open to new ideas and to learning by listening.³³ Because government administrations can be highly risk averse, changing behavior is extremely difficult. Prominent leaders and international agencies can play a catalytic role in raising awareness and promoting promising initiatives.

In 1998 a well-known Moroccan writer, Fatema Mernissi, published a book about the development dynamic in Ait Iktel. Her book was featured at the international gathering of the Mediterranean Development Forum in Marrakesh. In 1999 a Moroccan businessman launched a rural school program, drawing on the lessons of Ait Iktel. In 2000 King Mohamed VI honored the Ait Iktel Association with a national merit award and cited Ait Iktel's development philosophy for the activities of the Mohamed V Foundation for Solidarity (a national grant facility established in 1998). In 2001 the association received an international award from the Aga Khan Foundation. Such recognition is important, especially if the authorities back it up with concrete actions. Transforming hierarchical national government agencies into institutions that listen, devolving some decisionmaking to communities, and responding effectively at the local level is a long, complex process. Such transformations are being prompted by internal and external political and economic pressures from local NGOs-and by easier access to satellite news and information which make people aware of the possibilities.