Our Results

Morocco’s political institutions have not been responsive to or inclusive of youth, leaving Moroccan youth feeling disengaged and unrepresented in civic and political life. To combat this perception, demonstrate government responsiveness to youth concerns and encourage youth engagement in political and civic processes, IRI partnered with Moroccan civil society organizations (CSOs) to advocate for youth’s needs and priorities to political leaders and candidates ahead of the 2021 Moroccan general election.

With funding from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, one CSO, Association Choulaa for Education and Culture, used skills gained during IRI’s program to successfully advocate for the reopening of the local youth center in Tiznit. In early 2020, the Moroccan Government closed youth centers across Morocco, including in Tiznit, to help mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. While some youth centers were allowed to reopen, the Tiznit youth center remained close, which negatively impacted local youth. Using skills and techniques learned during IRI trainings, the Association Chouala Association for Education and Culture conducted targeted outreach and advocacy through meetings with Morocco’s Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication and Members of Parliament (MPs) to advocate for the reopening of a youth center in their community. As a result of this advocacy, the CSO, MPs, and Ministry officials jointly developed an action plan to reopen the center and then worked together to follow the action plan. The youth center in Tiznit reopened in 2022 and serves as an example of how government can be responsive to and inclusive of youth priorities.

In Montenegro, municipal government administrations struggled to make their decision-making processes transparent, leaving citizens with unanswered questions about how decisions were made and what information shaped those decisions. Without transparency around government decision-making, citizens’ ability to hold government accountable for their decisions, a foundational component of democratic governance, is limited.  

To respond to this and through its collaboration with the Open Government Partnership (OGP), IRI conducted OGP workshops in Bar, Cetinje, Plav, and Zabljak municipalities to help government officials and civil society understand the principles of open governance. IRI also organized multi-stakeholder forums (MSF) to facilitate dialogue between government and non-government stakeholders on how to apply open governance principles to develop municipal action plans, which all four municipalities developed. Importantly, the municipal action plans were co-created by local government administration and civil society to ensure the plans were relevant, responsive, and feasible. Of the 70 commitments that the four municipalities included in their municipal action plans, 62 were approved by their MSF, improving transparency and accountability in local government in Montenegro.

In April 2024, OGP admitted three of IRI’s four municipality partners to the local initiative, the first Montenegrin municipalities to join OGP’s local initiative. Further, inspired by the results in these four municipalities, eight neighboring municipalities submitted letters of interest to join the OGP local initiative. Together, these successes demonstrate Montenegro’s commitment to improve transparent governance practices and strengthen democracy in Montenegro.