Chairing the 12th session of the Strategic Orientation Council (COS) of the Millennium Challenge Account-Morocco (MCA-Morocco) agency, Akhannouch stressed the need to accelerate the implementation of various activities programmed under the Compact II program, whose budget amounts to 450 million dollars and is based on two main projects, namely "Education and Training for Employment" and "Land Productivity".
The Government chief also noted the very positive impacts of the program on the targeted sectors, especially in the field of human capital development, said an MCA-Morocco statement released on Friday.
For her part, the Deputy Resident Director of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Morocco, Carrie Monahan, praised the remarkable work done by the MCA-Morocco Agency and MCC teams and their commitment, highlighting the crucial importance of mobilizing all partners to complete the projects and ensure the duplication of the models developed and tested under Compact II.
Thereafter, the Director General of the MCA-Morocco Agency, Malika Laasri, presented, to the members of the Council, a detailed presentation on the progress of the of Compact II execution, since the last session of the Council, and the prospects of its implementation, underlining the honorable financial achievements of the Agency, as evidenced by the recording of a commitment rate of nearly 87% and a disbursement rate of 50%.
The Director General hailed, on this occasion, the notable achievements accomplished under the deployment of various projects, including the completion of multiple infrastructure works.
This includes the rehabilitation of 33 secondary schools in the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the sustained progress of rehabilitation works of 55 other high schools and colleges in the Regions of Fez-Meknes and Marrakech-Safi.
This also contains the construction or rehabilitation works of 14 out of the 15 vocational training institutions supported by the Charaka Fund, the off-site works in the three pilot industrial zones of the Casablanca-Settat region and the development works initiated in eight projects supported by the Sustainable Industrial Zones Fund (FONZID).
The Director General was particularly pleased with the promising results achieved in the experimentation of innovative models in the various sectors targeted by Compact II.
These models include the integrated "Attahadi High School" model aimed at improving the performance of schools and students' learning and the model for promoting inclusive employment of populations with difficulties in entering the labor market through results-based financing.
These go in addition to the model for the development of collective lands located in the irrigation perimeters based on an optimized and simplified melkisation procedure and inclusive support measures and the development and governance models in public-private partnership (PPP) of vocational training institutions and sustainable industrial parks.
At the end of this meeting, the Board approved a series of resolutions, which relate mainly to the approval of the financial audit report for the period from October 2019 to September 2020, the activity report of the Agency under the 4th year of Compact II, conventions and amendments to conventions and partnership agreements concluded in the framework of the implementation of Compact II projects, and the Procurement Program of the Agency as updated.
The work of this Council took place in the presence of Chakib Benmoussa, Minister of National Education, Preschool and Sports, Younes Sekkouri, Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills, Ryad Mezzour, Minister of Industry and Trade, Faouzi Lekjaa, Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Richard Gaynor, MCC Resident Director in Morocco, by videoconference, Carrie Monahan, MCC Deputy Resident Director in Morocco, and Malika Laasri, Director General of the MCA-Morocco Agency, in addition to other COS members or their representatives.