A digital outreach workshop for the young of Salé

« Ateliers sans frontières, created by a graduate of the ESCP (Paris business school) is a responsible, effective and innovative association. The project to diversify into computing has been well thought out in both economic and technical terms. The partnerships it has signed provide a guarantee of future business opportunities. »

Pascal Lermechin

In Morocco, nearly two persons out of three are under 20. Faced with this exceptional demographic growth, even though the kingdom is enjoying an economic boom, the infrastructures struggle to keep up the pace. Many of the young people are idle, poorly trained, lacking social and economic activities, doomed to unemployment and insecurity.

To contend with this situation, which harbors future conflicts, King Mohamed VI launched a "National Initiative for Human Development" in 2005: an all-inclusive framework for numerous projects initiated by the players of civil society.

This is the case of Ateliers Sans Frontières Maroc, which has developments in two areas: sports; and information and communication technologies. It offers quality data processing and sports equipment to the associations with which it works, accompanies the creation of training workshops in IT and network maintenance, and facilitates the construction of neighborhood socio-sports infrastructures by relying on international projects that bring young French and Moroccans together.

Training thirty youths per year

In Salé, one of the satellite towns around Rabat, ASF Maroc decided to create its own training workshop in IT maintenance, targeting young people without initial training, who will spend a year learning enough to rejoin the job market every year. They will work on recovered and upgraded hardware, which will then be offered to the associations and schools. The grant from the Veolia fondation will enable ASF Maroc to outfit the 300 m² space allocated by the municipality of Salé.

Upon completion of their training, both theoretical and practical, the young trainees will augment their experience in a company in order to pit their knowledge against the demand of the private sector. Each year, this comprehensive training will help thirty young adults to build themselves a genuine future.