Africa report
Tunisia: a school-social enterprise, a model to reproduce?
Audio 02:15
The objective of the Wallah We Can association is to multiply their actions in the establishments of the country and to allow children to benefit from an education in decent conditions.
© Wallah we can
By: Amira Souilem Follow
2 mins
While Tunisia is going through an acute economic crisis, the education sector is suffering from these financial difficulties.
Faced with this situation, an NGO wants to transform schools in Tunisia into “social enterprises”.
The goal: that they generate income themselves.
Visit of an establishment that serves as a pilot project, Makthar College, located in the northwest of the country.
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From our correspondent in Tunis,
Welcomed with open arms as always.
For ten years, the NGO
Wallah We Can
has been trying to improve the daily life of this college located in a disadvantaged area of Tunisia.
At the head of the project, Lotfi Hamadi.
Originally from this region, he has one obsession: to allow children to study in decent conditions.
“
We see that even graduates are leaving Tunisia.
We have to manage from an early age to give these children access to education and also to allow these children to want to flourish in this country
, he explains.
We have to reconcile Tunisians with Tunisia and that goes through education.
»
To enable this school to meet its needs, the NGO had the idea of encouraging it to generate income.
Chaïma Rhouma, member of the association and alumnus of the college, serves as our guide.
“
On the roof, we have placed photovoltaic panels.
The water for the showers comes from there.
Once we have achieved our energy self-sufficiency, we can sell energy.
»
Institutional self-sufficiency
Maintenance of the establishment, theater, cinema or entrepreneurship workshops, the NGO's projects for the 570 schoolchildren of the establishment are numerous and varied.
To manage to set them up, Wallah We Can multiplies the sources of income.
Recently, the association decided to rent eight hectares of agricultural land: "
Here are the tomatoes, within a month and a half, they can be picked
", hopes Chayeb.
But also potatoes, beans or peas.
Like this man, a dozen or so parents of students work this land full-time or on an occasional basis.
“
Here is Miss Wassila, this is Mohamed.
They are also parents of pupils
”, presents Chayeb.
For a little less than 200 euros per month, slightly more than the Tunisian minimum wage, these parents work for their children's school.
The vegetables grown will be used primarily to feed middle school students at lunchtime.
Surpluses will be sold.
With great pride, Lotfi Hamadi is counting on a production of 200 tonnes this year and receipts which he estimates at nearly 100,000 euros.
“
Our goal is not to do just one action.
Our objective is to have a model of which all the solutions can be reproduced everywhere in Tunisia.
We have to stop thinking that the state can do everything.
The state is down.
»
It took ten years to complete this project.
Despite the red tape, the instigators of the concept continue to believe in its potential.
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Tunisia
Education