$27 Million For Moroccan Pottery Classes

In 2009, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) began pursuing a four-year plan to improve the economic competitiveness of Morocco. A review by the agency’s Inspector General (IG) found the $27 million project “was not on track to achieve its goals".

A key part of the project involved training Moroccans to create and design pottery to sell in domestic and international markets. To accomplish this, an American pottery instructor was contracted to provide several weeks of training classes to local artists to improve their methods and teach them how to successfully make pottery that could be brought to market. Unfortunately, the translator hired for the sessions was not fluent in English and was unable to transmit large portions of the lectures to the participants.

Participants in the program were also frustrated by the choice of materials. The colored dyes and clay the instructor used during the class are unavailable for purchase in Morocco, making it impossible for the trainees to replicate the methods they had learned. Trainees also claimed the instructor would frequently forget to bring the right materials to class.

In one class, organizers reported 56 participants, but a trainee stated many of her classmates only signed in so they could receive the provided lunch, and estimated only around ten potters attended her class with any regularity.

Project managers agreed with the IG’s comments on the pottery training, admitting the training was “ineffective and poorly implemented.”

Moroccans have been making pottery since at least the fifth century B.C., with the earliest urban pottery made after 800 A.D. Perhaps, USAID could learn a thing or two about pottery making from Moroccans, who have been passing knowledge of the ancient craft from one generation to another for centuries.