Project 6/12: 6 municipalities of the Province of Barcelona (Spain) – 6 municipalities of the Region of Marrakech-Safi (Morocco)

[Update: on 8 June 2020, the Province of Barcelona and the Region of Marrakech-Safi received the 1st prize at the PLATFORMAwards]

[Update: watch the movie ¡Ojalá! and learn more about DIBA-IMADEL winning partnership]

For the second time, PLATFORMA has decided to reward the best city-to-city and region-to-region international cooperation projects. Twelve projects have been shortlisted out of 26 applications. Every day, we are presenting one new project (sorted by alphabetical order). This is how the Province of Barcelona in Spain is presenting its partnership between 6 of its municipalities and 6 municipalities of the Region of Marrakech-Safi in Morocco.

« In the framework of the advances of the Moroccan new constitution of 2011 and the new municipal law of 2015 concerning the importance of citizen participation and the creation of an advisory committee for equality and equal opportunity within every municipality, this decentralized cooperation project aimed to strengthen local participatory democracy and to promote local policies on gender in Morocco through the creation of a platform for the exchange of experiences and innovative good practices in terms of citizen participation, equality and gender approach between 6 municipalities in the Marrakech-Safi region and 6 municipalities in the province of Barcelona.

The 6 local governments from the region of Marrakech-Safi were Ménara-Marrakech district, Guéliz-Marrakech district, the city of Benguérir, the city of Had Ras Elain, the city of Sidi Rahal and the city of Zarktan.

The 6 local governments from the province of Barcelona were Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Granollers, Vilafranca, Badalona and Sant Feliu de Llobregat.

The project was executed between October 2017 and July 2019 and was built around 3 main lines of action:

• The organization of 4 training cycles for the benefit of elected and technical municipal officials and representatives of NGOs from the 6 Moroccan municipalities on the importance of citizen participation and gender equality in order to apply the advances of the new constitution of 2011 and the new municipal law of 2015.
• The implementation of 2 pilot decentralized cooperation pilot projects between 2 municipalities of Marrakech-Safi and 2 municipalities of the province of Barcelona (Benguerir – Sant Boi de Llobregat and Marrakech-Guéliz district and Santa Coloma de Gramenet).
• Study visits in the province of Barcelona and in the region of Marrakech-Safi.
• A closing seminar on the role of decentralized cooperation in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The project contributed directly to the implementation of SDG 5 on Gender Equality, notably targets 5.5 and 5.c; SDG 16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, notably targets 16.6, 16.7 and 16.10; and SDG 17 on Partnerships for the Goals, notably 17.14, 17.16 and 17.17. In addition, the project not only contributed to increasing knowledge and commitment of local governments both from the region of Marrakech-Safi and the province of Barcelona to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but the project is based on the principles of the 2030 Agenda (universality, Leaving no one behind, Interconnectedness and Indivisibility, Inclusiveness and Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships) to assess progress and setbacks of the project and notably of the pilot projects between the 4 municipalities. The project therefore highlighted a concrete and practical strategy to use the 2030 Agenda in benefit of the improvement of local policies and inclusive sustainable development of both partners. »