ProFellow Empowers Women in Morocco

Professional Fellow Jamila Hadri joined Legacy International’s first virtual Cohort of Professional Fellows in 2021. At the start of the program, Jamila shared that her goal was “to write a book to inspire girls from Africa to keep trying and believe in themselves.” As the Founder of Di Growth Maroc, an innovation consultancy firm focused on design thinking, Jamila has a vast knowledge of design thinking principals as well as other innovation techniques. While developing her follow-on project, Jamila worked not only to build off her knowledge of Design Thinking, but also to chase her dream of empowering young women. Thus, the Circular 4 Good Initiative was born.

Jamila developed the Circular 4 Good Initiative as a way to bring together women from rural areas of Morocco to tackle the concept of design thinking. For two days, 27 women from Essaouira, Morocco came together to learn more about design thinking and to understand how they can employ design thinking in their own lives and careers. While developing this project, Jamila partnered with three local associations in Essaouira: Association Féminine El Khir, Essaouira Innovation Lab and Les amis du Verre Maroc. These groups provided a strong connection for Jamila to the local community and played a vital role throughout the two-day event.

Jamila started the two-day initiative with introductions and icebreakers in order to create a comfortable, supportive environment. These activities allowed the women to warm up to one another and feel more comfortable opening up about their personal experiences. Then, Jamila broke the group into four teams, where they worked together to innovatively update a common product or service such as household cleaning items or selling fruits and vegetables at the market. Each group was responsible for utilizing the tips and skills they learned during the workshops to improve their chosen product or service. By the close of the program, each group had grown in confidence and excitedly shared their innovative new products and services.

With the support of her partners, Jamila successfully engaged not only the 27 participants, but also the broader community in Essaouira and beyond. Jamila hopes to continue to implement Circular 4 Good throughout Morocco and empower women to think innovatively and creatively.

The Professional Fellows Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by Legacy International.