2020, a Year of Resilience and Growth for the LDA Tunisia

What a year for the LDA Kairouan, Tunisia!

In 2020, the LDA Kairouan, Tunisia, has been further developing its work and experience in the inclusion and empowerment of marginalized groups socially and economically. It has implemented several projects, and namely In City for Inclusive City, Starting from You for the inclusion of people with disabilities, AFAQ for supporting female artisans during the pandemic, and Zoomers for creating a platform for youth participation in public life.

Several activities, successful thanks to the wide participation of young people and the vital collaboration with various actors at regional, national, and international levels, were organized.

The agency demonstrated a remarkable resilience capacity and has shown a firm determination to work within the challenging period of COVID19. Moreover, the team ensured the continuation of its activities and solid relationships with its partners. In the framework of the organization of its workshops and conferences, the project’s team made sure that strict hygiene measures were maintained to ensure the safety of the attendees.

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“Despite lockdown and curfew measures, the year 2020 was outstanding for the LDA Kairouan”

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In times of curfew and mobility restrictions, the LDA Kairouan, resorted to online platforms to carry out its work: the shift to virtual space represented a golden opportunity as it allowed participants and associations from all over Tunisia to benefit from the agency’s online activities and courses. Consequentially, this has brought more visibility to the LDA Kairouan – Tunisia and has contributed to the increase of its network regionally, nationally, and internationally which will result in further promising future collaborations and projects.

In this vein, the LDA Tunisia successfully held online training courses regarding a variety of themes and with different partners. For example, the “Crowdfunding” training course tackled an innovative way of collecting funds through online campaigns. This way of funding hugely relies on creative and innovative communication techniques.

In addition, the “Techniques of public funds collection and associative governance” course was equally outstanding: the online attendance rate, as well as the number of participating associations, pointed out the success of the whole online experience.

Furthermore, the agency carried on the “Friendly Talk”, which was renamed “E-Talk”, aiming at pointing out the conversion from real to virtual space. Indeed, this activity became a platform of solidarity, exchange, and connection among citizens and mainly youth throughout the period of lockdown and social distancing.

Additionally, the agency has been organizing online conferences animated by academics and experts in history, democracy, and sociology to promote universal citizenship, local heritage, and local potential. These conferences created a platform for enrichment, sharing, understanding, and establishing a shared vision on regional development to strengthen economic, social, and cultural inclusion.

At the same time, the LDA Tunisia was also able to physically fulfill other activities such as workshops, meetings, and training courses whenever the government lifted restrictions. At this level, the agency organized awareness-raising meetings about the well-being of families of people having a handicap related to pertinent issues such as employment, public health, psychological health, participation in public life, and human rights. It also provided unconventional training courses for educators working in handicap care centers such as “Social theatre for inclusion” and “Psychometric activities adopted from the circus”. It also tackled multi-actor meetings to ensure the inclusion and the engagement of local authorities in its actions.

These actions are mainly portrayed in the presentation of a study on the economic and social rights of rural women working in the agricultural field. This activity was held in the municipality of Kairouan and saw the presence of the governor and the mayors, their consultants and representatives of public institutions to ensure their involvement and their engagement in the activity.

Social inclusion of different groups such as immigrants, people with disabilities, and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds was at the heart of many activities. For example, during the “Mama Africa” event, Tunisian and African youth met and had the opportunity to deepen their knowledge about their traditions and norms during the cross-cultural event.

Another turning point of the year was the campaign organized by the agency to sensitize citizens in Kairouan city about the necessary use of sanitary products and social distancing. Through this campaign, each sensitized citizen received sanitary pieces to encourage them to protect their health. It also organized an awareness-raising workshop in order to sensitize women and young girls about the importance of gardening both in their working place, in public spaces and at home so that they can contribute to creating a greener and safer environment.

In a nutshell, the year 2020 marked a significant increase in the LDA Tunisia activities and projects.

Moreover, the Association has also addressed various innovative local issues developing its expertise and skills in handling different types of highly important and serious issues.

LDA Tunisia’s commitment for 2021 is to carry out more promising multi-actor projects with other LDAs and to reinforce its growing network to ensure its contribution to the creation of a society valorizing cooperation, dialogue, and equality.