After months of interruption of direct meetings due to quarantine conditions, some members of the parallel youth government met in Rabat this week to follow up the latest developments in the country and coordinate work programs in the next stage.

The meeting of Ismail, Nabeel, Bushra and Sharif comes at the headquarters of the parallel government after weeks of an official meeting with the Moroccan government presidency, in which they presented a document containing their vision on "a post-pandemic Morocco" and the necessary economic, social and environmental measures to overcome the crisis.

The Parallel Youth Government is a civil, non-governmental initiative and a unique experience in the Arab world launched by Moroccan youth with the aim of keeping pace with the work of the constitutional government and monitoring its performance, defending the social, economic and cultural rights of youth, and creating communication between government and society ministers, especially young people.

Some members of the parallel youth government in their last meeting at the Commission’s headquarters in Rabat (Al Jazeera Net)


Enthusiastic youth enthusiastically, Nabil Buraisi - a minister in charge of African affairs in the parallel government - explains the nature of the work he is doing within this young team, and he tells Al Jazeera Net that he joined this initiative a year ago, and works with a team of 6 advisors to track and evaluate Moroccan relations programs African.

In addition to his profession as director of a hotel in Rabat, Nabil devotes time to his civil mission and strives to think of mechanisms to push positively in Morocco towards its African depth, in addition to his concern in coordination with colleagues in the parallel government to set up programs for the political framing of youth and to participate in the national discussions presented.

And Bushra Al-Taheri - a consultant to the Prime Minister of Youth and in charge of communication - has spent a period of quarantine in intensive work, and worked with a team of young people to promote the initiatives launched or supported by this body during that period.

This young woman accumulated years of experience in civil work that enabled her to join the youth government team, and found - as she said to Al Jazeera Net - a space for training, broadening the horizon, civil field work and closely following public policies.

The parallel youth government adopts the principle of parity, as half of its 26 members are young women, in addition to counselors of various competencies who work alongside the head of this government and its ministers.

Moroccan Prime Minister Saad al-Din al-Othmani (left) and Parallel Youth Prime Minister Ismail al-Hamrawi (Al-Jazeera Net)

The birth and maturity
and the parallel youth government was born after the February 20, 2011 movement that produced constitutional amendments and elections that led the Islamists to head the government for the first time.

The Prime Minister of Youth, parallel to Al-Jazeera Net Ismail Al-Hamrawi, says that the political climate during that phase encouraged a number of young people who believe in the importance of political participation to formally launch this initiative in June 2012.

This experience matured slowly and found a foothold in the political and civil arena during 8 years of work, communication and supervision.

Al-Hamrawi explains that the parallel youth government has 3 basic goals: tracking and evaluating public policies, submitting proposals to the government, and defending them, noting the political and civil diversity that characterizes them, which made them a rich and successful experience.

Members and Advisors of the Parallel Youth Government (Al-Jazeera Net)

Conditions for selection
A scientific committee consisting of experts in different fields - every two years - supervises the selection of members of the youth government, and competition is opened for them to engage in it in front of public opinion.

According to its president, this civic initiative met with response and reaction from young Moroccans from different cities, noting that the Scientific Committee received in the last formation of the government about 1700 applications for nomination.

The selection of members of the parallel youth government requires a field experience in political or civil work and academic experience, and the age of the candidates should be between 18 and 35 years old.

After his appointment, each minister in the parallel government follows the work of the ministry in which he is concerned, and prepares reports that include his assessment of the strengths and weaknesses in the conduct of this ministerial sector and the available opportunities as well as alternatives that are proposed to work on them to improve performance. These reports are sent to the concerned minister in the constitutional government and are the subject of a meeting between The two parties.

In addition to tracking the government's work and communicating with it, members of the parallel youth government are working to frame Moroccan youth in distant cities and villages in order to encourage them to participate in politics and their desire to engage in civil and political action.

Al-Hamrawi: The civic initiative met with response and reaction from Moroccan youth (Al-Jazeera Net)

Arab Radiation
Since its establishment, the parallel youth government holds annual meetings with the head of the constitutional government, and al-Hamrawi indicates continuous communication between members of the youth government and successive government ministers on public policies.

The current Prime Minister Saad al-Din al-Othmani praised this civic initiative, and during his meeting with members of the parallel youth government last year, he showed his willingness to interact with its proposals after studying it, considering its young members as "new actors for dynamic transplantation in the national political scene."

To the extent that this initiative received nationally, its radiation exceeded the borders, and drew the attention of youth in other Arab countries, and according to Nabil El-Boraisi, they are communicating with Arab youth who wish to benefit from this experience and transfer it to their countries.

Al-Boraisi added that other meetings held by members of the youth government with Arab ambassadors in Morocco showed their willingness to connect bridges of communication between the youth of the Moroccan government and the youth of their countries in order to establish a similar initiative.