Last 1 March, the Moroccan General Direction for Civil Protection celebrated the World Civil Protection Day through a number of open events in its regional and provincial stations. The events were centered on the theme “the role of women in the civil protection and civil defense”. During the celebrations, the important contribution of women to the activities of the National Civil Protection was highlighted and women were further encouraged to get involved in this traditionally considered “male sector”.

The main aim of the celebrations organized in Morocco was to sensitize the population of the country, young people first, on the various risks they face, to show them commonly used search and rescue equipment and material, and to organize practical search and rescue, life saving and fire fighting demonstrations.

On 1 Mars 2011, Nawaf Al-Sleibi, Secretary General of the International Civil Protection Organization – established in Geneva on 1 Mars 1972 by 50 nations including Morocco – in his Civil Protection Day speech, invited the international community to give greater attention to the role of women in civil protection. This attention should consist, he said, of better training and education facilities for women and of greater efforts to encourage women to join national civil protection organizations in view of improving available capacities and operational performances of civil protection teams.

Data show better than anything else the slow, yet successful evolution of the Moroccan women role in the national civil protection sector. Women work not only as doctors, engineers, teachers or nurses; there are women officers and agents also in the operational teams. In 1997 the first Moroccan woman became civil protection officer. Today the National Civil Protection include in its ranks 4 female Captains, 28 female Lieutenants and 248 female agents. 148 female civil servants work within the National Civil Protection; among them three engineers, 18 doctors, 75 administrators, 16 nurses, 8 social affairs officers. However the path towards a full integration of women in the ranks of the National Civil Protection is still long. Only 4.7 % of Moroccan fireguards are women, 280 on a total of 6.000.

The first of March, National Civil Protection and Civil Defense Authorities worldwide celebrate the World Civil Protection Day. This year the international civil protection community used this opportunity to promote the involvement of women in civil protection and to encourage partnerships among civil protection bodies and women organizations.

See the video on the civil protection day in Tangier

http://www.medi1tv.com/fr/info.aspx?id=5069

Learn more on the International Civil Protection Organization

http://www.icdo.org/V3_FR/index-2.html

This presentation was made by the National PPRD South National Correspondent at the First National Correspondents Meeting organised in Rome on 21-22 July 2009.

In preparation to their first meeting the PPRD South asked all the National Correspondents to prepare a presentation on the main features of their respective national Civil Protection system with the objective to create an initial shared knowledge base among the PPRD South National Correspondents Network and the PPRD South team. Almost all the National Correspondents prepared such presentation including the main information on both the legislative and institutional framework, as well as on the organizational setting of the National Civil Protection Authority and the overall Civil Protection system in their respective countries.

Download the presentation

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