Girls Basketball Camp

by Ben Zapchenk

The idea for the girls basketball camp in Agdz started one day this past spring, when there was a week long break from school and many students were growing restless with the lack of extracurricular activities for them to participate in. After a few conversations with some female students in Agdz, I noticed that all of them were interested in participating in physical activities that would afford them an opportunity and a reason to get out of their houses. Due to the existing cultural structures in Moroccan society, many girls and women are hard pressed to find communal spaces where they can be themselves and engage in collective endeavors, whereas boys and men find no such restrictions.

To get the ball rolling on this camp idea, I spoke with the director of my Dar Chebab and my primary counterpart about the strong interest on behalf of the local students. Once we hammered out the schedule, times, and location for the camp, the rest of the planning (minus the traditional certificate ceremony, food, end of camp celebration) was on me. The camp ran for three days, two hours a day, over the course of the week long school break. Each day we began with basic drills and activities for learning the fundamentals of the game: dribbling, passing, shooting, defense. The last thirty minutes to an hour of the day were reserved for organized team activities, which primarily consisted of breaking the camp participants into two teams and holding scrimmages between them. By the conclusion of this camp, the twenty girls who had participated were unified in their desire to continue learning the game and turning this camp into a weekly club.

Basic drills to learn the fundamentals of dribbling, passing, shooting, defense

Once again, I went back to the Dar Chebab director and my counterpart in order to present my idea and initiate a meeting with everyone that would be involved. After holding a few meetings with the students and parents to introduce the basketball club idea and to inform the parents as to the benefits of participation in this club, we were ready. For about four months on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, from the spring up until the advent of Ramadan, I would meet with a group of 20-30 girls ranging in age from 4-17 in order to teach them the game of basketball. 

We started with the basics: what the lines on the basketball court mean, how to dribble and pass, and proper shooting form. The typical structure for each club meeting would be as follows: thirty minutes to an hour of basketball drills and games designed to acclimate students to the game, followed by thirty minutes to an hour of organized scrimmages where the kids could apply those skills and enjoy the organized chaos that comes with learning how to work, play, and communicate with one another. After several weeks there was noticeable skill improvement in those who were consistently attending.

End of camp celebration

There is one specific memory from the club that will be inexorably imprinted upon me. We were working in a mixed group of boys and girls, with half consisting of high school girls and the other half consisting of elementary school boys and girls. After going through drills as a collective unit, I split the younger boys and girls into two teams for a scrimmage. After the scrimmage began it quickly became apparent that these young ones needed more instruction about the rules of the game and the basics of dribbling, passing, etc. Before I had a chance to intervene, two of my older girls, Saida and Samira, stopped the game and had the youngsters form a circle in center. For the next 40 minutes Saida and Samira taught the youngsters the do's and don'ts of basketball: how to dribble with the tips of your fingers, why you can't dribble the basketball with two hands, how to make a chest pass, where the out of bounds line is and what it means, and so on. It was a beautiful moment that made me feel happy for them and the ownership that they were able to take in their basketball club. 

Girls taking ownership in their club

--

Posted by Shawn Dubberly

Success Stories: Gender work at all speeds

by Shawn Dubberly

This Gender and Development (GAD) Committee recently presented at the Meknes HUB. They introduced GAD to the new staj and used exercise as a theme to illustrate various speeds of gender work. Here are some the success stories from the last two years.

Gender and Development Success Stories 

Walking, Jogging, Running

“Gender work at all speeds”

Walking

A Male in a Female Space

Steven Howard in Goulmima

Steven and his counterpart Mustapha chose to emphasize "International Girls' Day" at their Leadership Class at the Dar Chebab. They talked about some of the students' impressions of the place of girls in Moroccan society and what their perceptions were of girls' abilities to excel in society to the same extent as boys. Together, Mustapha and Steven, two men, encouraged all of the students to identify some negative stereotypes they have held about the ability of girls and women to achieve in school and work and recognize gender equality.

Celebrating Female Teachers

Shawn Dubberly Site: Birkouat

 

Shawn and a science teacher in site

At a school science fair, Shawn was pulled into a spontaneous speech. So she decided to focus her speech on celebrating the female science teachers. She told the students that they were lucky to have this intelligent role model in their lives. Then she included the students by telling them the importance of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). It’s rare for women to talk about themselves, so she felt this was a good example of how everyday gender work can simply be highlighting, celebrating and thanking women for the work they do.

