Lahcen Saadi: The social and solidarity economy will create over 24,000 jobs by 2025
The State Secretary for Handicrafts and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Lahcen Saadi, announced that the social and solidarity economy sector contributed to the creation of 24,558 jobs in 2025, affirming Morocco’s leadership in this field under the wise leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.
This statement was made during the closing ceremony of the International Year of Cooperatives, organized in partnership with the Cooperation Development Office under the slogan “Now is the time for cooperatives.” During the event, Saadi presented several initiatives aimed at modernizing the sector, including the launch of a “Project Bank” to provide investment opportunities for youth and women, the establishment of an online training portal in both Amazigh and Arabic, and an e-commerce platform for cooperative products to enhance their competitiveness.
Regarding financial support, Saadi clarified that the “Mawzara” program will fund over 500 projects between 2025 and 2026, which equals the total number of projects funded since 2021. The “Women Empowerment” program, in partnership with the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation, aims to create 5,000 jobs for women entrepreneurs across four regions of the Kingdom.
For her part, the Director General of the Cooperation Development Office, Aicha Rfaï, stated that Morocco currently has 65,315 cooperatives with approximately 789,000 members, including 272,000 women and 18,000 youth. The sector directly contributes to creating over 120,000 jobs, with the emergence of 333 “major cooperatives” generating revenues close to 14 billion dirhams.
Rfaï also noted that the action plan for the sector is based on four strategic axes: enhancing visibility and awareness through awareness campaigns and regional and national exhibitions, developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in partnership with the public and private sectors, modernizing the legal framework, and strengthening governance according to the outcomes of the national conference on social and solidarity economy.
Meanwhile, Rose Kremi Kwanuka, the Regional Director for the International Cooperative Alliance – Africa, praised the Moroccan model, considering the Kingdom a “jewel” within the cooperative alliance system. She highlighted the leading role of the Cooperation Development Office, noting that Moroccan cooperatives have successfully transformed cultural heritage into an economic driver, especially in handicrafts, carpets, and argan oil.
The ceremony also witnessed the signing of a partnership agreement between the National Cooperation Foundation and the Cooperation Development Office to enhance the socio-economic integration of women, youth, and people with disabilities, as well as to develop joint programs and projects for income-generating activities and to economically empower these groups.
This event comes in the context of the United Nations declaring 2025 the “International Year of Cooperatives,” aimed at spotlighting the vital role of cooperatives in achieving sustainable development and promoting the cooperative model at both national and international levels.
