aichaAicha Ech-Chenna a name not new in Morocco, a country where single mothers were considered the legal equivalents of prostitutes and subject to harsh forms of social exclusion.



In 1985, she launched Feminine Solidarity in Casablanca. The group offers single mothers a three-year program, which provides them an income and training along with three-day care centers so they can keep their children while preparing for a job. The group also runs a support center, which gets about 600 visits per year and provides medical care.



Limits of Legal Rights:



It protects the rights of single mothers and helps them financially too. Since a progressive package of legal reforms was passed two years ago, Ech-Chenna and her staff have also begun helping women identify the fathers of their children.



Judges can order DNA tests:



One provision of the law says a judge can order a man to undergo DNA testing if a woman can prove she was engaged to him. The DNA paternity provision also requires the woman to pay for the test, which costs about $350 and is too costly for many of the single women Ech-Chenna encounters.



Mediating Between Fathers and Mothers:



Given the difficulties of applying the DNA testing, Ech-Chenna and her staff began to simply reach out to the men, offer mediation sessions between him and the mother and simply do whatever they can to persuade the father to either admit paternity or agree to take a DNA test.



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