Participants learn Moroccan and international cuisines to support employment or entrepreneurship. Since its founding in 2012, more than 350 women have graduated from the programme. The programme combines vocational training with confidence-building and financial literacy support.


Amal was founded by American-Moroccan Nora Fitzgerald Belahcen after partnering with two local women selling brownies. Morocco ranks 137th out of 148 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index, and women make up just over 22 percent of Morocco’s workforce. The organisation operates a restaurant, cooking classes and a sign-language café run by deaf women.