Tanmia.ma

MTDS project management and technical expertise built the successful Moroccan civil society portal, Tanmia.ma (www.tanmia.ma) and founded the local NGO that now manages the portal. Tanmia.ma is a French/Arabic online portal that serves as a platform for information exchange, diffusion of capacity building resources, alliance building, debate, and advocacy activities for Moroccan civil society organizations. Online since October 2004, the number of portal users continues to grow – in January 2006, the portal averaged nearly 5000 visitors daily making it among Morocco’s most frequented websites. Built using the best and latest open source content management technology, Tanmia.ma is highly interactive – over ¾ of its content is contributed by its users online. Every day local Moroccan associations access the portal to post information about their organizations and activities, find and announce job openings and tenders, share information about planned events and participate in thematic forums. Democratizing access to information and to information channels is what makes Tanmia an instrument of democratic reform.

MTDS’ role in the creation of Tanmia.ma spans the planning, implementation and sustainability phases of the project. In the planning stage, MTDS partnered with a local umbrella NGO, AMSED to assess the information and communication needs of civil society organizations and their public and private partners. MTDS developed a business plan outlining portal services, describing potential partners and users, and a portal sustainability strategy. It then mobilized local actors to create a Moroccan NGO, the Association Tanmia.ma, to manage the implementation phase of the project and more broadly to support civil society organizations using ICT. MTDS authored a successful grant proposal that resulted in implementation funding for the Association from the Development Gateway Foundation.

In the implementation phase, MTDS developed the participatory content management system and data bases that are the core of all portal services. With the Board of Directors of Tanmia.ma, MTDS oversaw the establishment of the NGO’s operational management team and provided project management and technical assistance throughout the implementation phase of the project. MTDS obtained additional resources from MEPI to enhance portal content and services and to aid the Association Tanmia to develop and implement its institutional sustainability strategy. A senior MTDS staff person currently serves on the Association’s Board of Directors.

Using a diffusion list and interactive forum developed by MTDS, Tanmia.ma is becoming a space for civic debate in Morocco. There are currently over 1500 individual subscribers to the service which in the last year has discussed and debated topics including violence against women, child labour, consumer protection, education and decentralization. Combating corruption and youth participation in political parties are topics on the agenda in the near future.

The portal is likewise a source of capacity building material for local NGOs. With support from MEPI, the Association Tanmia published a series of NGO management guides in both Arabic and French covering topics such as steps for creating a local organization, NGO governance, financial management and administrative systems, resource mobilization and partnership building, integrating Gender in Development, and Social Advocacy. Some of the guides have been accessed several thousand times since they were posted to the portal and have been used by local organizations to organize training activities.