King Mohammed VI, accompanied by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, launched on Friday in Salé, Rabat’s twin city, the national solidarity operation “Ramadan 1444”, initiated by the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan. This year’s solidarity operation will benefit nearly one million households or 5 million people, 77% of whom live in rural areas.
This national food support operation, launched on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan by King Mohammed VI, is a token of the noble values of solidarity and sharing that animate the Moroccan people and the Sovereign’s will to make it an effective tool for social cohesion.
This operation, first launched in 1998, has become over time an annual occasion bearing a special significance in Morocco as a major event aimed primarily at anchoring the action of solidarity as a behavior and culture, but also to mitigate the financial burden on the poor during this blessed month.
It is an action of generosity, which, like the previous operations, consists in donating food products to people living in precarious situations, especially widows, the elderly and people with disabilities.
This year’s Ramadan operation, which mobilized 390 million dirhams, is marked by the increase of the number of beneficiaries, but also of the products that compose this food aid.
Indeed, they are one million households, or about 5 million people, living in 83 provinces and prefectures of the Kingdom, which will benefit from the “Ramadan 1444” operation, against 600,000 households in the previous edition.
These people, 77% of whom live in rural areas, will also benefit this year from a food aid whose composition has been enriched by new products, including rice and milk.
Initiated by the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity, this operation is part of a medical-humanitarian program, which covers a broad spectrum of commitments, including the improvement of health services for the benefit of poor and isolated populations, food support, socio-medical support, field support and emergency humanitarian assistance.
This humanitarian program based on the principles of mutual aid, mobilization, and proximity, includes, in addition to Operation Ramadan, the organization of mobile medical caravans, the reception of Moroccans residing abroad (Operation Marhaba), as well as the assistance of households from isolated villages and mountainous areas “Operation Cold Weather”.
The implementation of this operation, initiated in partnership with the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs, is strictly monitored by two operational committees, one local and the other provincial, which monitor the supply of distribution centers, the identification of beneficiaries and the distribution of foodstuffs.
Similarly, quality and performance controls are carried out upstream of the operation via the quality control of food products carried out by the National Office of Food Safety.
The Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity, under the impetus of King Mohammed VI, is multiplying its initiatives to fight all forms of precariousness and poverty, being aware that a global development cannot be achieved while some segments of society do not enjoy the conditions of a dignified life.