Saïss Water Conservation Project Morocco

The report identifies significant gender disparities in Morocco's rural agricultural sector, where women face high rates of illiteracy, lack of land ownership, and limited access to finance. In the Saïss Plain, these barriers—combined with a prevalence of unpaid informal labor—make it unlikely that women will automatically benefit from project-driven irrigation improvements. To address this, the document recommends a dedicated component to support women-led agribusinesses through capacity building, formalization of informal activities, and improved access to credit and markets.

• Rural women in Morocco are disproportionately affected by poverty and illiteracy, and their employment is highly vulnerable to climate-based economic shocks; they are often the first to be excluded from the paid agricultural workforce during economic downturns.
• Women's participation in Moroccan agriculture is characterized by high levels of informality and a lack of asset ownership; 74% of women in agriculture are unpaid family workers, and only 1% of rural women own land.
• Access to finance for female entrepreneurs in rural Morocco is severely restricted by the requirement for collateral and personal guarantees, which is problematic as only 27% of women have formal bank accounts compared to 52% of men.
• In the Saïss Plain, specific barriers such as high illiteracy (56% to 64% of rural women) and low participation in cooperatives limit women's ability to translate increased irrigation yields into formal commercial agricultural jobs.
• The report recommends implementing a three-year programme to facilitate women-led businesses in sustainable commercial agriculture, focusing on institutional capacity building, technical training, and intermediation for finance via the EBRD Women in Business programme.

APA

Green Climate Fund (n.d.). Saïss Water Conservation Project Morocco. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gender-assessment-fp043-ebrd-morocco.pdf

Chicago

Green Climate Fund. Saïss Water Conservation Project Morocco. n.d. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gender-assessment-fp043-ebrd-morocco.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Climate Fund |title=Saïss Water Conservation Project Morocco |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gender-assessment-fp043-ebrd-morocco.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greenclimatefundndsass, author = {{Green Climate Fund}}, title = {{Saïss Water Conservation Project Morocco}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gender-assessment-fp043-ebrd-morocco.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }