Plant Organic Fruit Trees with African Farmers

The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) has partnered with Instiglio and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, to co-develop a performance management system for its flagship tree plantingand carbon offsetting programs.

This collaboration provides HAF the opportunity to formalise a more holistic approach to program and organisation-wide performance management - a significant step towards strengthening the effectiveness, accountability and impact of HAF´s efforts in Morocco. 

Who Is Instiglio?

Instiglio is a global non-profit organization whose mission is to transform effectiveness and accelerate the impact of governments and development organizations by tackling implementation challenges.

With offices in Colombia, Kenya, Mauritius, and Morocco, Instiglio has been at the forefront of government innovation and reforms across Latin America and Africa, helping build robust ecosystems of change in Colombia, Morocco, Uganda, Sierra Leone, among other countries.

Instiglio´s work spans education, health, employment, social protection, and climate, among others—tying over $784 million to outcomes, improving services for more than 55 million people, and training over 500 civil servants.

Instiglio brings technical expertise in designing systems that drive performance and accountability, making them an ideal partner for HAF as it scales its programs and program impacts.

The Earthquake Recovery Context

Funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Instiglio´s "Supporting Morocco’s Earthquake Recovery" project focuses on maximizing the effectiveness of rebuilding efforts following the devastating September 2023 earthquake. 

This disaster struck hardest in the High Atlas Mountains—home to agricultural communities that rely heavily on farming, agroforestry, and livestock grazing.

Restoring agricultural productivity is not just about rebuilding livelihoods. It’s also about ensuring food security, economic growth, and climate resilience—core pillars that underpin HAF’s mission.

Sustainable Planting for Sustainable Recovery

HAF’s reforestation work is deeply tied to the well-being of farming families and local ecosystems.

Since September 2023, HAF has distributed more than 2.2 million trees, with nearly one-quarter of these distributed in the six provinces hit hardest by the earthquake.

These include support for farmers, cooperatives, associations, and school-based planting projects.

Tree planting plays a critical role in post-disaster recovery:

• Enhances water and food security.
• It improves soil quality and biodiversity.
• Supports physical and mental health by stabilizing livelihoods.
• Increases carbon sequestration and mitigates land degradation.

HAF´s programs aim to address the root causes of personal, economic, social and environmental vulnerability - which were only compounded by the earthquake.

The benefits ripple outward—healthy communities are more resilient, children can attend school, adults can work, and cooperatives form, bringing new sources of income and collective empowerment.

Developing a Culture of Performance and Learning

Performance management systems are designed to help organizations identify what´s working and where to improve, enabling them to implement timely and effective corrective measures. In practical terms, the system collects real-time data, offering valuable insights on key performance indicators at any given time, and helps to guide decision-making at all levels and improve organisational effectiveness whilst promoting a culture of continuous learning and proactive course-correction to maximise impact.

Since September 2024, Instiglio has worked with HAF to:

• Develop a Theory of Change (TOC) to map how program activities lead to long-term impact.
• Identify critical milestones in the TOC that can be measured.
• Translate those milestones into SMART performance indicators.
• Design tools—including a PowerBI dashboard—to collect, track and visualize performance data in real time.

This structured approach helps formalize HAF’s vision for organization-wide learning and impact, with a focus on evidence-based planning and execution.

Project Milestones: Dashboard Testing and Field Engagement

On July 3–4, 2025, HAF hosted Instiglio’s team for:

• A field visit to the Akrich nursery and nearby farms.
• A team workshop to demonstrate the PowerBI dashboard.

This hands-on engagement provided an opportunity to test the tools, gather feedback from field staff, and ensure the system meets the realities of on-the-ground implementation.

The pilot phase will continue through July, laying the groundwork for implementation of the system later this year.

Looking Ahead: A Smarter, Stronger Future

Once fully implemented, the performance management system will support HAF´s existing efforts and long-term commitment to data collection and reporting, providing a holistic data-driven view of the program´s performance.

It will collate existing and new data points such as survival rates of trees, guide species selection for ecosystem restoration, and identify areas for improvement.

In doing so, it will help strengthen the long-term social, environmental, and economic development of Morocco.

A well-managed, evidence-based tree planting and carbon offsetting program is more than an environmental initiative.

It is a lifeline—a pathway to self-reliance for communities striving to not only rebuild, but also prosper.