FAO.org

Sidi Bouzid is a Governorate in the central-west of Tunisia. It has a mostly rural population and agriculture is the basis of the local economy. With one of the highest unemployment and drop-out rates of the country, the governorate is also home to a high poverty rate (almost 20%). It became indeed the cradle of the "Arab Spring" revolts in 2010.

Abderrhaim, Lathifa, Fathy and Nabiha are young women and men between 22 and 25 years old living in two extremely vulnerable communities of the Governorate, namely Selta II and El Gallel. Since last May 2012 they are following an agro-cycle long Junior Farmer Field and Life School (JFFLS) training supported by FAO. As a pilot project, FAO started with 9  JFFLS groups in 2 Tunisian Governorates: Sidi Bouzid and Jendouba. For most of the youth in the groups, this was the first time they followed an agricultural training. Most of them has only attended the primary school.

Abderrhaim, Lathifa, Fathy and Nabiha are part of different JFFLS groups but all from the same Governorate of Sidi Bouzid. Their groups like all the others have been formally registered into associations, a big innovation already in their socio-economic context. All groups have a good gender balance, including an almost equal number of young women and men. All of the groups have chosen to specialize in sheep farming because they feel that they are somehow familiar with it and they believe it has an economic potential.

The young women and young men already support their families in some family farming activities, based on integrated systems of olive production, livestock management and some cereal production when the season is good. All of the youth trained by FAO are unemployed and living in a vulnerable setting with hopes for inclusive regional development strategies that will change their lives and the future of their governorate. Especially for young women, very few employment opportunities exist in the Governorate, since they are not allowed to look for the daily or casual employment opportunities in the construction or tourist sector that sometimes represent an opportunity for young men. As an example, the nine associations have already been contacted to benefit from a 4 month Cash for Work program to enable them to improve their environment. Each group is working on the design of these income generating activities.  Through the JFFLS training, they are increasing their knowledge on sheep farming and discovering the advantages of being and working in a group. All the groups will be supported in the development of their individual business plans to apply for microcredit which will facilitated the start up of their own  microenterprises.

In their own words: “We have learned that we need to start from little in order to avoid losing everything. That a good training is needed for starting a business and that we can build our own future. Working in groups allow us to share ideas and different points of view and be recognized by the society. Nobody will now be able to exploit us when buying or selling our livestock. We will improve our livelihoods and become one day big livestock producers”.

Contacts in FAO Tunisia:

Bruno Minjauw ([email protected])

Ahmed Bougacha ([email protected])

Contacts in FAO HQ:

Ileana Grandelis ([email protected])

Elisenda Estruch ([email protected])

Francesca Dalla Valle ([email protected])