Abdelouafi Bahddou and Samia Essalhi
Get in Touch : https://www.instagram.com/up___cycle/
UpCycle Agdz project was implemented by Samia Essalhi, with her degree in costume and fashion design, brings her experience, creativity while Abdelwafi Bahhadou, who is focused on environmental protection and both combine their experiences in this project to upcycle the clothes which were left out in Agdz.
We noticed piles of clothes being left behind or wasted in Agdz. So instead of letting them pollute the environment, we decided to collect them and turn them into something new. With the help of local women and artisans, we began organizing small upcycling workshops. We cut the clothes, made threads, and created handmade items like carpets, bags, and even decorations. It’s a creative process, but also one that brings people together. The women who help us also earn a bit of income, which makes the project even more meaningful.
The objectives of the project were to reduce textile waste by collecting old clothes and transforming them into new, usable products through upcycling; to raise awareness about environmental sustainability and promote a culture of recycling in Agdz; to empower the local community by involving local artisans and providing opportunities for skill development and income generation; to create a sustainable project that can inspire similar actions in the region; and to generate economic opportunities for the project team and participants through the sale of upcycled products, contributing to income generation and addressing unemployment.
First, we have started with the creation of the social media account to disseminate the call to collect the clothes in the local community. Then, we had workshops to present the idea of the project and make the people practice upcycle for creating awareness on the environmental pollution in our local community. After the receipt of the clothes, we started to create the products with the involvement of the local community to our workshops.
We have participated in two programs : INDH ( National Initiative for Human Development ) and MCise (Moroccan Center for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship ). We have participated in the Bootcamps additionally to the support of the Give a Chance. We have received several trainings on branding, marketing, communication, legalization of the social entrepreneurship businesses. We have entered the competition to receive prize grant for expanding our project. The project has participated GITEX Africa for Morocco to widen the network of the activities.
We have as well as participated in the activities with the local cooperatives and artisans to increase outreach as well as to tackle with the awareness raising issue in the local community. We had difficulties to outreach the people in the local community due to lack of awareness. That has been the only challenge for us to tackle.
We went to small local businesses, factories and manufacturing places to communicate to gather the excess of the manufacturing from them. So, we were able to tackle this issue. However, even for that, they have requested financial gain, so we have started to produce from the resources from the close community to show the people to take initiative for the later stages.
