Switzerland helps young Tunisians find jobs.
14 August 2012
Read by 1734 persons
Swiss development aid supports a whole series of projects in Tunisia. From training apprentices to providing loans to small entrepreneurs, including school renovations.
Elias bou Kaid and his classmates queue up in their small classroom to have their photos taken. They proudly display the trophies and certificates they received at the end of their men's hairdressing training, which they have just completed. Their apprenticeship took place not in a chic salon but at the El-Anaka training center, in Sidi Hassine Zahrouni, one of the poorest suburbs of the capital, Tunis.
The project, managed by the Tunisian NGO Association Campagne and supported by Swiss development aid, aims to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds integrate into the job market. Two centers, including El-Anaka, are responsible for enrolling adolescents in courses where they learn hairdressing, sewing, upholstery, pastry making, computer skills or maintenance work.
For Switzerland, it is important to promote job creation. This gives Tunisians “a glimmer of hope”, as Swiss Ambassador to Tunisia Pierre Combernous says. Association Campagne was created precisely for this purpose: “Young people think they have to emigrate to find work,” explains its honorary president Missaoui Mohamed. “We want to get them to think differently, to make them realize that it is possible to live well here and that it is worth considering the future with confidence.”
Pastry chefs and hairdressers
Elias and his friends are not the only ones to have benefited from this initiative. The El-Anaka center has also enabled several young women to successfully train as hairdressers. During our visit, there was a wedding atmosphere. Eager to show off their new skills, students had made up and styled their classmates - some of whom were wearing wedding dresses - in an elaborate way.
“This profession is in high demand,” says Harzi Med Nafaa, the founder of the association. “A hairdresser can earn much more than a teacher.” In another corner of the center, apprentice pastry chefs had prepared a whole range of delicacies, from pizza to fruit tarts. “I am really impressed by the progress they have made,” comments Corinne Conti, an intermediary between Switzerland and the NGO, observing the delicately embroidered cushions and pleated curtains made by the upholstery students.
But in disadvantaged neighborhoods like Sidi Hassine Zahrouni and Cité Ettadhamen, where the other center is located, it is not enough to teach young people a trade. “Some of the apprentices dropped out of their training along the way, or they have problems at home because their parents are divorced or they don’t get along with them,” notes Rafika Ferhani, who works as a social worker for the association. “I help them resolve these difficulties.” In Tunisia, where the family normally represents an important foundation, this kind of support is crucial.
It was precisely the frustration caused by the lack of jobs that triggered the revolution that led to the fall of President Ben Ali in January 2011. The problem must be tackled at different levels and throughout the country.
Support for entrepreneurs
Switzerland is also involved in southern Tunisia, a region characterized by a high unemployment rate, through a program aimed at young entrepreneurs. The Bank for the Financing of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (BFPME) was created in 2005 to help graduates without an economics background or family connections to set up a project. It benefits from Swiss support.
Founded well before the revolution, the institution has taken on its full meaning in the face of the change in mentalities brought about by the revolution, according to Moncef ben Yemna, head of the BFPME office for the city of Medenine. “Young people have started to develop an entrepreneurial spirit,” he explains. “They now look to the future with optimism. The revolution has something to do with it, but this process had already begun several years ago.”
Here too, the Swiss contribution is financial. Entrepreneurs supported by the bank must put up some of the funds themselves, which is not always easy. Switzerland therefore provides them with loans. It also funds experts who help them draw up their initial plan and assist them during the first years of its implementation.
Sea sponges
Samia Ezzeddine studied journalism and worked in a bank for 15 years. This mother of two is currently a stay-at-home mother. Not for much longer, she hopes. “I want to completely change my life,” she says. “My job at the bank was too monotonous. I have a lot of ideas.”
She received support from Switzerland to create a factory that will process sea sponges found off the Tunisian coast and transform them into bath accessories, once the living cells have been extracted. “The Greeks used to buy them from us, but they stopped doing so since the financial crisis. The other buyers have also disappeared. As a result, the fishermen stopped looking for sponges, since they can no longer find anyone to sell them to.”
Samia Ezzeddine’s project will provide a source of income for fishermen and jobs for people working in the factory. The production will be sold under the label “100% Made in Tunisia”.
The challenge of education
What about the next generation? Education will play a decisive role. But the presence of motivated teachers will not be enough. If the school toilets are clogged or if students have to walk several hundred meters to get around a dilapidated building and access the classrooms, they will not be very assiduous.
We visited a school in Medenine, built in 1989 and whose playground was under construction. Switzerland is participating in the renovation of six establishments, including this one. “The school needed to be renovated for a while, but we lacked funds,” explains Tahar Mohsen, deputy head of education in Medenine. “Regions like ours have been neglected for many years.”
The training provided by the Tunisian school system is of little value. But this situation is about to change, according to Tahar Mohsen. “We will have to review the entire education system,” she says. “This cannot be done overnight, but we must start now if we want our children to receive training that will allow them to find a job useful to society.”
The region does not lack motivated people. Chouikhi Nazih, the subcontractor in charge of renovating the school, studied there himself, as did his father before him and his children after him. He is delighted to be able to participate in its rehabilitation. “Once the work is completed, I would like to go to Switzerland to thank everyone,” he says.
