At «Solidarité Féminine», the spirit of Aicha Ech-Chenna is still alive…

She is no longer there to welcome them, but her fight for their rights continues. Since the passing of Aicha Ech-Chenna in September 2022, the Association Solidarité Féminine (ASF), which she founded in 1985, indeed continues to uphold the banner of her struggle for the rights of single mothers.

Nicknamed the «Mother Teresa of Morocco », the late Aicha Ech-Chenna left behind an indelible legacy aimed at breaking taboos and offering these excluded women, victims of social and family marginalization, opportunities for integration.

Under the presidency of Naima Ame, the association continues its commitment to ensure «the sustainability of the association and the work of its founder, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, to strengthen female solidarity in a context where challenges remain numerous », explains the president.

The Association Solidarité Féminine positions itself as «a social development project for the inclusion of single mothers and their children in order to protect the latter from abandonment and enable the mothers to take control of their lives and live with dignity », emphasizes Naima Ame.

Since 2022, its mobilization continues by maintaining its essential activities, notably listening and supporting women and income-generating activities, despite financial challenges, as Mme Ame notes, «many funders have turned to other causes ».

The Palmier neighborhood fitness center, however, unfortunately suffered from funding difficulties. The solidarity hammam, opened in 2004, closed its doors in July 2024. But the association does not give up, as it plans to convert it into a training center in hairdressing and aesthetics.

It is also planned to partly convert it into a beauty institute offering various services, such as nail care. «A study is underway and contacts are also being made with international funders. Its reopening will also create job opportunities for single mothers », says Naima Ame.

The expansion of the catering activity is also underway.

Moreover, to strengthen its income-generating activities, ASF is working on the extension and development of its catering activity.

«The project, which concerns only the Palmier restaurant, will be carried out in partnership with the Amicale des enfants espagnols with a view to diversifying the offer and converting its terrace into a conference room that can be made available to companies and other organizations for their events », explains the president, who adds: «In addition to Moroccan cuisine, we will launch modern cuisine dishes and fast food ».

This will attract more customers and also strengthen the partnership established with Glovo. The fast-food offer will be proposed in the evening and targets a young clientele.

Another project of the association: the development of food product sales kiosks launched in 1987. The five equipped kiosks, located in front of Ibn Rochd, Abderrahim Harrouchi, and Moulay Youssef hospitals, are run by single mothers who had benefited from a 3,000 dirham loan for their working capital.

Although the strong arrival of «mahlabates » has strongly competed with the kiosks, the Association now intends to relaunch them with a view to the financial autonomy of single mothers. Since its inception, this income-generating activity has benefited 31 women who have been able, according to ASF officials, «to rebuild themselves and keep their children ».

It especially fulfilled the dream of the late Aicha Ech-Chenna, who fought relentlessly against the abandonment of children born out of wedlock. According to association statistics, there are 3,000 children born out of wedlock each year.

Today, all single mothers supported by ASF succeed in keeping their children and ensuring family stability. This is thanks to individualized support lasting three years, which they receive. This includes, besides weekly financial aid, professional training that enables their socio-economic integration and financial autonomy.

It should be noted that 70 children are abandoned every day in Morocco. At its creation in 1985, the Association welcomed 12 single mothers; today it supports 50 each year. These women are accompanied by the Association, find work, and meet their needs.

The support for these young women is not only administrative and legal but also aims to restore family ties and raise awareness among families about the issues of single mothers, whose profile has notably changed, according to Mme Ame.

«Today we see that the single mother is no longer only the rural girl or the cleaning woman, but also the young student who sometimes, without support, stops her studies and finds herself in a precarious situation ».At ASF, it is also emphasized that families have become more understanding «and we receive more and more single mothers who come accompanied by their parents. This was not the case in previous years », concludes Naima Ame.

«Solidarité Féminine» is also an advocacy action…

Aicha Ech-Chenna’s association not only provides shelter to single mothers but also strives to guarantee them a life with dignity by helping them find employment for social and family stability.

For this, ASF joined six other associations from Casablanca, Tangier, Agadir, Khénifra, and Beni Mellal to found, in 2023, the Alliance for the Rights of Single Mothers.

The Alliance’s program, funded by the EU and running until 2026, aims to strengthen their skills, ensure their financial empowerment, and also seek the legal alignment of Moroccan laws with foreign standards protecting the rights of single mothers and their children.

Thus, in its memorandum presented to the commission responsible for revising the Family Code, the Alliance made several demands, including the explicit recognition in the Family Code of the right of a child born out of wedlock to an identity and filiation to his biological father, considering genetic expertise as proof to establish this link; the revision of the family definition to include single-parent families, notably those formed by single mothers and their children; the guarantee of legal protection and social and moral recognition for all children regardless of their family situation; granting medical coverage to single mothers and their children; and protecting the latter from social stigma.

Since these demands were not accepted by the Supreme Council of Ulemas, the Alliance considers that this deprives children born out of wedlock and abandoned of their right to live with dignity like other children in society, thus violating the fundamental principle of the best interest of the child recognized by the entire Moroccan legal framework.