There are many ways to travel, from the common history, in a hotel or beach-tourism for the more adventurous, hiking, particularly in rural tourism, camping, sports, travel or trips to the mountains and the desert. Besides all these possibilities, Marrakech also offers a different kind of tourism, humane and altruistic: the solidarity and cooperation of traveling in a developing country in need of international cooperation for the solution of serious problems.

Cooperative trips or “philanthropic travel” aim at helping people get past their daily march for survival and improve their everyday conditions. Moroccan economy, still an emerging economy, depends crucially on income provided by tourism (about 7.5 million tourists visited Morocco in 2007). Unfortunately, this income does not always contribute towards a substantial improvement of living conditions of the underprivileged (those whose per capita income is below the national average of 2.356 dollars per year). The United Nations promote cooperative tourism and underline the positive impact that this kind of tourism has both on the traveller and on the host communities.

Education is one of the most important areas of cooperation between UNESCO and Morocco, where data are quire eloquent: 44.4% of the population above 15 years of age is illiterate, only 60% of children attend pre-primary education and just 11% of the population reach higher education (university or other).

Since the efforts of public administrations remains insufficient, there are a number of associations and private benefactors who work on helping young boys and girls receive an adequate education. Most of them offer grants, accommodation, free courses or pedagogical assistance for their future entrance in the job market as well as the financing of pedagogical material, transport or even food.

Besides education, there are other issues that receive help from associations and private contributors whose aim is to improve the living conditions of the needy and most vulnerable. There are two areas of cooperation that deserve particular attention: health and infrastructures, which are often closely related.

Concerning healthcare, the data are also quite significant: the infant mortality rate has been increasing during the last few years to reach 41‰, 25% of children under 5 years of age suffer from malnutrition and only 1.4% of the country’s GDP is devoted to healthcare, which means a total public spending on healthcare of 113 dollars per person per year.

Regarding infrastructures, it suffices to say that access to improved water source is available to 80% of the population, but access to basic sanitation is just 62%, which implies innumerable health and hygiene problems. In this sense, many organisations are devoted to finance, plan and carry out a number of projects that aim at building and improving facilities for water extraction and distribution and at guaranteeing an appropriate basic sanitation, especially in rural areas.

Likewise, there are other projects of a more social nature that have been gradually developing with the invaluable help of volunteers and visitors come from abroad. Among many others, there are programs devoted to helping the development of biological agriculture, the promotion of rural tourism, the creation of public works, schools and orphanages, the offer of help and assistance to the disabled, the raising of awareness campaigns at community level about health and equality issues, the sustainment and promotion of sports activities, the medico-pedagogical training of the teaching staff, the encouragement of social exchange and permanent communication between young foreign students and their Moroccan counterparts in order to found a dialogue between cultures, etc.

Thus, there are many ways by which visitors to Morocco can contribute to the development of the country, both at a purely financial level and by providing support with their knowledge, training; time and energy. There are innumerable associations and organisations that will be very happy and grateful to welcome any kind of cooperation from tourists, guests and visitors, for whom the experience of actively collaborating in the development of an emerging country will be, without a doubt, a most rewarding and enriching one.

This experience will give you the chance to learn, first hand, much more from the country and from what does not appear on travel books and the media. You will create valuable bonds with individuals, families and even entire communities. Also, you will have a chance to be a witness to the close interaction between your donation and practical contribution on the one hand and the results achieved on the other hand. Your encounters will be extremely positive, not only at the level of social needs, but also with regard to the learning about a culture and its idiosyncrasy.