OC1.2: Tunisia

Strengthen Tunisian education system to adapt to democratic transitions

The revolution rid Tunisia of a dictatorial regime that abolished any meaningful role for civil society, especially in education. While the country achieved freedom of expression which led to the emergence of a broad civil network, economic difficulties aggravated the social crisis.

This has had a direct impact on education as the education system has not undertaken any serious reform despite the launch of a stalled reform since 2015 led by the Ministry of Education, trade unions and civil society, including the Tunisian Education Coalition.

This failure was compounded by political instability and the continuous change of governments. Thus, the education system maintained the same laws, curricula, and approaches established by the 2002 directive law. In this perspective, the present project aims to promote the benefit of civil society in democratic transitions by deploying its influence on public education policies, its monitoring of the government and its fieldwork to strengthen its contribution to the training in democratic practice and the consolidation of human rights values.

To achieve this, the coalition will seek to Establish a democratic, well-governed and decentralised structure that ensures the representativeness of women, youth, marginalised areas and minorities and their influence on existing and planned educational policies. This is achieved through:

  • Strengthening the presence of women's and youth associations from marginalised areas in the structure of the coalition.
  • Training of 30 members in national laws and legislation as well as international conventions.
  • Setting up a media, communication and documentation department and training its staff.
  • Participate in policy dialogue with government and stakeholders on the implementation of laws and legislation related to the goals of the MDG4, (including increased spending on inclusive education), and expanding the partnership with civil society through a pressure and advocacy campaign.
  • Strengthening members' capacity to participate in policy dialogue through establishing a fundraising unit, capacity building in proposal writing and the development of funding plans.
  • Promote mutual learning and exchange of experiences with stakeholders.
  • Promoting the coalition's presence in ACEA, SME and UNESCO, contributing to publications and actively attending forums and conferences.
Project facts

Project period

Project start
Project end
Project countries
Project budget
224.995 USD
Project contact
Yacoubi lassad, yak.lassad@gmail.com