SocPro4Fish in Tunisia - March 2023
©Virginie Matterne
A look back at the SocPro4Fish mission in Tunisia.
Through the SocPro4Fish project, FAO aims to:
Support small-scale fishers access to social protection systems adapted to the sector's needs, to increase their resilience to shocks and enable their economic inclusion.
Strengthen institutional capacity in Tunisia to increase the coverage and adequacy of social benefits for fishers and fish workers in small-scale fisheries that are adapted to covariant shocks, gender sensitive, and enable better management of fisheries resources.
The FAO Team kicked off the mission with a meeting with DGPA, DGFIOP, AVFA and UTAP. It was a moment of knowledge sharing and laying the groundwork for solid collaboration.
On the second day, FAO met with the Cabinet of Social Affairs, CRES, and the Directorate General of Social Security to discuss strengthening social protection of workers in the agricultural and fisheries sectors.
The team then met with CRES, with whom FAO is collaborating to develop technical tools to help fishers better respond to covariate shocks caused by climatic, health, socioeconomic, and environmental disasters that affect fishers' livelihoods.
One the third day, the SocPro4Fish team visited the port of La Goulette, the port of Sidi Bousaid and the lake of Tunis, where FAO interviewed fishers. They emphasized bureaucratic procedures, lack of contributory capacity, limited benefits through health and pension systems, and information gaps as some of the disincentives and barriers to access social protection and called for urgent support.
The mission ended on a high note with the ceremony of the SocPro4Fish project. The main results of the Exploratory Study of the coherence between the fisheries sector and social protection were presented. This was achieved through three deliverables, namely
Results of the exploratory study on social protection for the artisanal fisheries sector in Tunisia (CRES).
Guidance notes on coherence between the fisheries sector and social protection in Tunisia (FAO).
Performance Study and Benchmarking (IPC-ID).
A second meeting of the technical committee discussing the next steps and the diverse ways of elaborating concept notes for possible.
