Issues of Concern: Citizen Perspectives on Party Policy Solutions, Morocco, March 2015
Moroccans have been frustrated with the slow pace of reforms envisioned in the revised 2011 constitution, and increasingly see political leaders as disconnected from their everyday concerns. To help political political parties address this frustration with more responsive outreach and policies addressing citizens’ priority concerns, NDI organized a series of focus groups in February 2014 to identify Moroccans’ priority issues and public perceptions of political parties, which revealed that citizens overwhelmingly prioritize employment, education, healthcare and infrastructure as areas where improvement is most needed. Building on those findings, NDI conducted a second round of focus groups in early 2015 to more deeply explore citizens' reaction to parties' proposed solutions to policy priorities identified through the previous round of research. NDI is assisting political parties in using research findings, discussed in detail in the following report, to develop more effective policies and election platforms to broaden participation in the September 2015 municipal elections and legislative elections expected in 2016.