Hannah Rickard

October 23, 2015

The Participatory Approach in Action: Discovering What's Behind Working for an International NGO

With neoliberalism on the rise, and power increasingly accumulating in fewer and higher hands, independently acquiring the necessary resources for sustainable growth can be a daunting task. However, with Moroccan illiteracy and poverty rates decreasing, and along with the inauguration of a National Initiative for Human Development (INDH) policy in 2005, Morocco is not giving in so easily. This past summer I interned for a non-governmental organization called the High Atlas Foundation (HAF), which uses the participatory approach to empower individuals to generate projects and solutions that emerge from, grow with, and remain rooted in their communities. As an intern for multicultural initiatives, I collaborated with fellow team members to progress collectively beneficial projects for rural communities, which simultaneously strengthened and maintained already well-established empathetic relationships across Morocco’s various religious groups. Working with a still growing NGO such as HAF, meant focusing heavily on fundraising efforts, which translated as a great deal of detail-oriented work behind my laptop. Despite encountering an experience different than what I initially imagined, I emerged nonetheless with a valuable and satisfying experience, which endowed me with a unique understanding of the behind-the-scenes work of the NGO and nonprofit world.