Maghroum’In the “passionate” youth seeking a more inclusive and equal future in Tunisia

Framed within the EU4YOUTH programme of the European Union and led by the Spanish Cooperation, the project aims to provide innovative solutions to local and global challenges in order to exercise the right to participate in social, cultural, economic and political life.

Maghroum’In is a commitment to strengthen the collective dynamics of Tunisia and the interactions between its youth and institutions through culture and sport, both for the care of mental and emotional health and personal development, and as a catalyst for innovative spaces for participation, creation and transformation.

Presentation of the initiative

The initiative was presented on Saturday 22 October at the Bassins des Aghlabides heritage site in Kairouan (Tunis). The event was attended by Kamal Deguiche, Minister of Youth and Sports; Olivier Hack, responsible for the EU4YOUTH programme at the Delegation of the European Union in Tunis; Fernando Villalonga, Minister Counsellor of the Spanish Embassy in Tunis; Peggy Martinello, Director of Public Administration and Social Affairs at the FIIAPP; Jill Coates Director of the British Council Tunisia and other regional and national institutional representatives, as well as local associations.

During the launch of Maghroum’In more than 100 young people from the 24 governorates of Tunisia discussed with public representatives the role of culture and sport for the social inclusion of youth in the country.

Performance, poetry and plastic arts were some of the artistic languages used to demand greater participation in decision-making and their right to be active and responsible participants in cultural and sporting life in their localities and at the national level.

“Culture and sport help us to build fairer societies for ourselves and for those to come,” said one participant, director of the Chamel FM radio station in the town of Beja (north-west of the country), whose cultural and sporting content makes the realities of many young people in her town visible.

The activity was the culmination of several months of work, dialogue and consultations carried out throughout the country through forums and workshops led by the young people themselves, in which they identified problems, challenges and solutions in the culture and sports sectors.

Tunisian youth want their demands to be taken into consideration in the formulation of national and global development policies.

The EU4YOUTH programme

Maghroum’In is part of the EU4YOUTH delegated cooperation programme funded by the European Union and whose component 2 “Youth inclusion through culture, creativity and sport at local level” is co-led by AECID, FIIAPP and the British Council.

The project will support the development of projects and spaces that foster networking and transdisciplinarity as well as social innovation and citizen empowerment through the exercise of cultural rights for social transformation.

It will promote processes with the aim of innovating in the management of the commons – ways of doing culture/sport from and for young people -; building spaces in which to weave alliances and complementarities. To this end, the project will focus its work on three fundamental axes: strengthening municipal public policies to generate spaces for consultation and innovation; supporting civil society and youth actors; and developing strategies for employability and vocational training in the fields of culture and sport.

The project is added to the work strategy that the Spanish Cooperation has been developing in Tunisia to support the exercise of political, cultural, social and economic rights of the youth population with various projects and actors of the Spanish Cooperation and the country, particularly through the use of culture, tools to promote a culture of peace and violence prevention, the promotion of gender equality and the development of proposals for economic empowerment through the social and solidarity economy.