1. Working with a local women's argan co-op. The women of my village assembeled themseleves about 6 years ago to form an income generating co-op focused on Argan and other local products. The Argan tree is native to southern Morocco and has been living in this part of Morocco for 25 million years. The women use the nut produced (looks like an acorn) to create the highly coveted Argan oil. It is used by a great deal of high-end salons all over the world to make your hair soft and shiny as well as help improve your skin. They also create an Argan oil that is used in cooking (similar to olive oil with a much nuttier flavor). I am helping them establish some better business practices, expand their current markets, increase efficency and cleanliness and general women's development. Many of the women in the co-op are either divorced, widowed or never married and they use the income they make from the co-op to live. We have a recently remodeled co-op building that is directly next door to my house in the village. The women usually spend a couple of hours a day (depending on the season) creating a variety of products including the above mentioned Argan oil, Amalou (delicious deviation from peanut butter), cous cous and some jewlery. At festivals the women sell Argan oil, amalou, natural herbs and flowers, cous cous, jewlery, cook books and quite a bit of other products that are unique to my region of Morocco (Souss).
I am sure many of you are asking why I am working with a co-op since I am an environment volunteer. The easiest way to explain it is that Peace Corps assigns you to a village and you do what needs to be done to help that village. The Argan tree is a site of biological importance and there has been a lot of stress on the trees due to increased desertification caused by global climate change. The tree is VERY important to the region so part of my work with the co-op is to educate the women and the village on the importance of the tree both biologically and ecologically. Plus, the women are awesome which is what makes my work amazing.
I have some project ideas in the works, mostly related to Argan tree education and conservation and other women's development workshops to help some of the local women acquire skills that will help them in their everyday lives. Most of the women are uneducated and unable to read or write so by teaching them some basic skills they can become educated in some of the most important things they face in everyday life.
I have a really motivated and awesome counterpart at site who is the president of the co-op and really wants the best for the 30 women who are a part of it. I am looking forward to seeing what I can do.
2. Working with the local schools to develop an environmental education curriculum. This is really like a co-project I will hopefully be devoting as much time to as the co-op project. I have already had a few meetings with the school's teachers and administration hoping to get some basic EE lessons incorporated into the school plan. I know that my local schools have incorporated things in the past, they are just looking for new and more creative ideas. I am hoping to help with that. Year one will be all about generating EE excitement and lessons so hopefully by year two I can get a legitimate after school EE club started. We will see how it goes.
3. Photodocumentation of local flora and fauna. The Department of Water and Forest has a great interest in my region based on the unique Argan and desert ecosystems. Hopefully, I will be able to get a booklet of local plants together to help collect information for the department as well as local schools and associations. Right now they don't really know what is out there, my job is to hopefully figure it out. This is definitely a third tier project but hopefully if I get some time next spring I can start putting something together when the plants are flowering.
As you can see, my job description is quite broad and allows for a great deal of flexibility within my work. This can be both a good and bad thing. I am looking forward to using this fall to really dig deep into what the community wants and then start implementing some training's next spring. Maybe even a region wide event, but all things will come in time. I am really lucky to have such an amazing counterpart and co-op to work with as well as a cooperative and excited local school. I really have all my ducks in a row and am just looking forward to getting some stuff going.
Feel free to email me if you have any more questions, hope this was clear to all!
The sign that leads people to my co-op.
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