ASIL Programs > Career Development > Arthur C. Helton Fellowship > Helton Fellowship Profiles and Reflections > 2010 ASIL Helton Fellows > ASIL Helton Fellowship Reflections

Association Solidarité Féminine (ASF),
Christie Edwards — Casablanca, Morocco

My Arthur C. Helton Fellowship supported my internship with Association Solidarité Féminine (ASF) in Casablanca, Morocco. ASF is one of the few organizations in Morocco with experience helping single mothers and their children. The Association was created to prevent the abandonment of babies by women unable to take care of them. Single mothers assisted by ASF’s program are mostly illiterate, unskilled, poor, and rejected by their families due to their pregnancies.

The organization offers a well-established rehabilitation program to help the young mothers transition into the formal economic sector by providing vocational skills training, numeracy and literacy classes, childcare, and teaching the women awareness of their legal rights and duties, civics and citizenship, and risk prevention, while providing childcare. The Association also offers psychological, social and legal support to the young mothers.

During my Fellowship,I assisted ASF by preparing a study on the legal and statutory framework for single mothers and their children, as well as the need to connect the existing legal framework with social realities in Morocco. This report will be used to frame an advocacy campaign for further legislative protections for single mothers, as well as an appeal to international donors to support the ongoing work of the organization.

I felt fortunate that I had relatively few challenges during my Fellowship, other than minor communication/cultural issues. I quickly learned that NGOs in Morocco are very hierarchical, so in order to get the resources and interviews I needed, I had to learn the proper way to deal with the organizational structure. I also had to be persistent and follow up frequently so that the interviews were scheduled (or rescheduled) with enough time to allow me to finish my report before I returned home. Finally, space and resources were a bit scarce because ASF had so many summer interns and volunteers dedicated to supporting the organization (a good problem for them to have!). I was very grateful for the support of the Executive Director and CFO, who were incredibly helpful and ensured the smoothest possible working environment.

Professionally, I was inspired to continue working with local, grass-roots movements to advocate for political and social change for women in developing countries. As we exchanged ideas and strategies, learning from all of our experiences, we created a more comprehensive and holistic approach to seek full implementation of women's rights guaranteed by Moroccan and international law. I will continue to use the ideas and tools that I learned from the advocacy experts I met in Morocco to share with other women interested in political advocacy. The network of women working to improve personal status laws, family codes and nationality laws in the developing world can benefit from the success of the Moroccan women, so I hope to continue to share their knowledge with other women seeking change.

Mother Teresa once said, "The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you’ve got anyway." The work of Aisha Ech-Channa (the founder of ASF and winner of the 2009 Opus Prize) and other women activists in Morocco has often been strongly criticized by politicians, religious leaders, and the public at large, yet they persevered. Today, Aisha has the support of the king and is considered a national hero. The work I did this summer was only a small contribution to her continuing legacy, but she has inspired me to continue giving the best that I have to offer for the rest of my career.