April 12, 2013
**Under its recently passed Constitution, Morocco’s task is “to make people into citizens.”
–Dr. Rachid Benmokhtar Benabdellah**
Jean R. AbiNader, Exec. Dir., Moroccan American Trade & Investment Center
Jean AbiNader, Executive Director of the Moroccan American Trade & Investment Center sits down with Morocco’s Professor Rachid Benmokhtar Benabdellah, who was in Washington, DC this week to speak at the German Marshall Fund on reform in Morocco and the Economic, Social, and Environment Council (CESE) project on regionalization in the Saharan provinces.
Dr. Rachid Benmokhtar Benabdellah, President, Morocco’s National Observatory for Human Development (ONDH).
Rachid Benmokhtar Benabdellah is Chairman and President of the Morocco’s National Observatory for Human Development (ONDH), concerned with capacity-building and local governance. He is former president of Al-Akhawayn University, a member of CESE, and served on the committee that drafted Morocco’s new Constitution — proposed by King Mohammed VI and approved by national referendum in July 2011.
Prof. Benabdellah and Mr. AbiNader discuss progress and the path ahead in implementing Morocco’s Constitutional reforms, widely recognized as among the most forward-looking and far-reaching in the region. The two focus in particular on Morocco’s newly launched regionalization initiative for the South being coordinated by the CESE.
Dr. Rachid Benmokhtar Benabdellah
President of the Moroccan National Observatory for Human Development
Dr. Rachid Benmokhtar Benabdellah was born in 1942 in Marrakesh. He holds degrees from the Ecole National Supérieure d’Ingénieurs des Constructions Aéronautiques (France) and the International Institute of Management Development (Switzerland).
After a stint with IBM France, he cofounded IMEG in 1973, the first Moroccan information technology consulting firm. He also worked with the Club of Rome on introducing information technology programs to Moroccan schools, developing an interest in the interplay of education and technology.
He continued his work in the private sector and continued to work on educational issues. In 1980 he began teaching at the Mohammedia School of Engineering. He was then named Coordinator of the team responsible for reforming primary and secondary education at the Moroccan Ministry of Education.
In 1995, Benmokhtar Benabdellah was appointed Minister of Education, and in 1998 was appointed President of Al Akhawayn University. In July 2006, he was appointed by as Chairman and President of the National Observatory for Human Development (ONDH), which is concerned with capacity building for local governance.
In addition to his role as President of ONDH, Dr. Benmokhtar Benabdellah also serves as Vice-Chairman of the Moroccan Foundation for Advanced Science, Innovation and Research (MAScIR), member of the Hassan II Academy for Science and Technology, member of the board of the Foundation of Three Cultures of the Mediterranean (Spain), member of the Advisory Board of the Alliance for Research on North Africa (ARENA, University of Tsukuba, Japan), member of the Statistical Advisory Panel of the United Nations Development Program, member of the Advisory Board of Science Works (USA), and member of the Board for the Roi Abdul Aziz Al Saoud Foundation for Islamic Studies and Social Sciences.
He previously served as Chairman of the scientific committee of the Fifty Years of Independence Report on Human Development (2003-2006), as member of the Advisory Board of the World Bank Institute (1998-2001), and as member of the United Nations Committee of Experts in Public Administration (2001-2009). He also serves on the Economic, Social, and Environment Council (CESE), which is drafting a comprehensive regionalization plan for devolving power to regional governments in Morocco.