Jogging

Women’s Hours at Men’s Gym

Rachel Gates-Vickery in Itzer

Women and girls gathering in gym 

Rachel works with a women’s athletics association. The women have an open space with homemade weights and a certified trainer however there is minimal resources/space that the association can provide. After months and months of trying, the women successfully got permission to integrate the services into the all male gym at the other end of town.

The previously all male gym is better equipped with materials as well as a shower. Increasing the instructor’s cliental led to a slight raise in income allowing her to build a shower in her all women’s gym and hopefully purchase new materials.

The women’s gym has not only been a space to workout, but they are the only true spaces in town dedicated to women. Women, now on both ends of town, can gather, workout, share recipes, talk about their kids, exchange prayer...really the opportunities are endless....it has created a bond that truly cannot be found anywhere else-not even in the streets where we know of women congregating.

GLOW Club

Rachelle Wilson in Sidi Rahal 

     

Rachelle wanted to find a way to start development work beyond language, reconciling that it may look much smaller than what she imagined. She meets once a month and do 3 to 4 hours of activities, some adapted from the GLOW camp curriculum. 

    

So far, our GLOW club has covered topics such as: education in Morocco, prioritizing, effective goal setting, self-advocacy, gender equality, and leadership.

Girl’s Basketball Club

Ben Zapchenk in Agdz

Ben noticed that girls were interested in participating in physical activities that would afford them an opportunity and reason to get outside of their houses. Because of the existing cultural structures in Moroccan society, many girls and women are hard pressed to find communal spaces where they can be themselves and engage in collective endeavors, whereas boys and men find no such restrictions.

Running

GLOW Safe Space Community Library

Julie Feng in Settat

The Girls Leading Our World (GLOW) Club of Settat is building a community library at the dar chebab. Our main goals:

                  ●  Access. Our community has no reasonable or affordable access to books.

                  ●  Capacity-Building & Empowerment. The library project is completely led by Moroccan girls and young women. Though this means that building is slower than most PC libraries, the power shift is worth it!

                  ●  Safe Community. Girls often get the message that they don’t belong in public domains, even at the youth center. The library creates a space that is completely inclusive.

GLOW Camp

Nina Lopez in Er-Rich

Nina worked on a 5 day GLOW camp with 35 girls. Covering subjects such as Healthy Lifestyles part I, Science, Healthy Lifestyles part II, Goal Setting & Careers, Agents of Change and The Environment.

Biggest Challenges: getting presenters to commit, girls waited until the last minute to sign up, Ministry backed out on providing lunch, keeping schedule on time.

Biggest Accomplishments: Given the opportunity counterparts really stepped up, participants brought food and supplies and we cooked together, not providing lunch was no big deal, Moroccans presented the majority of the classes, awesome toolkits available through Peace Corps.

2016 Gender Advocate Training in Fes!

Last month, the Gender and Development committee held its 2nd annual Gender Advocate Training in Fes. In attendance for the 2-day, bilingual conference were 15 Peace Corps volunteers and 17 Moroccan counterparts. Peace Corps Morocco volunteer Shawn Dubberly resides in Zaouia Ben Hmida and focuses her work on her community of girls at the boarding school (dar taliba) there. You can find out more about her service on her blog Bonjour Hello Salam. Shawn attended the training and shares her experience:

What is gender?

by Shawn Dubberly

That was the first question on the pre-training survey as we gathered in Fes for Gender Advocacy Training (GAT).  I had to admit it was a tough question. Everyone seemed to be confidently scribbling. I was afraid I would have to present my definition to a room full of obviously talented and experienced volunteers and their equally talented and accomplished Moroccan counterparts. Luckily, the first announcement that the facilitators, Brandy Blue, Noa Harris, Kika Kaui and Matt Hendrick made was to point out that the room was full of knowledge and the training would be an opportunity to learn from each other.

The training kicked off strong with a Safe Space Building activity. We created a guideline for behaviors that made us feel safe and also behaviors that made us feel uncomfortable.

