Tunisia - Youth NGO Empowerment for Good Governance

Project context

Since February 2017, CLI collaborates with the youth civil society organization We love Kairouan (WLK) in Kairouan, Tunisia, to strengthen civil engagement, local good governance and decentralization of the democratic process in Kairouan.

WLK supports local identity, culture and environmental awareness in the city and region of Kairouan.

With CLI’s transformation stewardship, We love Kairoun implemented three projects from 2017 to 2021 under the funding of ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) with funds from the German Federal Foreign Office.

1st project 2017 – 2018: Bab el Medina Dialogue Platform

With support of CLI’s transformation stewardship, WLK developed an action-oriented dialogue platform named Bab el Medina’ (‘Gates of the Medina’), between local administration and citizens. Its objective is to develop and implement ideas and concrete actions on the sustainable development of the ancient city center, the Medina, in Kairouan, a UNESCO world heritage site. The first action of the platform focused on the Souk al Mouajel, a historic covered market site in the Medina center that can trace its roots back to the 12^th century, and that is currently dysfunctional. Applying the CLI approach, We love Kairouan expertly facilitated the co-creation of a sustainable architectural restoration, with details that interlink economic, social and ecological aspects, and that bridge tradition and modernity – such as renewable energies for the lighting combined that illuminates the traditional combination of workshop and sale spaces for artisans and merchants. 

The platform is unique in its truly collaborative approach to urban development, where citizens are not merely consulted on their opinions, but co-create a shared understanding of what is important, and what should be done, together with the local public power

2nd project in 2019: Green Action Network for the Medina

Based on the huge success of the action on the Souk, the second initiative by the platform will focus on the environmental aspects in the Medina. Points of interest are in particular the reduction of pollution through dysfunctional waste management and exhausts. Accordingly, the Bab el Medina platform has been expanded to also include the National Waste Management Agency and the New Environmental Police. Citizens and local public officials on the platform chose the area around Rahba Place in the Medina to develop a comprehensive plan for a sustainable redesign of the city’s area, including energy efficient public transport, pollution reduction and improved waste management and recycling. The platform is organized into task forces advancing the funding and implementation of each step of the plan.

Accreditation of 4 new CLI facilitators in Tunisia

Through the course of these first two projects, four team members of the We Love Kairouan association have become CLI accredited facilitators: Soumaya Khalfoui, Takwa Mallat, Oumaima Selmi and Mahdi Ayadi. This means that they have not only completed the certification track of participating in three CLI trainings, but they have also written their own CLI study on the ‘Bab el medina dialogue platform’ which eventually qualified them to become accredited facilitators of the CLI methodologies – the Collective Leadership Compass and the Dialogic Change Model. This accreditation paved the path to the following project in which the WLK team upscaled the local platform and facilitated the set-up of a regional young leaders’ network.

3rd project in 2020 – 2021: Young Leaders Network for Good Governance in Central Tunisia

In a trainers-of-trainer approach, CLI and WLK worked over two years to upscale the local Bab el Medina platform into a regional young leaders’ network: Three youth NGOs were identified to become part of the network: Youth Activists in Krib, the Association for Natural Resources and Development  (ARND) in Regueb and the Association for Youth and Cultural Development in Hergla (ACDJH).

Throughout the project period, two parallel processes took place: 1. The set up and implementation of three local sustainable initiatives in Regueb, Krib and Hergla.

2. The set-up of a transformation network between all three NGOs with WLK as the backbone organization.

To support these processes, CLI and WLK jointly conducted capacity trainings on the ©Collective Leadership Compass and the ©Dialogic Change Model for the project teams of each of these associations (young leaders), to provide them with the necessary skills to facilitate the setup of local dialogue platforms in their respective communities. The trainings focused on the competences to facilitate dialogue between different stakeholders and to set up effective collaborations for joint development of local initiatives.

WLK also took the important role of the backbone organization and was in continuous exchange with each of the project teams to support and mentor them in the facilitation process of their respective local initiatives. Moreover, WLK created opportunities for learning exchange and mutual support among the initiatives to steadily set up a strong regional network. CLI had a mentoring role towards WLK and supported them in the background with regular exchange meetings to continuously strengthen their role as backbone organization of the network.

As a result of the dialogue process, the project teams together with the local stakeholders set up these three local initiatives: 

• ARND in Regueb: First farmer-initiated cooperative for certified biological products in the Sidi Bouzid region (Regueb)
• A.C.D.J.H in Hergla: Preserving artisanal and cultural heritage through education and promotion
• Youth Activists in Krib: Ecological village for sustainable tourism

What else emerged through the project?

• 18 young leaders trained in core collective leadership skills
• > 200 people directly involved
• > 90.000 people indirectly involved
• Endorsement by regional administration for initiatives from all communities
• Significant financial contributions by administrations and citizens to fund initiatives
• Three strong collective action teams of NGOs, citizens and administration, working on other/ new local development projects
• Endorsement of collective leadership approach on the local level of administration
• Increased visibility, volunteer engagement and outreach for all NGOs