Morocco, Rabat - 07.12.2011. Within the UN Women project “Supporting the monitoring of aid effectiveness from a gender perspective” a capacity building and knowledge-sharing workshop with Non-Governmental Organizations was held on December 07th at the Hotel Texuda in Rabat. The workshop was organized by the national project consultant team in cooperation with l’Espace  Associatif. The participants included 17 representatives from civil society organizations and research institutions, as well as representatives from governmental institutions.  A representative from the Belgium embassy, one of the main donors of gender equality in Morocco, also participated in the workshop.

The purpose of the workshop was to share and validate information and national data on aid flows targeted to gender equality. The main issues discussed were the gender module results of the OECD survey 2011, the current framework for political dialogue in Morocco and the output of the Busan Declaration. 

The first session, by Mr Anas Hasnaoui, representative of the civil society organizations in Busan, focused on the declaration signed at the 4th High Level Forum in Busan and its incorporation of gender, as well as the opportunities and challenges concerning gender equality promotion within the aid effectiveness context.

The next speaker, Mr Said Tounsi, national project researcher, focused the first part of his presentation on aid flows to Morocco and the current challenges in determining how much money is being spent on gender equality. The second part analysed the results of the 2011 OECD survey on aid effectiveness in Morocco.

The third presentation was held by Mr Herman Boonen, representative from the Embassy of Belgium who explained in detail the reforms and modernisation that the Belgium international development budget underwent lately. He then focused on the gender interventions by Belgium in Morocco and explained the different approaches and programmes that Belgium is currently implementing.