Tunisia Programme 2016

TUNISIA´S POLITICAL BACKGROUND In 2011 the ‘Jasmine Revolution’ took place which ended years of dictatorship in Tunisia and started the country on the path to democracy. This path has not been easy. There were two political murders which led to a stalemate in parliament for a while, and the process of drawing up and agreeing a new constitution took much longer than expected. Nevertheless, the new constitution was finally agreed and has been widely praised as one of the most progressive in the Arab world. In 2014, Tunisia held free and fair elections that resulted in a coalition government consisting of a party which had associations with the previous regime, working together with a party that had previously been declared illegal. So a democratic system is developing but there are still many challenges. For example, the political parties tend to be based on the personality of the leader rather than on a programme of policies, levels of trust between the politicians are quite low and the people working in politics tend to lack the skills and knowledge that they need to work effectively in a multiparty democracy. THE APPROACH OF NIMD IN TUNISIA NIMD started working in Tunisia in 2012 and the core aim of NIMD’s programme has been building the capacity of the parties and politicians to work effectively in this new democracy and as part of that to encourage interparty dialogue. To achieve this, NIMD set up a School of Politics together with its local partner, Centre des Études Méditerranéennes Internationales. Here politicians work together in a multiparty setting to learn the skills and knowledge that they need to work together in a multiparty democracy. By learning together, they also get to know each other and get used to talking together which can help to increase trust and encourage interparty dialogue. By the end of 2014, 6 cohorts of politicians, approximately 180 people, had completed a programme. TSoP graduation NIMD has also set up an informal multiparty dialogue platform called ‘Couscous Politique’, where politicians informally discuss political issues while eating traditional Tunisian couscous. Mentoring programme Together with Demo Finland, NIMD is running a mentoring programme which pairs up regional and national politicians. This aims to help national politicians to learn more about issues at a regional level and vice versa. It also aims to improve multiparty dialogue at the regional level. Women’s Political Rights Programme Tunisia is also one of three counties where NIMD is running the Women’s Political Rights Programme. This programme is aimed at increasing the political participation of women in Tunisia, Colombia and Kenya.