CIM in Morocco – Development through Cooperation

Morocco is undergoing changes. Formerly an agricultural country, it is steadily developing an industrial and services-based economy. However Moroccan business is still unable to hold its own in international competition. One of the reasons for this is the country’s lack of trained human resources. The Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM) aims to change this.

The Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM) is German development cooperation’s human resources placement service. As a joint operation of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ, German technical cooperation) and the German Federal Employment Agency (BA), CIM offers two programmes: the Integrated Experts and its Returning Experts programmes.

Four CIM experts are currently working as part of the Integrated Experts Programme in Morocco. Recruited on the German job market, they have been placed with Moroccan employers on temporary assignments, generally lasting from two to no more than six years. CIM supports them during their assignments with services and a financial top up of their local salary. Under a local employment contract, the experts are integrated into the local structures, where they can pass on to their employer the knowhow they have acquired in Germany. CIM is therefore meeting Moroccan employers’ needs by providing highly qualified personnel they could not hire in their own country under local conditions. However, it is up to the employers to make the first move and ask for support – their initial impetus is important for the CIM approach.
It ensures that CIM programmes are tailored and flexible, and that our partners always hold responsibility for decision making.

BUILDING UP A DUAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM

Larissa Bentaleb-Michel is one of four integrated experts currently working in Morocco where, since November 2007, she has been supporting the Institute of Textiles and Clothing (Ecole Supérieure des Industries du Textile et de l‘Habillement – ESITH) in Casablanca. Together with her Moroccan colleagues, her task is to establish a dual vocational education system along the lines of the German model. The aim is to set up training centres within clothing and textile companies, where apprentices can extend the
knowledge gained at ESITH by putting it into practice. This gives companies the chance to train potential employees according to their particular needs and to get to know them professionally in advance.

The companies involved have been quick to realise that qualifiedpersonnel brings higher productivity and a sharper competitive edge. Moreover, this kind of dual training costs considerably less than other forms of vocational education – a fact that has made the country’s politicians sit up and pay attention. The large number of trained textile professionals taken on by the companies testifies to the success of the work. Around 90% of the apprentices are women – another success given that, in spite of compulsory school attendance, it is usually girls who fail to achieve any kind of school-leaving qualification in Morocco, making them more likely to face a jobless future.

In the spirit of Germany’s ‘joined-up development cooperation’, Larissa Bentaleb-Michel’s assignment as a CIM integrated expert complements GTZ’s vocational training programme in Morocco (FPMT), which has been operating since 2004, and has laid the foundations for today’s successes. Alongside ESTIH, which is responsible for producing the educational materials and training instructors, the programme also involves the Moroccan Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (DFP) as well as business associations from across various sectors.

In addition to Larissa Bentaleb-Michel, CIM has also placed another three integrated experts with Moroccan employers – all working in the field of sustainable economic development. The overarching goal that links these assignments is to strengthen international competitive capacity and establish contacts with potential business partners. Therefore, another expert placed with ESITH is responsible for the development of marketing strategies for the institute and its partner companies. Another expert with the Moroccan Association of Textile and Apparel Industries (AMITH) and one with the German-Moroccan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) are helping enterprises to establish contacts with German business partners and to develop products for the European market.

With its Returning Experts Programme, CIM targets foreign experts who have studied or trained in Germany or who have been employed here, but who now wish to return to their home countries and perform work relevant for development and thereby pass on the skills and knowledge they have acquired in Germany. CIM is presently supporting around fifteen Moroccan returnees by subsidising their local salaries. Most of them are highly qualified engineers and IT experts who are employed in innovative areas of private enterprise – a few of them in the energy sector, too.

KNOW-HOW TRANSFER THROUGH RETURN MIGRATION

As part of its migration and development theme, CIM is helping to promote know-how transfer through return migration. In this, Morocco is an important country; a very substantial number of Moroccan migrants live in Germany, among whom there are more and more highly-qualified professionals with potential for transferring know-how through return migration. Technology transfer is particularly important in this country.

In the meantime, returning experts are starting to work as locally-based programme consultants. In Morocco, for example, the returning expert at the German-Moroccan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) is Moha Ezzabdi, who also receives
a top-up to his salary. Mr Ezzabdi is actively engaged in the network of German development cooperation institutions, especially with GTZ.

Furthermore, the Returning Experts Programme has joined forces with the Dutch NGO ‘Intent’ and the French development organisation AFD to implement an EU-cofinanced project designed to mobilise the Moroccan Diaspora to set up businesses in their home country. The aim is to provide advice to business start-ups as well as ongoing support services, both in Germany and Morocco. An initial seminar was recently held in Germany involving fifteen prospective entrepreneurs. The project is intended help promote the economy. It is also closely linked to another project, co-financed by the EU and run by GTZ, on migration and regional economic development in the Oriental region of Morocco (MIDEO). This involves regular exchanges and mutual support.