Social policy in Morocco post COVID-19: Developments and prospects

For several decades, public policies in Morocco have focused heavily on the economy to the detriment of the human and social aspects of development. Over the years, this has led to the country significantly falling behind in terms of indicators such as poverty, vulnerability and unemployment. This alarming situation prompted the public authorities in the early 1990s to rethink social policy and give it greater importance by implementing numerous social programs, although these failed to deliver the desired effectiveness and results. This led the state to implement a far-reaching and comprehensive reform of social policy as a whole, which showed its limitations, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the effects of which were devastating. A new, innovative approach based on a participative, grassroots policy and targeted identification of the categories eligible for social assistance has therefore been initiated and applied. The aim is to capitalize on past failures in order to make up for lost time and significantly improve social and human indicators.