By Ouafra \u00b7 Crafts & Terroir Blog<\/i><\/p>\n
As of mid-June 2026, Morocco officially counts 69,193 cooperatives<\/b> registered with the ODCO (Office for the Development of Cooperation), bringing together 825,754 members<\/b>, including 280,772 women (34% of members) and 18,512 young graduates. In under six months the sector added nearly 4,000 new structures and more than 36,000 members compared with the end of November 2025.\u00b9<\/p>\n
These figures are not trivial. They signal a quiet but real transformation of Morocco’s economic fabric, and for artisans, argan cooperatives, High Atlas weavers and aromatic-plant producers, they open a pivotal period.<\/p>\n
The cooperative sector now represents nearly 3% of national GDP and 5% of the working population<\/b>.\u00b2 Solid figures, but they mostly reveal a gap between what the model could produce and what it actually produces.<\/p>\n
That is precisely the diagnosis made by Lahcen Essaadi, Secretary of State for Crafts and the Social and Solidarity Economy, at the ODCO Board in July 2026: “The cooperative sector holds far greater potential than its actual contribution. That gap underpins the national ambition: raising the sector to 8% of GDP and generating 50,000 jobs a year by 2035.”\u00b2<\/p>\n
To get there, the ODCO is moving away from fragmented actions toward a deep transformation of its support model, built around five concrete tools.<\/p>\n
The three-year roadmap validated in July 2026 rests on an integrated digital ecosystem designed to modernise every stage of a cooperative’s life:\u00b9\u00b2\u00b3<\/p>\n
1. The Integrated Information System (SII)<\/b>: a national database to steer public policy with reliable data by region and sector. For artisans, it means better visibility of their sector to institutions, funders and public buyers.<\/p>\n
2. The Cooperative Project Bank<\/b>: a catalogue of viable initiatives adapted to each territory. An embroidery cooperative in F\u00e8s-Mekn\u00e8s has neither the same needs nor the same outlets as an argan oil cooperative in the Souss.<\/p>\n
3. Sijil Coop<\/b>: dematerialisation of creation and management procedures. Since June 2026, online declaration is generalised. Creating a cooperative, filing accounts or reporting a change of status can all be done online, with no trip to Rabat.<\/p>\n
4. The Cooperative Marketplace<\/b>: a national platform to sell cooperatives’ products directly to public and private buyers. The signal is strong: the State acknowledges that the problem for cooperatives is often not production but access to market.<\/p>\n
5. Taawounya Academy<\/b>: a distance-learning platform for cooperative members. Accounting, management, marketing, quality: the skills missing in most small craft structures.<\/p>\nWhat this concretely changes for artisans<\/h2>\n
1. Joining a cooperative becomes simpler, and more strategic<\/h3>\n
With Sijil Coop and full dematerialisation, the administrative barrier to creating a cooperative disappears. A zellige craftsman in Fez, a saffron producer in Taliouine or a group of embroiderers in Tetouan can now structure their activity without an intermediary.<\/p>\n
But the stakes go beyond paperwork. Joining a recognised cooperative means accessing several schemes at once: INDH funding, ODCO training, AFD or USAID programmes and, increasingly, regional institutional programmes.\u2074<\/p>\n
In June 2026, the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity<\/b> launched a call for projects to support cooperatives, unions and craft GIEs in the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima<\/b> region, within an unprecedented partnership between five institutions: the Foundation, the TTA Regional Council, the Ministry of Tourism and Crafts, the ODCO and the Maison de l’Artisan.\u2075<\/p>\n
The aim is to accelerate the region’s socio-economic development by promoting the North’s specific crafts: embroidery, pottery, Andalusian textiles. It is the first step of a multi-regional programme.<\/p>\n
