The following post was contributed by POA Online Volunteer Cassandra Chin.

What began three years ago to help fight poverty and social exclusion has boomed into a national investment that has created and revamped social centers around the country.  In mid-2005, King Mohammed VI launched the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH) program.

INDH has been assisting the Moroccan government in four areas:

1. alleviating poverty in rural areas;
2. alleviate social exclusion in urban areas;
3. alleviate extreme vulnerability; and
4. mainstream INDH governance mechanisms, while strengthening institutional capacity.

By Apr. 2008, three years later, 69 socio-economic projects that aim at fighting poverty in rural areas have been carried out. In total, the projects have benefitted 98,358 people.  Six other projects are currently underway, with plans to expand a social center for the disabled and build another, along with a center for children in harsh living conditions.

On Nov. 1, King Mohammed VI inaugurated a regional branch of the Mohammed VI National Center for the Disabled. The $2 million branch is located in the Atlantic city of Safi, and is named Mohammed Karim Amrani, the former Prime Minister.  Funded mainly through a grant, the remaining funds will be used to finance other regional projects.

Aimed at developing the skills and expertise for integration into society, the center is the first initiative to provide the services of the Mohammed VI National Center for the Disabled across Morocco. The center is considered “a medico-educational, social and professional center.”

The center is open to those who are “physically handicapped, the cerebral palsied, the people suffering a mild mental handicap, and the mentally deranged and autistic children and teenagers.” Support is also given to families of the disabled, including the medical and educational costs and social integration.

Built on an area of 2,700 square meters, it has an accommodation capacity of 40 beds.