Context
Policy-makers in Morocco have been confronted with political, economic and social challenges for many years now, and pressure has intensified even further in the wake of the Arab Spring. Numerous reforms have already successfully been initiated to address these challenges. However, additional progress must be made, particularly in the areas of reform management and national coordination, to ensure that demands for greater political participation can be met and economic development can contribute to overcoming poverty.
The transformation that has occurred in the MENA region along with the King of Morocco’s willingness to promote reforms – confirmed in the new constitution that was signed in 2011 – have opened up new possibilities and created an altered set of needs with regard to regulatory and structural policy support. Technical cooperation paired with structural measures can contribute to establishing sustainable and legitimate state structures, capable institutions and constructive relations between the state and society.
Objective
The Moroccan Government takes a transparent and inclusive approach to shaping political, economic and social reform processes and implements these reforms more effectively.
Approach
The fund provides methodological, technical and financial advisory and support services on the basis of requests made by the Moroccan partner. These services are aimed at improving regulatory and structural policy frameworks, democratising processes of transformation, and strengthening and mobilising reform-oriented forces in Morocco. This work is carried out in cooperation with various ministries, state institutions and additional German and Moroccan partners.
Results
The Fund for Regulatory and Policy Advice is a flexible instrument that aims to generate wide-ranging leverage effects for reforms at the political level. The fund has been utilised for activities such as developing social entrepreneurship, providing advisory services on migration, reforming consumer and data protection policies, and supporting participatory budgeting in the city of Nador.
Decisive progress was achieved through a measure known as ‘Auto Entrepreneur’, a variation of the German Ich AG (one-person company) concept. This measure is being carried out in close cooperation with the Moroccan Ministry for Industry, Trade, Investment and the Digital Economy and its subordinate National Agency for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises.
The legislative bill for ‘auto entrepreneurs’ – drafted with the support of this project – was passed by the cabinet shortly after the new administration took office in November 2013. Since then, the bill has made further progress and was delivered to the Government’s General Secretariat, which is responsible for legislative procedures. At the same time, the Moroccan Government is pushing forward with the implementation strategy. The first ‘auto entrepreneurs’ are expected to be able to register under this designation starting in early 2015, at which point they will be able to benefit from a wide range of advantages such as simplified taxation, social security, access to information systems, microloans and more.