Using the pre-survey question that gave me such a hard time, the facilitators opened up the training with a great gender awareness activity lead by Noa. Maybe you have done or seen a version of this, but I found doing the actual activity in a group very helpful. Seeing the activity play out showed me just how impactful and easy it could be in my site.

This was how it was structured:

 Each person was given a card. On the first side we wrote 3 examples about our own gender with the phrase, “ I am happy to be a (man/woman) because...”

 On the second side we imagined our lives as the opposite gender by finishing the phrase, “If I were a (man/woman) I would be…”

 The next step was to go around the circle and read from the first side. It was

time consuming but as Noa said, each voice added to a musicality of the group as

we defined how we felt about gender. After the first round there was a second round of reading the next phrase. This too revealed certain attitudes and Beyonce’s song If I Were a Boy kept playing in my head.

Next, we were given a short session on Gender in the Media by Matt. I emphasize short because there were so many good comments that we could not get to. It was a great discussion on an article by the Moroccan writer Fatima Sadiqi entitled Gender at Heart of New Moroccan Constitution. We discussed Moroccan reforms, good governance, political will and the implementation of reforms. This session was bursting at the seams with comments from volunteers and Moroccans with opinions backed up by first hand accounts. Unfortunately, we did not have time for questions of obstacles between the city and the countryside and how media outside of Morocco affects the gender identities within it.

 One of the Moroccan Peace Corps staff, Amina, told us that women are the first teachers for their children. The way women raise their children is very powerful. In

her opinion, pointing out that influence could lead to empowering mothers to consider gender equality when raising their children.

After lunch we broke off into two groups for smaller discussions. The Moroccan counterparts were presented a session on the iceberg theory of culture, while the American volunteers had a round table on best practices when doing gender work in

site. It reinforced the idea that the best knowledge comes from experience and I was

very thankful to hear similar concerns and obstacles from many volunteers. As well, we shared examples of positive ways to overcome difficulties.

As outsiders discussing gender issues with our Muslim communities, we talked about sensitive communication. One volunteer suggested giving examples from smaller, lesser-known religions such as Confucianism or Daoism to pull student out of their structured responses to religiously sensitive material that they know well.

Another volunteer's suggestion was to cite Muslim feminist or female Moroccan Scholars when presenting difficult material. As well as reminding students that language always affects interpretation.

The second day began with a Vote with you Feet activity on some facts and figures

about gender in Morocco. It was encouraging when I got a few of the answers correct

and it was a great way to start off a full day that included a session on empathy and a

detailed presentation from MRA Mobilizing for Rights Associates.

Brandy presented the activity on empathy. It was a real hit and easily adaptable for a

Moroccan audience. The basic concept is to make a group of people make a single

decision on weather to take a vacation to the ocean or to the mountains. Each person is giving a card with a motivation and the activity is to use empathetic skills to come to a consensus. It’s always fun to do a little role-playing and even with all the jokes and laughing, real practice can be achieved.

Mobilising for Rights Associates, MRA, joined us for the next session. The presentation on the 2004 Moroccan Family Code was insightful. MRA founder Stephanie Willman Bordat and her Moroccan associate Saida Kouzzi did an excellent job presenting information and resources on the family code, which is commonly called the Moudawana but is correctly termed the qanon l’usra. I was impressed by Stephanie's generosity from the start of the presentation when she asked to hear about our sites and any specific topic within the presentation that we wanted to know more about. The presentations covered the new reforms made to marriage and divorce. I found it interesting that the family laws are the only laws based on religious concepts. All other types of Moroccan laws are secular. Also, Article 400 invites judges to use their own interpretation, which allows for different applications of the law.

The final session was a mini Project Design and Management Workshop. This is where we were able to discuss a future project with our counterparts. The facilitators gave us a helpful continuum tool to assess if our projects were accommodating existing gender differences or transformative in supporting and strengthening gender equality.

The success of the training showed by how the conversations stayed strong through

coffee breaks and lunches when participants added their own stories to deepen the

framework on the training. All the participants were completely engaged with the topics from start to finish. I thought the activities were useful and I look forward to using them in site to help advocate for gender equality in all my projects.

