The workshop, as well as the whole campaign itself, have been held in cooperation with the partner organization International Association of Lions Clubs, within the framework of GWP’s “Youth for Water and Climate” Initiative, the BeWater Project and their joint efforts in raising the Tunisian youth's voice on water resources management.
The workshop gathered about 80 participants, mainly representing civil society, but also public administration from the water, employment and youth fields, as well as media.
The workshop provided a platform for discussion on water sector challenges in Tunisia, allowing experts and youth the opportunity to exchange points of view on the role of youth and civil society in improving the sustainable management of water resources. Time was also devoted to present GWP’s “Youth for Water and Climate” Initiative, within which the youth-led White Book “Un Paris pour l’eau” [A Paris for Water] was prepared that was launched and debated at the recent COP21 in Paris in November 2015. Workshop participants took an active interest and recommended the presentation of the White Book at a higher level, in Tunisia.
The awareness campaign ÔVI that has reached more than 800 school children nationally was also presented during the workshop. The campaign is taking place as a follow-up action to previous steps of GWP’s and the BeWater Project’s involvement with the Tunisian youth. During the consultation workshop that GWP-Med held on 31 July 2015 in the governorate of Zaghouan, under the thematic “Boundaries and guidelines for a committed and active involvement of youth in sustainable water resources management and the fight against climate change”, in order to get stakeholders’ feedback on the status of the Tunisian youth’s participation in water management, in the framework of the White Book’s preparation, an action plan was agreed upon with three main activities: i) awareness raising activities aimed at civil society, ii) a capacity building program addressed to youth NGOs, iii) promoting the organization of a youth network on water resources management.
The implementation of the action plan started with a national capacity building workshop targeting youth NGO stakeholders active in water resources management issues, in November 2015, which led to the ÔVI campaign through the mobilisation and training of youth stakeholders in the planning and implementation of the campaign.
Speaking of implementation, a call was launched for local NGOs willing to participate to the campaign by organising themselves an awareness event in a primary school of their region. GWP-Med prepared a guide on the organization of these events that was shared with the NGOs and coordinated their efforts.
The workshop further focused on the opportunities of promoting youth employment in the water sector. Participants had the opportunity to attend a presentation on the national strategy for green jobs related to water. Moreover, young entrepreneurs active in the sector shared their experiences, while a panel with representatives of agencies working in youth employment discussed various support mechanisms including financial assistance to start-ups in the water domain. The panel was concluded with the participants’ recommendation to conduct further analysis on the difficulties faced by youth in the job market and the existing initiatives and mechanisms to support them.