Julia Slater.
Swissinfo.ch
Published on July 15, 2012.
Posted online on August 14, 2012.
Elias bou Kaid and his classmates queue up in their small classroom to have their photos taken. They proudly display the trophies and certificates they received at the end of their men's hairdressing training, which they have just completed. Their apprenticeship took place not in a chic salon but at the El-Anaka training center, in Sidi Hassine Zahrouni, one of the poorest suburbs of the capital, Tunis.
The project, managed by the Tunisian NGO Association Campagne and supported by Swiss development aid, aims to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds integrate into the job market. Two centers, including El-Anaka, are responsible for enrolling adolescents in courses where they learn hairdressing, sewing, upholstery, pastry making, computer skills or maintenance work.
For Switzerland, it is important to promote job creation. This gives Tunisians “a glimmer of hope”, as Swiss Ambassador to Tunisia Pierre Combernous says. Association Campagne was created precisely for this purpose: “Young people think they have to emigrate to find work,” explains its honorary president Missaoui Mohamed. “We want to get them to think differently, to make them realize that it is possible to live well here and that it is worth considering the future with confidence.”
Pastry chefs and hairdressers
Elias and his friends are not the only ones to have benefited from this initiative. The El-Anaka center has also enabled several young women to successfully train as hairdressers. During our visit, there was a wedding atmosphere. Eager to show off their new skills, students had made up and styled their classmates - some of whom were wearing wedding dresses - in an elaborate way.
“This profession is in high demand,” says Harzi Med Nafaa, the founder of the association. “A hairdresser can earn much more than a teacher.” In another corner of the center, apprentice pastry chefs had prepared a whole range of delicacies, from pizza to fruit tarts. “I am really impressed by the progress they have made,” comments Corinne Conti, an intermediary between Switzerland and the NGO, observing the delicately embroidered cushions and pleated curtains made by the upholstery students.
But in disadvantaged neighborhoods like Sidi Hassine Zahrouni and Cité Ettadhamen, where the other center is located, it is not enough to teach young people a trade. “Some of the apprentices dropped out of their training along the way, or they have problems at home because their parents are divorced or they don’t get along with them,” notes Rafika Ferhani, who works as a social worker for the association. “I help them resolve these difficulties.” In Tunisia, where the family normally represents an important foundation, this kind of support is crucial.
It was precisely the frustration caused by the lack of jobs that triggered the revolution that led to the fall of President Ben Ali in January 2011. The problem must be tackled at different levels and throughout the country.
Support for entrepreneurs
Switzerland is also involved in southern Tunisia, a region characterized by a high unemployment rate, through a program aimed at young entrepreneurs. The Bank for the Financing of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (BFPME) was created in 2005 to help graduates without an economics background or family connections to set up a project. It benefits from Swiss support.
Founded well before the revolution, the institution has taken on its full meaning in the face of the change in mentalities brought about by the revolution, according to Moncef ben Yemna, head of the BFPME office for the city of Medenine. “Young people have started to develop an entrepreneurial spirit,” he explains. “They now look to the future with optimism. The revolution has something to do with it, but this process had already begun several years ago.”
Here too, the Swiss contribution is financial. Entrepreneurs supported by the bank must put up some of the funds themselves, which is not always easy. Switzerland therefore provides them with loans. It also funds experts who help them draw up their initial plan and assist them during the first years of its implementation.
Sea sponges
Samia Ezzeddine studied journalism and worked in a bank for 15 years. This mother of two is currently a stay-at-home mother. Not for much longer, she hopes. “I want to completely change my life,” she says. “My job at the bank was too monotonous. I have a lot of ideas.”
She received support from Switzerland to create a factory that will process sea sponges found off the Tunisian coast and transform them into bath accessories, once the living cells have been extracted. “The Greeks used to buy them from us, but they stopped doing so since the financial crisis. The other buyers have also disappeared. As a result, the fishermen stopped looking for sponges, since they can no longer find anyone to sell them to.”
Samia Ezzeddine’s project will provide a source of income for fishermen and jobs for people working in the factory. The production will be sold under the label “100% Made in Tunisia”.
The challenge of education
What about the next generation? Education will play a decisive role. But the presence of motivated teachers will not be enough. If the school toilets are clogged or if students have to walk several hundred meters to get around a dilapidated building and access the classrooms, they will not be very assiduous.
We visited a school in Medenine, built in 1989 and whose playground was under construction. Switzerland is participating in the renovation of six establishments, including this one. “The school needed to be renovated for a while, but we lacked funds,” explains Tahar Mohsen, deputy head of education in Medenine. “Regions like ours have been neglected for many years.”
The training provided by the Tunisian school system is of little value. But this situation is about to change, according to Tahar Mohsen. “We will have to review the entire education system,” she says. “This cannot be done overnight, but we must start now if we want our children to receive training that will allow them to find a job useful to society.”
The region does not lack motivated people. Chouikhi Nazih, the subcontractor in charge of renovating the school, studied there himself, as did his father before him and his children after him. He is delighted to be able to participate in its rehabilitation. “Once the work is completed, I would like to go to Switzerland to thank everyone,” he says.
Julia Slater.
Swissinfo.ch
Published on July 15, 2012.
Posted online on August 14, 2012.
