Tunisia Evaluations
 | Final Evaluation – I Am the President – May 2020This report captures findings from the final evaluation of the project “I Am the President,” implemented over 18 months from September 2018 to March 2020. The project was funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by Search-Tunisia in collaboration with Ma’an, a Palestinian non-profit media organization with a regional satellite network focusing on youth engagement and programming. The project aimed to promote youth participation in inclusive democratic processes and empower the next generation of Tunisian democratic political leaders through the launch of the reality television show “I Am the President.” The final evaluation highlights how the program’s activities and trainings helped to successfully increase Tunisian youth’s understanding and support for local and national democratic political processes. 96% of surveyed youth reported that Tunisians believe that youth participation in the democratic processes can make a positive change, almost ten points above the baseline conducted before the show. Additionally, a total of 83% of surveyed viewers agreed that the show increased their knowledge of the political and decision-making process, while close to 80 percent of viewers agreed that the show encouraged them to reflect and get informed on the social issues and challenges that were discussed. Furthermore, the results indicate that the show led to positive action. 61% of viewers wanted to take a more active role in their community, and close to 30% of participants reported becoming involved in local initiatives as a result of the show, including in online awareness campaigns for gender-based violence, election campaigns, cleaning campaigns and campaigns in response to COVID-19 crisis. |
| Final Evaluation – “The Adventures of Daly” Graphic Novel Campaign – November 2018“The Adventures of Daly” Graphic Novel Campaign (TUN014) was a project implemented by Search for Common Ground in Tunisia between August 2017 and November 2018. The goal of this project was to reduce support for violent extremist messaging within Tunisian communities by enhancing their access to and engagement with locally credible voices that counter violent extremist narratives. The project had to main objectives:
The evaluation found that overall the project was highly relevant to the context of youth in the five different regions that were targeted. The relevance of the project was also noticed on the level of the activities that were organized in order to identify the current push and pull factors leading youth to join violent extremist groups. The specific drivers of radicalization identified for the different areas corresponded to the reality of youth living in those areas and were reflected well in the comic book stories. |
| Mid-term Evaluation – Promoting Civilian Engagement in Security Sector Reform Processes in Tunisia – May 2018“Promoting Civilian Engagement in Security Sector Reform Processes in Tunisia” was a project implemented by Search for Common Ground in collaboration with Al-Kawakibi Democracy Transition Center (KADEM) between October 1, 2015 and March 31, 2018. The project aimed at facilitating the transition from a vertical security reform system within government to mechanisms involving civil society and media through the collaborative development and implementation of local initiatives. The project sought to meet its overall goal through building and maintaining communication and collaboration between the security sector and civil society actors in four chosen localities. It also worked towards effectively engaging media throughout the process. The evaluation showed that the project was successful in reaching its objectives and outcomes. It contributed to increasing the transparency of the security sector reform efforts by involving civil society, media and local authorities to improve communication between the public and security sector through collaborative development of local initiatives. |
| Final Evaluation – Bottom-Up Approach to Countering Violent Extremism in Tunisia – August 2017The Bottom-Up Approach to Countering Violent Extremism in Tunisia was funded by the US Department of State and the Canadian Foreign Affairs. This program aimed to increase the ability of vulnerable communities to prevent and counter violent extremism in Tunisia by helping members of the Tunisian society approach conflicts and differences in a constructive manner, through cooperation and dialogue. The project addressed violent extremism at the local level in order to increase the engagement of stakeholders and produce knowledge of the factors that drive Tunisians to support violent extremist propaganda or groups. The project then sought to transform that knowledge into concrete community-based activities, to strengthen the capacity of stakeholders in preventing violent extremism. The report is based on qualitative information collected through focus group discussions and interviews with 10 partner NGOs in 6 communities. The report indicates that the project has succeeded in increasing the engagement of diverse stakeholders and strengthening the capacities of local partner NGOs to ignite dialogue initiatives within their communities and deliver activities around countering violent extremism. The participants noted that the program contributed to raising communities’ awareness on the drivers of violent extremism. The program has promoted local research and information-sharing on the drivers of violent extremism in order to enhance community relationships with local authorities and security forces, promote alternative narratives, and strengthen ties at the community level to advance youth and women’s roles in building resilient communities and effectively countering and preventing extremist recruitment. |
 | “Women Dialogue” Program: Main findings from Phase 2Download this powerpoint presentation and discover the main findings and lessons learned from the Phase 2 of Search Tunisia’s “Women Dialogue” Program. |
| Building Constructive Dialogue between Conflicting Stakeholders in TunisiaSFCG designed the “Women Dialogue” Program (WD) as an attempt to bridge the gap between main ideologically-opponent groups such as leftwing women CSO groups – identified as lobbying for a western conception of secularism and women’s rights – and Islamist organizations, assumed to be more prone to grounding women’s rights in cultural backgrounds. WD Phase 1 – which started in 2013 – achieved most of its objectives i.e. raising women’s awareness on the usefulness of dialogue, enhancing mutual acceptance and helping women discover common ground concerns. This paved the way for agreeing on “specific actions to undertake”, implying institutional commitment from each organization participating in the Dialogue. WD Phase 2 aims “to further support the existing dialogue coalition of women, to deepen the dialogue within their base and respective constituencies, to engage in joint legal advocacy efforts.” |
| Tunisia: Common Ground Dialogue – Building Constructive Dialogue between Conflicting Stakeholders in TunisiaThough its revolution in 2011 was relatively peaceful, Tunisia has faced sporadic violence and civil unrest in its transitional period, fueled by political polarization, hate speech in the media, and the emergence of radical Salafist movements. While women in Tunisia have historically enjoyed a more advantageous status than women in other neighboring countries, women’s rights have become a main topic of societal and legislative debate since the revolution. The Women’s Dialogue, the first phase of which took place over the course of 7 sessions, seeks to bridge the gap between the main ideological currents in Tunisian society, particularly between leftist and Islamist women’s civil society organizations and NGOs, by empowering participants “to make positive change and to diminish political polarization by promoting a model of constructive dialogue.” By leading participants to discover common ground, interests, and concerns, the program aims to demonstrate how differences can turn into sources of agreement instead of causes of conflict. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, the Baseline report is intended to concretely measure cohesion among the participants, the level and quality of dialogue among them, and the level and quality of participants’ joint advocacy projects that resulted from Phase I. The Baseline findings will inform Phase II of the project. |