We work with absolutely anyone and everyone, literally, we have so many goals that we will collaborate from small local charities and businesses to large international government agencies. Collaboration is one of our key values and principles. We are not competing with anyone. We are working to improve the quality and standards of life of young people in Morocco. So anyone is welcome to work with us, big or small, designers, creatives, entrepreneurs, teachers, governments and organizations, you are all welcome at Rif Tribes, and I am confident we will be able to harvest something together that can benefit thousands.

One of the things that makes the Rif Tribes Foundation different from other charities is our vision of working with the art and fashion world in order to create these humanitarian and development projects. You might think, how? why? The Kingdom of Morocco is not only a country with exponential cultural and artistic heritage, but a country where its heritage has often been misused, stolen or poorly represented. A country that not only has given inspiration to some of the biggest names in art and fashion but that also welcomed them. Simply look at major names like designers Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. The art and fashion world is outstandingly powerful and it can change millions of lives - this is what we work this way.

The Rif is one of Morocco's poorest regions. Due to both the legacy of Spanish and French colonisation and years of institutional neglect, the region has been considered a 'blighted area'. Recently, the situation has worsened further with global challenges affecting the entire country. An estimated 3.2 million more people fell into poverty in Morocco due to rising prices and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report published by the High Commission for Planning (HCP), says Hespress. As a result of years of high poverty rates, World Bank data in 2019 showed that 66% of 10-year-olds in Morocco were unable to read and comprehend simple text, a score 2.5 percentage points lower than the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regional average and 10.7 percentage points lower than the average for lower-middle-income countries. This is particularly acute for children and young people living in rural areas, with little or no access to high quality educational facilities or school materials, who are the vast majority in the Rif Mountains, a predominantly rural area where most of the population lives far from crowded urban centers. That is why education is a pillar field of action for our foundation, a field where we have different projects. The first one is the Rif Tribes Arts’ Center, which, in the very heart of Al-Hoceïma, will provide after-school educational activities for young people, as well as formative activities for those seeking to pursue more technical educational courses and workshops in the field of arts. The second one is‘Cycling Our Way Up’, which aims to distribute at least 5,000 bicycles to 5,000 different vulnerable rural households from the surroundings of the villages of Ktama and Taounate, which will allow the children in these families to more easily move from village to village and access education –which is often hampered by the long distances that exist between the tribes’ locations and the schools–, and also allow the other family members to more easily move to nearby food markets and wells to get water.

We are constantly consulting the youth and the local tribes in every step of the way, and try to engage them in all important decisions of our foundation –since our work is devoted to helping them, they should after all be the ones dictating what our specific tasks ought to be. Therefore, every time we go to any village we take the time to speak with people, introduce our work and let them contribute with their ideas and suggestions. Unfortunately, most taskforces operating with indigenous peoples or in severely affected areas are punctual, with a determined time allocation, and without insider experience with the communities they are working with. RTF has since January been working on the ground delivering food aid, establishing a relationship with the communities and gathering data. Besides, we are a group of predominantly Amazigh Riffians working for Amazigh Riffians, an element that is also, unfortunately, lacking in similar contexts and one from which we take big pride. It is significant to mention that, after having conversations with various indigenous tribes of the Rif Mountains during our hunger relief distributions for them to assess our work and to get their opinion about the changes they would like to see in Morocco and their rural communities, it was deemed necessary to start organizing tribal citizens' assemblies within our territory of operation (Province of Al-Hoceima) as one of our permanent missions in itself. The RIF TRIBES FOUNDATION has played the role of facilitator and listener, which striving to bring communities together to hear exactly the things they want to see changed and the ways in which the Foundation can collaborate in terms of support. The impact of this initiative results in establishing long-term active networks that can produce by themselves the long-term local change that is needed, as well as deal with emergencies.

Stop keeping those great ideas to yourself, hidden in your head, act upon them! Take a piece of paper, write it all out and call your best friend and partner in crime: it is time to take action, a big project is in the making. Big or small, whatever you think can make a positive impact in your community is worth trying out, and even if at the first attempt you ‘fail’, you will be taking a valuable lesson on how to succeed in your second one. Since I was a teenager, I have been thinking about a thousand different ways in which I could help my country. Some were kept in my mind forever, some others were translated, as I advised, in tens of pieces of paper and in hours of calls with my colleague and life friend Bianca, only to result in short-term projects that, while did not bring the community impact I expected, taught me how to pave the way forward. And finally, I once found myself having the idea that would once and for all be transformed into a real actionable charity, helping my people and inspiring hundreds of other youth to do the same. So, do not hesitate. Do it. Write it down. Voice it loud. Act upon it. Fail. Rise up again. Repeat. Find yourself building the path towards the goal that is closest to your heart –this way, you will never go wrong.