Here are some of the language used during the Gender Advocate (GAT) training that

could be useful when discussing gender topics in your site.

English - Transliteration - Arabic script

safe space lwaSaT l’Amin الوسط الآمن

gender Nnaw3 ljtima3i النوع الاجتماعي

Sex ljins الجنس

feminine unta أنثى

masculine dakar ذكر

patriarchy ddukuriya الذكورية

gender lens 3adasat nnaw3 عدسة النوع

advocate Lmutarafi3/lmudafi3 المترافع/المدافع

family code laws qanon l’usra قانون مدونة الأسرة

divorce Tllq طلّق

(a irreconcilable divorce

without damage payment)

(when a woman pays her

husband to repudiate her)

Equality lmusawat المساواة

Gender role Ddawr ljtima3i liljinsayn الدور الاجتماعي للجنسين

Equal opportunities Takafu’A lfuraS تكافؤ الفرص

shiqaq ق الشقا

Khul3 خلع

Minor/underage qaSir القاصر

2016 International Women's Day

Tuesday, March 8 is International Women's Day and GAD wants you to start the celebration with a social media party!  Follow these easy steps to be part of the fun:

1. Take a picture of a woman or girl in your community who you admire - don't forget to get her consent ;)
2. Use one of these two phrases to describe your post:  "I am proud to be a woman because..." or "This woman inspires me because..."
3. Add the hashtag #IWDMorocco
4. Post it everywhere: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all the rest!  Go wild!  It's an IWD Party!

#IWDMorocco

Once you've shared the love on social media, GAD Maroc has some excellent resources to help you teach students and friends about IWD!  They're easy-to-use, great for informal settings or a classroom, and translated into Arabic so your counterpart can get involved!

First, be sure to check out our newest toolkit, Men as Partners!  It's a great way for male PCVs and coutnerparts to celebrate IWD with the men they work with.  Some awesome features include:

• activities that explore and question "male identity"
• ways to become an empathetic partner and listener
• Coffee Shop questions for directing conversations outside of a formal learning environment

Next, we're featuring the Self Esteem Toolkit, designed to help women of all ages explore their inner beauty and value.  Participants will:

• express themselves creatively by creating flowers
• identify personal traits to be proud of
• celebrate a range of identities and skills

And, as always, if you haven't yet done a viewing of You Can Dream, it's an excellent way to inspire Moroccan women with success stories told by Moroccan women!  The video is available on youtube and you can find guiding questions (Arabic and English) in the You Can Dream toolkit.

Join GAD Maroc in celebrating 2016 International Women's Day and share your experiences with us!  As always, GAD wants to hear how you're helping bring about gender equality in our world!

For Regional GLOW Camps in Morocco, The Intensity Of Planning Is Worth The Results

by Brandy Blue


Something that GAD Morocco often advocates and celebrates is the implementation of GLOW camps at various sites around Morocco. GLOW stands for Girls Leading Our World and the camps help fulfill Peace Corps Morocco's goal of spreading female empowerment and raising self-confidence. GLOW camps ideally create a safe and supportive environment for cultural exchange, leadership development, and fun. These camps have been a part of Peace Corp's work since 1995, and have been held in over 60 countries worldwide.

To a new volunteer, spearheading a camp of this kind can feel daunting. The planning process involves a lot of communication with various officials, grant writing, arranging spaces, beds and food for the girls, devising a curriculum, and collecting a group of hard-working volunteers and counterparts to facilitate the event. I spoke recently with volunteer Emma James about her experience holding a regional GLOW camp earlier this year. Emma, an Avon, Maine native, came to Morocco after completing her studies in Anthropology and Education at Bowdoin College. She is currently wrapping up her 2 years of service in Tighassaline, Morocco.

Her passion for expanding education for girls is palpable. When asked why she took on this project, Emma says, "There is a dearth of opportunity presented to girls in this region of Morocco – and identifying this was all the inspiration we really needed to prepare for GLOW. Many of the girls from our communities are trapped in a mindset that their life plan is predetermined: girls are to stay in their small villages, marry young, start a family, and become a housewife." Currently in Morocco, 80% of young females from rural areas who attend school drop out between grades 1 and 6. 

