Outcome MAR_D_1.1

Morocco's economy is competitive, inclusive, and creates decent jobs, especially for women and youth, through a structural transformation based on sustainable development and resilience, including climate resilience.

Outcome 1.1 was not fully achieved in 2025. However, notable progress was made during the reporting period, particularly in advancing policy dialogue on the care economy, strengthening institutional and stakeholders’ engagement, and piloting interventions that contributed to reduced unpaid care burdens and improved collective economic organization for women. In 2025, the care economy was positioned as a strategic pillar for inclusive and resilient economic transformation in Morocco. National dialogue increasingly recognized its potential to create decent jobs for women and youth and to contribute to social protection and economic competitiveness. At the community level, targeted interventions implemented with civil society organizations contributed to increased free time for women in selected communities, reducing gender disparities in time spent on unpaid care work. In parallel, women’s collective economic action was strengthened in the fisheries sector in northern Morocco, where new institutional structures—including a federation of cooperatives in Belyounech and an Economic Interest Group in Martil—were established, enhancing coordination, market positioning, and operational efficiency within the value chain. UN Women contributed to these advances through a combination of policy advocacy, technical and capacity-building support, partnership-building, and community-level programming. At the national level, UN Women promoted the strategic importance of the care economy through a multi-stakeholder approach engaging public institutions, social partners, and technical actors, thereby strengthening evidence-based policy dialogue on care as a driver of decent work and sustainable development. UN Women also accompanied the Ministry of Solidarity, Social Integration, and the Family (women’s machinery) in the development of a strategic advocacy document positioning the care economy as a key lever for job creation, particularly for women. At the community level, UN Women supported CSOs to implement initiatives aimed at reducing women’s unpaid care burden and strengthening women’s collective economic structures, while reframing public discourse on unpaid care work to emphasize redistribution and increased involvement of men and boys. UN Women’s contribution is reflected in the development of the advocacy document supporting the women’s machinery, the alignment of national discussions with the care economy strategy currently being developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in close coordination with UN Women, and the tangible organizational changes observed among women’s cooperatives operating in the fishing sector in northern Morocco. Evidence of reduced unpaid care burdens in targeted communities further substantiates the contribution of UN Women-supported community-level interventions. Progress was achieved through close collaboration with Women’s Machinery, ILO, national CSOs, community-based organizations, and women’s cooperatives operating in the fisheries sector. These actors played a critical role in institutional leadership, policy formulation, community engagement, and the operationalization of collective economic initiatives. The progress achieved in 2025 confirms that while the Theory of Change remains valid, implementation experience underscored the importance of further integrating care work redistribution—particularly the engagement of men and boys—into family policy and legal reform processes. These dimensions will be further emphasized in future strategic engagement and advocacy. These advances are expected to improve women’s access to decent work opportunities, increase their available time for economic and social participation, and strengthen their position within value chains. Over time, the operationalization of the care economy and the redistribution of unpaid care work are likely to contribute to reduced gender inequalities and enhanced economic resilience for women and their households. Key lessons include the importance of coupling high-level policy advocacy with community-level demonstrations of impact, the value of multi-stakeholder engagement in advancing care economy reforms, and the need to explicitly address social norms around masculinity and caregiving to achieve sustainable redistribution of unpaid care work.

Morocco's economy is competitive, inclusive, and creates decent jobs, especially for women and youth, through a structural transformation based on sustainable development and resilience, including climate resilience.

