Morocco: GV Author Addresses Youth Conference  · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

This past weekend, a conference was held in Casablanca for 2007 DABA (fr), an association which has the objective of reevaluating political involvement in Morocco in the run-up to the 2007 legislative elections.  The official website answers the question “What is 2007 DABA?”:
2007 Daba est une association à but non lucratif. Elle regroupe des citoyennes et des citoyens, soucieux de l’avenir de leur pays, et de sensibilités diverses.
Le but commun des membres de 2007 Daba est de mobiliser l’ensemble des marocains pour les législatives 2007.
Nous travaillons dans une totale autonomie financière et de gestion.
The common goal of the members of 2007 Daba is to mobilize the whole of Morocco for the 2007 legislative elections.
We work in total financial autonomy and management.
According to an article from Magharebia.com, 2007 DABA strives “to give women and young people a renewed interest in politics and increase the voting rate of the groups by 25%.”
I was fortunate enough to attend the conference, which was held in conjunction with the National Democratic Institute‘s Morocco branch.  Held over three days, the purpose of the training was to focus on building the capacity of young opinion leaders in citizen journalism skills, with an online emphasis in order to increase dialogue about issues of concern to youth.  I was invited to take part in a panel of bloggers and forum leaders to discuss effective methods for using blogs to draw attention to issues, as well as to draw attention to the blogs themselves.  Also on the panel was popular Moroccan blogger Rachid Jankari (fr).
The participants of the conference were all incredibly motivated young leaders, and spoke of fantastic ideas for getting their respective communities involved.  I look forward to seeing more from 2007 DABA.