Territorial Coaching Program: Accelerator of Change at the Service of Citizens

Oriental, one of 12 regions of Morocco, covers seven provinces and one prefecture and has a population of 1.9 million. Though the region boasts considerable and diverse natural resources, experience has shown that it is often the absence of dialogue between actors that slows down the development dynamics. Different actors work to improve the living conditions of the population through development projects. However, the major challenge of these projects lies in the lack of participation and ownership of the project by all the actors concerned as well as the residents. It is therefore important to analyse and understand the behaviours and attitudes that underlie the desired changes.

To respond to this need of bringing together the players and decision-makers around residents, the territorial coaching programme was born – and so was the Center of Excellence for Territorial Coaching. Territorial coaching is a process in which actors in a territory are encouraged to take responsibility to define their own development agenda. It differs from traditional approaches by how it brings out solutions to participants as well as the special attention it pays to behaviour and relationships. The aim is to create governance change dynamics within the territory, by identifying the relationships and potential convergence between various actors with sometimes divergent interests. To do this, a “sociogram” is used to analyse the human dynamics of the region. Based on this sociogram, synergy workshops are then organised to start a multi-actor dialogue. After that, structured dialogues are initiated to establish the framework and specify the commitments of each party.

To date, around 10,000 local actors, 4,000 heads of associations and cooperatives, 1,000 elected officials and civil servants, 500 young people have been involved in the initiative, in addition to the 100 jobs created or stabilised.

This initiative is of high relevance to SDGs 8 (decent work and economic growth) and 11 (sustainable cities and communities).