Naima Ben Yahya, the Minister of Solidarity, Social Integration, and Family, confirmed yesterday, Tuesday, at the Council of Advisors, that the family takes on a significant priority within structural reforms, in line with the royal directives of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.
During a response to an oral question regarding “public policy in the field of family,” Ben Yahya clarified that various directives and speeches by His Majesty the King emphasized the centrality of the family in achieving stability and social cohesion, as well as establishing the foundations of a social state, improving targeting, and strengthening family cohesion.
The government official indicated that investing in families is an effective investment in a sustainable, cohesive, and resilient society, especially in light of demographic, economic, social, and value changes that present new challenges that cannot be confronted without a family environment that guarantees rights, protects all individuals, and contributes to reducing violence and discrimination, affecting individual rights and their capacity for civic participation in both public and private affairs.
The Minister stressed that family social policy is based on several guiding principles, primarily constitutional principles, as well as principles of inclusivity, sustainability, participation, equality, non-discrimination, justice, and the best interests of the child.
Regarding the strategic vision of this policy, Ben Yahya explained that it aims to build a “cohesive, resilient, qualified, and productive family, within an inclusive environment that supports rights and is based on educating values.”
She mentioned that the strategic orientations of family policy include strengthening the resilience of families and fostering family cohesion and values education by creating families better equipped to face economic, social, and environmental challenges, and promoting cohesive families in an enabling environment that supports rights, along with an active family environment in values education and intergenerational solidarity.
The Minister added that this policy also aims to enhance family care and support for others and promote the care economy by structuring, standardizing, and expanding care services across various territories, ensuring the availability of qualified professionals in this field, along with providing an institutional framework that encourages investment in the care economy and enhances the protection of families and individual rights by ensuring a more appropriate legal protection for family issues.
In this context, she also confirmed that among the strategic orientations of family social policy is the development of institutional frameworks, governance, and community knowledge monitoring, by establishing a system for coordinating, tracking, and evaluating family social policy at both the national and regional levels, and enhancing knowledge and monitoring related to family issues, with procedures and measures capable of ensuring the sustainability of the effects of this policy.
She concluded that the draft family social policy will contribute to achieving qualitative transformations, including improving the socio-economic status of families, including those in special situations, reinforcing the concept of productive and entrepreneurial families, reducing divorce and domestic violence rates, strengthening intergenerational solidarity, providing alternatives to institutional care, as well as freeing women’s time and increasing their economic activity rate.