This outcome has not been achieved during the reporting year. However, significant progress has been made toward its realization. Evidence of progress is demonstrated through several key initiatives and milestones. A broad array of stakeholders accessed a strategic roadmap for advancing the care economy as a driver of decent employment through participation in the first International Care Economy Conference taking place in Morocco. The conference positioned the care economy as a priority sector with the potential to generate decent jobs for women and youth. It also highlighted the transformative role of parental leave in challenging social norms that perpetuate the unequal distribution of unpaid care and domestic responsibilities, thereby empowering women economically and strengthening the care economy. UN Women Morocco supported with the organization of the conference in 2024 along with the Women’s Machinery (Ministry of Solidarity, Social Integration, and Family (MSISF)) in partnership with relevant national institutions. Additionally, UN Women positioned itself as a key partner to support the Women’s Machinery in developing a comprehensive white paper, which will serve as a strategic roadmap for operationalizing and institutionalizing the care economy at the national level. This effort is expected to pave the way for sustainable and inclusive development by providing a clear framework for integrating care economy principles into national policies and practices. A study developed under UN Women Morocco’s "Ajyal Egalité" regional programme, offering a comprehensive overview of the current state of the care economy, identifying key actors and interventions needed for its development will also contribute to informing the white paper. Soon, 36,000 women throughout Morocco will gain soft and managerial skills necessary to develop an entrepreneurial project from the inception phase to the development of a business model and benefit from financing. To achieve this, the MSISF, the Wilayas and the regional councils are now equipped to deploy the programme, which will have a concrete impact on increasing the economic participation of women, including marginalized women seeking to realize themselves in an entrepreneurial project. So the MSISF, the Wilayas and the regional councils can implement the project, UN Women developed a toolbox with a model of regional partnership agreement, an outline of the programme action plan, a model programme procedures manual and a dashboard of programme monitoring and evaluation indicators. This formal framework for implementation at the regional level, is based on regional consultations, stakeholders mapping, and a major coordination effort. This work is part of the “GISSR Attamkine Wa Arryada” (GAWA) programme, a key measure of the Government Equality Plan 2023-2026 (PGE III) and a significant milestone in the economic empowerment of women and the creation of decent jobs. Women should be able to access more than 46,000 opportunities as part of over 70,000 inclusive jobs created in the care economy, green economy, and STEM sectors by 2030. To achieve this, UN Women Morocco, in close collaboration with labour market actors at both the national and local levels, successfully developed four innovative business models as part of the Flagship Initiative, “Surging Women’s Employment in the Arab States by five percent”. These achievements validate the Theory of Change underlying this outcome. The strategic focus on structural transformation through inclusive and sustainable sectors continues to address systemic barriers to women’s economic empowerment effectively. At this point, no changes to the strategy are necessary. While the full impact of these initiatives will become apparent over time, the progress made so far reflects a strong commitment from labour market actors and stakeholders to engage in transformative changes and invest in emerging sectors like the care economy to improve the lives of Moroccan women and youth. By prioritizing the care economy and leveraging innovative solutions, UN Women Morocco is effectively contributing to laying the foundation for inclusive economic growth that benefits women and marginalized groups. Key lessons learned include the importance of multi-stakeholder engagement and aligning national priorities with global frameworks to ensure scalable and sustainable outcomes. To maintain this momentum, addressing gender inequitable social norms, continued advocacy, capacity building, strategic partnerships, and investment in blended finance mechanisms will be essential.

Morocco's economy is competitive, inclusive, and creates decent jobs, especially for women and youth, through a structural transformation based on sustainable development and resilience, including climate resilience.

Within the joint UNW/ILO programme, the Morocco CO has contextualized two policy support tools to Morocco for national institutions to apply to existing sectoral policies. In accordance to the Ministry of Finance's request to focus on preschool care and education and line with Morocco's strategic priorities, we have focused the fiscal stimulus tool on employment and social protection and the second tool (care) on ECCE. National stakeholders, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), the Women's Machinery (MSISF) and the Ministry of National and Preschool Education (MENPS) accessed technical support from UN Women Morocco CO provided technical to (i) produce knowledge products, tools, and evidence-based data and (ii) foster knowledge exchange to create synergies and coordinate on care economy. In 2023, the MEF and MENPS contextualized two strategic tools; the first focusing on understanding multidimensional effects of the Covid-19 crisis on gender inequalities and their integration in national recovery plans and public policies, and the second estimating care deficits, investment costs and economic returns related to early childhood care and education, as a niche sector for decent job creation. UN Women provided technical expertise to the institutions, and also launched a study exploring the budgetary space for public investment in the care economy contributing to this result. To promote intersectoral synergies around care economy, main stakeholders from national institutions, civil society, academia and the private sector convened during a national conference on care economy to present the findings of conducted analyses and studies demonstrating how the care economy sector can be a strategic WEE lever. UN Women organized the conference in partnership with the National Women’s Machinery (MSISF). The conference resulted in (i) the Women's Machinery committing to establishing a Care Thematic Group within the National Commission for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (CNESAF) and (ii) the announcement of an international conference to pursue the dialogue on care in May 2024. The public guarantee fund Tamwilcom for women-owned/women-led businesses developed new financial products in 2023, approved by the Minister of Economy, as a result of Morocco CO’s work on sustainable finance. The financial products include: Damane Express: An increase in the guarantee quota from 70% to 80% for projects promoted by women’s businesses (capital or management); Damane Istitmar: An increase in the guarantee quota from 60% to 70% for projects promoted by women companies (equity or management); Co-financing Ilayki: Co-financing of investment projects promoted by women's companies (capital or management) up to 40% of project costs on advantageous terms. Tamwilcom is requesting UN Women financial and technical support to deploy measures to accompany women-led business and to launch awareness-raising campaigns on these new products.