She continued: "The goal of our camp was to encourage girls to abandon this flawed mentality, push gender barriers, and reflect on what they really want in life. Most importantly, we wanted to empower girls and lead them to realize that the above is possible, regardless of the gender stereotypes and expectations that they have been exposed to." Emma plans to advance her work post-Peace Corps by moving on to a graduate program at the University of Pennsylvania focusing on international girls' education.

Planning for GLOW camps, especially one as large and intensive as Emma's, takes a lot of patience. A camp for the region was originally slated to take place last year, but due to bureaucratic issues it was postponed at the last minute. Emma says the apparent theme during all the administrative issues this time around was, "hurry up and wait." She said the support she received from her regional manager, Houda Mansouri, was critical throughout the laborious planning stages. But ultimately, with sponsorship of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and Association CJM co-signing on to the grant, the camp was held in El Hajeb from January 31st to February 5th of this year. 

Emma and her co-planner Garrett Powers were able to pull together the multi-provincial camp with the help of 14 other current Peace Corps volunteers and 14 Moroccan counterparts. Emma said the scope of the camp was rewarding but also the source of many of the planning challenges. "We had girls from four or five different provinces. This meant that we had to receive special permission from the Ministry in Rabat," she says. "If your camp is going to be one or both of the above points, start early and get things in writing instead of just a verbal agreement."

Ultimately 68 girls were able to participate in the camp. They were able to become active learners in sessions involving a range of themes: Gender and Development, Health (physical and mental, healthy relationships), STEM, Arts, Goal Setting and a Career Panel, Feminine Hygiene and SIDA, Self-Esteem and Self-Respect. During the planning process Emma delegated much of the activity work to the other involved PCVs. While she handled all the administrative paperwork, she says, these PCVs were essential to keeping the actual camp planning alive. "I cannot stress this enough," she says, "don’t be afraid to delegate tasks and responsibilities. Other PCVs are there to help and want to be planning and working. It would have been impossible for Garrett and me to plan everything while also dealing with all the bureaucratic nuisances."

Other PCVs were also essential in getting girls physically to the camp. As a camp that involved traveling from other provinces, close contact with parents was very important. A number of girls were not able to attend at the last minute because of withdrawn permission from their parents. To avoid this, Emma advises close personal contact with the families of the girls before the camp begins. Girls that had initially been given permission were ultimately kept home because their families became uncomfortable with the subject matter of the camp or the lack of a family chaperone. Emma emphasized to "avoid this problem by talking to parents beforehand when the idea is originally presented to girls, if they still have problems then you can give another girl the opportunity to go to camp."

Once all the planning, attendance issues, and curriculum was developed and set into motion, the actual camp was a great success. Emma is most proud of the sessions presented on goal setting. A panel was arranged featuring "five very successful women: Hoda Mansouri, RM from Peace Corps, the Delegue of Youth and Sports to El Hajeb, a hospital administrator, the head of AXA insurance branch at Hajeb, and a physics teacher." The girls were able to hear some different perspectives on future careers and ask questions. "What made it so special is that in the morning girls had attended a goal planning session. Girls transitioned from thinking about their own futures to listening to five incredibly successful women talk about how they once were in their position. It was inspirational and motivating for the girls."

The feedback of a particular participant embodies the general feeling surrounding the close of the activities. She said, 

I would be a liar if I said that GLOW camp wasn’t the greatest experience of my life thus far. I’ve learned how to be independent. I re-learned what it means to be “responsible.” I learned how to behave and work with different people. I’ve made new friends. In addition, I’ve learned how to listen to other people’s problems. I was so happy to play all the games at camp. It was my first time speaking in front of a large crowd and talking about my opinions and myself. I loved it! I’m going to miss you all a lot.

Another participant simply stated “I wish I could stay at camp forever.” This feedback is what makes the arduous planning process all worthwhile. In a country where safe spaces for girls to learn and grow can seem to be few and far between, experiences like this can create a sea change in the development of young women. So, as Emma recommends: “start early, get stuff in writing, work with your RM, delegate tasks to PCVs, give out permission slips early, and talk to parents, especially fathers.” Then get out there and celebrate the girls in your life with a GLOW camp!