Helen Keller International Receives
Awards for Excellence and Innovation
in Morocco
Rabat, Morocco, September
14, 2005 – Helen Keller
International (HKI) has received
two awards highlighting the excellence
and innovation of its programs
in Morocco. In June 2005,
Dr. Fatima-Zohra Akalay, HKI’s
Morocco Country Director, was
recognized for her leadership
in social action by the Center
for Young Heads of Industry of
Morocco. In July 2005,
HKI was granted a certificate
of merit for its work in women’s
literacy from the General Secretariat
for Literacy and Non-Formal Education
of the Government of the Kingdom
of Morocco.
The two awards acknowledge the
quality of HKI’s programs,
which work to strengthen the delivery
of needed eye health and nutrition
services through the health system. For
more than 20 years, Dr. Akalay
has been involved in the fight
against blindness, and she developed
the primary eye care network that
now covers all of Morocco’s
39 provinces and has been integrated
into the Ministry of Public Health’s
work. As the Country Director,
Dr. Akalay is responsible for HKI-Morocco’s
programs in cataract surgery, primary
eye care and child eye surgery,
trachoma control, and refractive
error screening and eyeglass distribution
to children. In addition,
her leadership has helped incorporate
aspects of these activities into
health-based literacy programs
that reach into the poorest areas
of Morocco.
The award recognizes Dr. Akalay’s
strong leadership which enables
her to work effectively at the
community level as well as at all
levels of government. Under
her guidance, HKI supports the
capacity-building and networking
of local development associations
to empower local communities to
address their own development problems,
and to ensure a voice with local
authorities and public services. HKI
maintains close working relationships
with several national-level ministries
and their field offices, and actively
participates in the Inter-Ministerial
Committee on Literacy, the Coordination
Committee for Fighting Illiteracy,
the Technical Committee for Trachoma
Elimination, and the National Food
Fortification Alliance.
The Moroccan Government has made
girls’ schooling and women’s
literacy a high priority, implementing
major national initiatives in education
(particularly for girls), women’s
literacy, and the development of
civil society organizations. The
government’s commitment to
women’s literacy provides
HKI with an excellent platform
for the integration of eye health
and nutrition programming. Women’s
literacy and post-literacy courses
constitute one of four models that
HKI uses to mainstream health education. To
this end, HKI promotes eye health
and nutrition curricula while improving
women’s literacy rates at
the same time.
The United Nations Development
Program (UNDP) ranks Morocco 125th
out of 177 countries on the Human
Development Index, with major shortfalls
in the areas of education and literacy. Primary
school attendance in the country
remains low, particularly for girls:
only 50% of girls attend primary
school, and only 33% of women can
read. HKI’s programs
address one of the major conclusions
of the Arab Human Development Report,
first published in 2002, that the
successful rebuilding of societies
depends in part on “the complete
empowerment of Arab women, taking
advantage of all opportunities
to build their capabilities and
to enable them to exercise those
capabilities to the fullest.”
HKI’s programs in Morocco
are currently supported by the
Government of the Kingdom of Morocco,
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation,
United States Department of State
Middle East Partnership Initiative
(MEPI), and United States Agency
for International Development (USAID). Past
support was provided by the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation and
International Trachoma Initiative.
 
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