Panel 6 Paper 6.1: Ksar Ait Ben Haddou : quelle démarche pour le développement social durable d'un site patrimoine mondial ?

Abstract

Ksar Ait Ben Haddou, classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 1987, is now at the origin of a new social dynamic thanks to the involvement of a group of stakeholders in a process to enhance the cultural heritage of this emblematic site, which encapsulates universal value and local identity. These include the Ait Aissa Association for Development and Culture and the We Speak Citizen Association, which mobilizes an expert field approach with the local population and its representatives. On another level, this dynamic is carried out in conjunction with the Ksar Ait Ben Haddou management committee and local authorities. Indeed, the transformation of this World Heritage site has made it possible to develop a tourism that is certainly heritage in nature and confirms the link between World Heritage and tourism. From a traditional place of community life, the Ksar has essentially become a place of relatively short visits by different types of tourists, but studies carried out by the We Speak Citizen collective show that this tourist activity does not benefit the local and surrounding populations. From then on, this new dynamic that is taking root is part of a vision and approach to enhance the value of Ksar Ait Ben Haddou in a perspective of sustainable social development of this rural territory. Thus, several social projects are being developed through processes of heritage presentation of the local cultural and anthropological heritage. Some of them were created as the Tawesna solidarity cafe, an innovative concept promoted by the village women's association. Others are in progress, such as the visit route with relays: some are part of the Complex concept for the enhancement of the heritage of the ksours and Kasbahs, including the Maison de l'oralite du Ksar, others in the solidarity economy, such as the Maison des cooperatives. Work on its various projects began in 2016. Inspired by traditional values and local cultural heritage, they are initiated on the basis of in-depth work with the local population. In an interaction between researcher and associative actors, the objective of this work is to present and analyse this social dynamic: the positive impacts but also the tensions and resistance it generates.