Centre for Democracy

The Centre for Democracy

2002 – 2022

The Centre for Democracy is an association created in 2002 in Morocco, for the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance and environmental protection.

Objectives of the Democracy Center:

·     Promote citizenship and civic education

·     Promote democracy and culture

·     Develop the capacities of civil society associations to be a strong player in society

·     Advancing universal human rights as a whole and good governance in all its forms

·     Advocate before public institutions, including government, parliament and local authorities, on citizen issues

·     Promoting development in all its dimensions and developing individual, collective and institutional capacities within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Outstanding Achievements of the Democracy Center

Advocacy for a political parties law: The Centre for Democracy was the first to call for the enactment of a political parties law since 2002. The Centre for Democracy mobilized the support of political parties, parliamentarians and civil organizations and defense of human rights for its promulgation. In this regard, The Centre for Democracy submitted memoranda to the Ministry of Interior (which oversees party law) and the Prime Minister, and continued discussions in parliament and advocated the publication of a number of memoranda, in particular to integrate the values of transparency and democracy into the law.

Education for human rights, citizenship and democracy: The Centre for Democracy has promoted human rights, citizenship and democracy through schools and high schools. These activities, which lasted throughout the life of the center, targeted school students through the organization of awareness-raising activities, workshops and conferences in a large number of towns and villages in Morocco. Throughout its history, The Centre for Democracy has worked on the promotion of human rights in a transversal way and it has promoted international conventions in all areas.

Promoting Participation in Elections : The Center has contributed through the project “Promoting Qualitative Citizen Participation” to encouraging citizens to participate in full awareness in the choice of their representatives .

The project established a number of criteria that guided voters in the process of selecting their candidates for legislative and local elections. This project met with significant success, as it was followed by many national media, as it was considered the first initiative beyond the call for participation in elections to change the way of thinking of voters and the way from which they choose the candidates who represent them. The project initiated the culture of evaluating the previous work of the elected candidate before giving him confidence.

Promoting Youth Political Participation : The Center is committed to promoting youth political participation. The Center advocated participation, and that is what attracted the political parties that participated in this project. The project continued to organize a number of activities aimed at young people, including the organization of meetings for young people on various political issues. In 2008, this project had sent a memorandum to the political parties and to the parliamentarian to reduce the age of candidacy for elections to 18 years. In 2011, the new constitution adopted this principle. Therefore, young people have the right to vote and to apply from the age of 18.

Promotion of E-democracy: The e-democracy project, which trained the managers of political party websites to communicate with young people and develop their skills in order to combine citizenship education with the delivery of political messages to the public.

The program aimed to digitize partisan life in order to use new technologies to promote democracy.

Young Generation of Today: This " Youth Today Generation ” (2013 – 2014) targeted young people from different regions of Morocco and aimed to teach young people how to make decisions and participate in the life of their community.

Right of Access to Information: To advance the right to information as part of a long-term project (2007-2015), The Centre for Democracy contributed to the enactment of a law on the right informing and raising the awareness of various groups in society, including young people, about this right. In this context, in addition to memoranda addressed to the government and parliament and awareness-raising workshops, the project has led young people from secondary schools to develop their skills in seeking information in the field of citizenship, democracy and human rights.

school education: As part of support for schools, the Center has promoted pre-school education by encouraging specialized associations to get involved in the field.

Environmental Protection: The Centre for Democracy has engaged in several environmental protection activities including the development of memoranda to the government for an inclusive environmental government policy. Among the memoranda on the same subject, it was that "The quality of the air" addressed to the government.

Good Governance: From its creation in 2002 until today, the Center for Democracy has made the promotion of good governance its favorite theme given its importance in positive change in society. Among the memoranda developed and addressed to the government, the adoption of the principles of efficiency, transparency and evaluation in public administration, the national budget and sectoral policies. The Center has organized awareness-raising activities, workshops and conferences in the field. Its memorandum for the reform of the constitution (2011) clearly requested the inclusion of the principle of governance in the management of public affairs. Since 2011, the constitution of Morocco considers good governance one of the fundamentals of the state.