The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) (Arabic: مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير; Tamazight: ⵜⴰⵎⵔⵙⵍⵜ ⵏ ⵡⴰⵟⵍⴰⵙ ⴰⵎⵇⵇⵔⴰⵏ) is a nonprofit organization that promotes community-designed initiatives for sustainable agriculture, women’s and youth empowerment, education, health, and capacity-building in Morocco. It is headquartered in Morocco.
Founded in 2000 by former Peace Corps volunteers, HAF an American and Moroccan team that works in partnership with government and non-government agencies. HAF has held consultancy status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council since 2011.
History
HAF was founded by Yossef Ben-Meir and other former Peace Corps volunteers in 2000. Ben-Meir serves as President and oversees an international Board of Directors. HAP began implementing projects in Morocco in 2003.
HAF requested and was granted project funds from the then-U.S. Ambassador to Morocco, Margaret D. Tutwiler, in 2003, to begin planting organic fruit trees as cash crops for disadvantaged local communities and to help stop soil erosion. Tutwiler arranged the participation of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other agriculture experts. The project was immediately funded, setting a precedent that granted the Ambassador a discretionary fund from which HAF benefited further in later years. By 2014, HAF had planted one million fruit-bearing trees for the benefit of local communities. IT also launched its “one billion tree campaign,” planting 10,000 trees in eight Moroccan provinces in a single day toward addressing rural poverty, deforestation and soil erosion. Toward that end, HAF also hosts an annual tree-planting event in Morocco on the third Thursday of January in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 2016, the organization planted more than one million fruit seeds and saplings with 120 schools in 15 Moroccan provinces.
In 2008, HAF held a reception at the residence of the U.S. Ambassador in Rabat. Princess Lalla Meryem, sister of King Mohammed VI, was in attendance. HAF announced three partnerships with Hassan II University, the High Commission of Waters and Forests, and the Office Cherifien des Phosphates (OCP).
In partnership with HAF, Hassan II University’s Faculty of Law, Economics, and Social Science (Mohammedia) created the Center for Community Consensus-Building and Sustainable Development. The Center teaches participatory community planning skills to not only students but also faculty, government specialists, elected officials, civil society workers, and citizens. HAF trains facilitators in the participatory approach to community development, facilitates design of priority local projects, and supports implementation of those projects in fruit tree agriculture, clean drinking water, women and youth enterprises, and technical and managerial workshops. University students have volunteered with HAF to help plant trees and bring clean drinking water to remote villages as a result of this partnership.
Since 2011, HAF has held special Consultative Status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Through this access, HAF has participated in shaping the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and negotiations on climate change relevant to both development and the environment in Morocco.
In 2013, HAF was the SEED Africa award winner in sustainable agriculture for helping the Moroccan farmers certify and sell organic walnuts and almonds produced in the High Atlas Mountains. All profits after cost were reinvested into community projects promoting entrepreneurship and fruit and nut tree growth through training and instruction.
Also in 2013, HAF participated in the Sixth Session of the United Nations General Assembly Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, outlining how these can be implemented and achieved with global partners while also highlighting the challenges of countries in similar situations.
A 2017-2018 HAF-sponsored assessment of crop biodiversity in Morocco uncovered the loss of local crop varieties and genotypes. In response to the immediate need to preserve local crops, their wild relatives, and wild medicinal plants, HAF worked toward the creation of a Seed Bank.
The number of nurseries and number of seeds planted, and tree saplings delivered and planted increased significantly in 2018 with four new nurseries through HAF’s partnership with Morocco’s High Commission of Water and Forests and Ecosia, a social business based in Berlin.