The Wafira project, whose name means "abundance" in Arabic, has given more than 250 Moroccan female seasonal workers a second chance to change their future. Through this program, which complements circular migration with training and support for entrepreneurship, many of them have managed to establish sustainable businesses in their home communities.
Photo: Wafira.
This program, which is coordinated by the State Secretariat for Migration of Spain and the International Labour Organization (ILO) and involves the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration and the government of Morocco, seeks to optimize the benefits of temporary migration in Huelva's berry campaign. Thanks to the entrepreneurship training received in Spain and subsequent support in Morocco, 209 women (84%) have formalized their businesses, gaining economic independence, stability for their families, and more wealth for their places of origin.
The Wafira program, co-financed by the European Union through the Migration Partnership Facility (MPF), links the experience of temporary workers who arrive in Spain each year with their training, allowing them to start their own businesses on their return to Morocco. To this end, the project provides them with technical and financial support. The training covers personal and entrepreneurial skills and culminates with the development of a business plan.
Aziza, Fatima, and Saadia, for example, are three Moroccan women who, after working as seasonal workers in Spain, returned to their country and materialized their own business ideas, improving their situation and generating a positive impact on their communities.
Aziza Zbirat, a 56-year-old mother of three, has participated in seven harvest seasons in Spain. With the income she earned and the support of Wafira, she purchased land and built a solar-irrigated greenhouse. Her entrepreneurship has not only given her economic stability but has made her a benchmark for sustainability in her community.
So far, the project has made it easier for 209 women to formalize their businesses, more than 50% of the enterprises correspond to the agricultural sector, while the rest focus on trade and services.
90% of these women's households lived on less than €245 per month before the project, demonstrating the importance of this initiative for their economic stability. The success of the program is also reflected in the fact that 100% of the participants want to continue in circular migration, even after having started their own business.
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