COMMUNITY REPARATION: END OF TRAINING SESSION FOR TRAINERS IN THE FIELD OF ILLITERACY FIGHTING IN AREAS OF COMMUNITY REPARATION PROGRAM

The two-day training session, organized in Rabat by the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), the Ministry of National Education’s Illiteracy Fighting Delegation and the Central Commission on Human Rights and Citizenship, for trainers in the field of illiteracy fighting in the areas of the community reparation program, ended on May 3rd, 2011.

This training session aimed to help the 30 benefiting participants grasp the ways and methods to integrate the human rights based approach in the illiteracy fighting programs and curricula.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of this session, Mr. Habib Nadir, Director of the Ministry of National Education’s Illiteracy Fighting Delegation, stressed that the Ministry is committed to supporting illiteracy fighting programs and training of trainers in this field, through the strengthening of these programs on the basis of a human rights based approach. He invited the benefiting trainers to share this experience with other trainers.

For his part, Mr. Ahmed Taoufik Zainabi, Head of the Collective Rights and Regional Affairs Department (CNDH) commended the efforts of the Illiteracy Fighting Delegation in this field. This training aims, first and foremost, to integrate the human rights-based approach in the illiteracy fighting programs and curricula, he concluded.

The representative of the Central Commission on Human Rights and Citizenship, for his part, stated that this training session is organized in implementation of a partnership agreement signed by the National Council and the Central Commission. He explained that a part of this agreement is related to community reparation. It includes several fields, mainly human rights and citizenship education and the promotion of human rights, which are key points within the Citizenship Platform for the Promotion of Human Rights Culture.

The representative of the Central Commission said that the commission will contribute to the promotion of the human rights based approach within society, particularly in the education institutions (schools, centers, etc.). It will encourage citizens to imbibe the values of human rights, which will be reflected on their attitudes and behaviors within their families and society at large.

Several topics were scheduled in this session, including "the national and international human rights reference", the "National Plan of Action on Democracy and Human Rights", the "Citizenship Platform for the Promotion of Human Rights Culture" and the "National Education and Training Charter".

Several recommendations were adopted at the end of this training session, including:

• increasing the number of beneficiaries, according to the extent of illiteracy in each region;

• the need for illiteracy fighting centers in the Community Reparation Program areas to be opened up to parallel programs, so that they can be social learning centers in different areas (cultural, health, environmental…);

• Ensuring convergence with other programs related to illiteracy fighting, in particular those related to the promotion of women’s situation in general;

• Developing pedagogical materials that will help ensure the integration of the human rights based approach and the positive preservation of memory in the curricula of illiteracy fighting centers;

• Expanding and diversifying the training for trainers to include female instructors of illiteracy fighting centers.