In Tangier, as early as October 2025, the Tanger Med Foundation, the APDN and the ODCO launched a similar programme: 30 cooperatives supported in governance and marketing, with a two-month exhibition at Tanger-Ville station<\/b> to showcase their products to travellers.\u2076<\/p>\n3. Women’s cooperatives: from informal to export<\/h3>\n
SIAM 2026 (International Agriculture Show, Meknes) highlighted what is happening in the territories: 100% women-run cooperatives that now master the whole value chain, from terroir to export-ready finished product.<\/p>\n
The Bouhassoune<\/b> cooperative (Bouizakarne, Guelmim), founded by university graduates, illustrates this movement: argan \u2192 amlou \u2192 honey \u2192 cosmetics \u2192 soap. Its president, Khadija Bouhassoune, obtained a food-safety certificate allowing export after several national and international fairs.\u2077<\/p>\n
In the Southern provinces, Sahrawi cooperatives have moved in a few years from informal craft to structures able to export and hire sustainably, relying on public schemes and well-identified terroir sectors: daghmous honey, argan, amlou, couscous, aromatic plants.\u2078<\/p>\n
One of the most structuring measures of the 2026\u20132028 roadmap remains discreet but potentially decisive: a performance-based scoring system for cooperatives<\/b>.\u00b9<\/p>\n
Concretely, each cooperative will be assessed on governance, financial transparency and impact. The best rated will get priority access to public procurement, grants and institutional partnerships.<\/p>\n
For serious cooperatives that work well but remain invisible, this is an opportunity. For those that existed on paper without real activity, it is a welcome push toward professionalisation.<\/p>\n
Ouafra operates precisely in the space these reforms seek to activate: connecting very real craft cooperatives to buyers, institutions and markets that do not yet know them.<\/p>\n
Morocco’s 69,193 cooperatives are not an abstract number. They are maalems in Fez, weavers in the Atlas, prickly-pear oil producers in the Souss, embroiderers in Tetouan, potters in Safi. A considerable human fabric, of which only a tiny fraction is visible outside its territory today.<\/p>\n
The Ouafra catalogue, and the support programme around it, is designed to close exactly that gap: from cooperative to market, in 5 days.<\/p>\n
If you represent an institution, a development programme or a B2B buyer who wants to work directly with Moroccan craft cooperatives, contact the Ouafra team<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you are a craft cooperative and want to join the catalogue, start here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ouafra is a platform that promotes and sells the products of Moroccan craft cooperatives and terroir producers. Based in Fez, it connects cooperatives to national and international markets through a curated catalogue, field support and a digital presence.<\/i><\/p>\n \u00b9 ODCO \u2014 Conseil d’Administration, juillet 2026 : De la logique d’appui \u00e0 la logique de cr\u00e9ation de valeur<\/a><\/p>\n \u00b2 Aujourd’hui le Maroc, 6 juillet 2026 : Plus de 69 000 coop\u00e9ratives recens\u00e9es \u00e0 fin juin 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u00b3 Le Matin, juillet 2026 : L’ODCO change de mod\u00e8le pour faire des coop\u00e9ratives marocaines un moteur de croissance<\/a><\/p>\n \u2074 JobSquare.ma, juin 2026 : Artisanat et \u00e9conomie cr\u00e9ative au Maroc en 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u2075 Aujourd’hui le Maroc, 26 juin 2026 : Artisanat : un appel \u00e0 projets pour l’appui et l’accompagnement des coop\u00e9ratives au Nord<\/a><\/p>\n \u2076 ODCO, octobre 2025 : Lancement \u00e0 Tanger du Programme de Soutien \u00e0 l’ESS 2025-2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u2077 LeBrief.ma, avril 2026 : SIAM 2026 : ces coop\u00e9ratives 100% f\u00e9minines qui valorisent le terroir marocain<\/a><\/p>\n \u2078 LeBrief.ma, avril 2026 : Du terroir \u00e0 l’export, la mont\u00e9e en gamme des coop\u00e9ratives sahraouies<\/a><\/p>\nReferences<\/h2>\n