Compact II program by the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Morocco.

Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Royal Government of Morocco have concluded a second “Compact II” program, a program of cooperation aimed at reducing poverty in Morocco through economic growth. This comprises three projects:

• An education and training project for employability aiming at increasing the employability and the employment rate of young Moroccans by improving the quality and relevancy of secondary education;
• A land productivity project aiming at increasing agricultural productivity and investment in Morocco enabling rural and industrial markets to better meet investor demand as well as modernizing the legal, regulatory and procedural framework related to land and property. This comprises of 2 components:
  • An agricultural component: privatization of public agricultural land (‘Melkisation’)
  • An industrial component:  Three sustainable industrial pilot zones are going to be developed by integrating the redevelopment of existing industrial zones

Since 2015 Antea Group has evaluated the environmental and social projects suggested by MCC by checking compliance in relation to the performance standards of the International Finance Corporation (IFC, a World Bank member). Detailed assessments of soil and groundwater contamination were conducted in selected existing industrial zones.

In 2016, Antea Group was commissioned to supervise the Compact II program’s environmental and social aspects. The technical assistance provided by Antea Group to MCC teams based in the United States and Morocco is as follows:

• Environmental and social impact assessment, environmental management;
• Land procurement and population resettlement;
• Social evaluation and stakeholder engagement;
• Health, Safety, Environment;
• Data management and modeling using GIS;
• Hazardous substances, contaminated sites and soil management as well as groundwater decontamination;
• Environmental performance of industrial effluent treatment plants.