With over one million inhabitants, Fez is Morocco’s fourth largest city. It is also the site of the ancient Medina, the city’s walled center that dates from the 9th century and is renowned for its magnificent architecture and labyrinthine streets. UNESCO has named the Medina of Fez a World Heritage Site because of its architectural, cultural, religious and artistic significance.

With its many shops and artisan production facilities, the Medina still serves as a main marketplace and economic hub for the city. Despite its rich heritage, parts of the Medina suffer from neglect, which has taken a socio-economic toll on the most vulnerable among the population, estimated at roughly one third of Medina dwellers.

In August 2007, the Government of Morocco signed a $697.5 million compact with the United States’ Millennium Challenge Corporation to reduce poverty and increase economic growth in the Kingdom of Morocco. One of the compact’s components, the Artisan and Fez Medina project, will devote $112 to reducing poverty by rehabilitating six historically important sites in the ancient Medina of Fez, and investing in the preservation and growth of Morocco’s centuries-old artisan sector. The project will stimulate economic growth in the area by leveraging the links between the craft sector, tourism and Morocco’s rich cultural, historical and architectural heritage.

This ground-breaking program will help preserve the Medina’s architectural and cultural value through renovations that restore its beauty and respect its Traditional character. The structures will be adapted to the needs of the population, enabling local artisans and small entrepreneurs to develop economic activities that will stimulate economic growth.

The Makina, one of the sites to be rehabilitated, extends approximately 10 hectares and includes the Makina Building and other surrounding open spaces. Morocco’s proposal includes funding for an international design competition to create effectively-designed spaces that will serve residents and attract visitors to Fez, thereby helping to reduce poverty by creating economic opportunities for local inhabitants.

The Grand Mouchouar, a vast courtyard originally intended for the Sultan to address his subjects, is the site for Fez’s premier cultural event, the Sacred Music Festival, drawing approximately 12,000 visitors every summer. It will be remodeled as part of the Makina project. The local economy will benefit from increased and sustainable economic activity thanks to this project.

Place Lalla Ydouna, a square that serves as an access point into and out of the Medina, will also be rehabilitated. The objective is to unlock the economic potential of the Place by re-conceptualizing its urban design and capitalizing on its strategic location as one of the “gates” to the Medina.

Rehabilitation of four Fondouks dating from the 14th and 15th centuries is also scheduled. Fondouks are large, multi-story structures surrounding a central courtyard,historically used as lodging for traveling merchants.

Fondouks have tremendous historic and cultural value and are located in the center of the Medina, on or near the main tourist circuits, very close to the highest concentration of tourist attractions. After renovation, they will be used as artisan spaces, and for a number of other community, cultural and commercial uses and events.

The compact’s artisan production activity will give the potters of Fez the opportunity to invest in expanded, modern production. Poverty is common among them with the average artisan worker earning approximately $118 per month.

MCC funding will provide artisans access to training in production techniques and business management, as well as access to bank or microcredit loans to invest in modern kilns and pottery workshops. It will also improve the national training system for literacy and vocational education to benefit artisans and the general population, particularly women and girls.

This initiative should also ameliorate the environmental degradation caused by traditional kilns by facilitating the conversion to cleaner, gas-fired alternatives while maintaining ancient artisan practices and know-how.

The preservation of Morocco’s cultural heritage is a viable and sustainable means of opening new economic opportunities for exceptionally gifted, but extremely poor, artisans and their families. The MCC-Morocco compact stands at the crossroads where cultural preservation and social action for the benefit of the poor meet.