Morning – One year after launch, Compact II projects on track

After the holding of its Strategic Orientation Council last Friday in Rabat, the Millennium Challenge Account Agency (MCA-Morocco) has just delivered the results of the first year of the second cooperation program with Millennium Challenge. Corporation (Compact II). Whether it is the "Education and Training for Employability" project or the "Productivity of Land" project, there is optimism. MCA officials say the cooperation program is on track.

The projects planned under the second program of cooperation between the Moroccan government and that of the United States of America, represented by Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), is well underway. According to the managing director of the Millennium Challenge Account-Morocco Agency (MCA-Morocco), a public institution charged with the implementation of the Compact, Abdelghni Lakhdar, "two structuring projects with ambitious objectives have been launched under this second program". Indeed, the Compact II, whose implementation will take place within five years from its date of entry into force, is structured around two projects, namely "Education and training for the Employability and Land Productivity.
Mobilizing an overall budget of $ 220 million, the "Education and Training for Employability" project aims, among other things, to strengthen the employability of young people through education. improvement of the quality and relevance of secondary education and vocational training programs. According to the director of the Agency, this project is based on three activities, namely "secondary education", "vocational training" and "employment", is on track.
In this sense, Mr. Lakhdar recalled the start of the implementation of projects selected under the first call for projects planned under the "Secondary Education" activity, which alone mobilizes a budget of $ 112.6 million. As for the "Professional training" activity, the establishment of the "Charaka" fund, dedicated to financing the creation or extension of vocational training centers managed under public-private partnerships (PPPs), is in progress. course. The signing of grant agreements is scheduled for next October, said the manager.
Regarding the project on "Productivity of land," whose budget amounts to about $ 170 million, its objective is to contribute to improving governance and productivity of land to better meet the needs of investors and attract more investment. To achieve these goals, three activities have been implemented, said the Director General of the Agency. These activities include "land governance", "industrial land tenure" and "rural land", Lakhdar said.
Taking stock of the progress of these activities, Mr. Lakhdar confirmed the completion of the preparatory study for the "melkisation" operation. A permanent Ministerial Land Policy Committee, which is responsible for, inter alia, coordinating and overseeing the process of preparing the land strategy and its action plan, has also been put in place, according to the manager. The Head of Government also referred the Economic, Social and Environmental Council to carry out a study on the State's land policy in collaboration with the Agency MCA-Morocco, according to the precisions made by Mr. Lakhdar.
As a reminder, Morocco is now leading the countries that have benefited from this partnership with the US government. With a budget of $ 697 million for the Compact I and $ 450 million for the Compact II, the Kingdom has had the largest amount ever allocated to a country under a similar program, assured resident director of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Morocco, Walter Siouffi, who said that this is 10% of the MCC budget. Regarding the choice of projects, it is the result of an analysis of constraints to economic growth that has been conducted by the Government and MCC, in collaboration with the African Development Bank, said the Director General of the Millennium Challenge Account Agency-Morocco.