Project One

Empowering Marginalized Youth

• Project Duration: One year, from October 2016 to September 2017
• Target Area: Douar Hicher District, Manouba Governorate, Tunisia
• Target Group: Youth aged 18 to 35 years old

1. Project Background:

• Statistics and Indicators:

  1. Youth Apathy towards Political Participation: In the 2014 legislative and presidential elections, youth abstention rates exceeded 75%.¹
  2. Youth Unemployment Rate: More than 572,000 young people are unemployed.²
  3. Number of Youth Joining Conflict Zones: According to official statistics, approximately 7,000 young people have joined conflict zones in Libya, Syria, and Iraq.³
  4. Youth Involvement in Terrorist Activities: Young people constitute the largest age group involved in terrorist cases in Tunisian prisons.

• Underlying Reasons:

  Among the key reasons for youth succumbing to easy solutions, such as joining terrorist organizations, are:

  • Weaknesses in their education about democracy, universal human rights, moderate Islam, nonviolence, and tolerance.
  • Lack of participation in political life.
  • Rampant administrative corruption.
  • Lack of seriousness from local authorities in addressing their issues.
  • Absence of effective dialogue platforms.

  According to a study by sociologist “Amel Leloum,”⁴  the primary reason behind the absence of will and self-rejection of terrorist groups among youth is that they find themselves influenced by individuals from their neighborhoods who have suffered marginalization and exclusion, just like them, before falling prey to terrorism.

  Widespread corruption in administration and a high unemployment rate among highly educated youth have eroded young people’s hope in education, rendering it no longer a path to social progress for many.

  Terrorism is a phenomenon capable of continuation and evolution, capable of undermining political stability and economic growth. It targets not only the political entity of society but also its value system, aiming to undermine it and introduce alien ideologies. This is why we believe that preserving an authentic, open, and moderate identity that upholds the principles of democracy, universal human rights, and a culture of nonviolence, as well as the involvement of youth in the project of building a democratic state, will contribute to reducing their potential recruitment by terrorist groups.

  Effective security systems alone are not enough. An effective response to terrorism requires developing capabilities and continuous foresight. We believe that developing youth capabilities will contribute to reducing the risk of youth slipping into extremism and terrorism.

2. Project Objectives:

• Empower youth with knowledge of nonviolent, peaceful change mechanisms.
• Empower youth with knowledge of establishing private projects and investment.
• Empower youth with understanding of the principles of democracy and the connection between Islam and democracy.
• Contribute to developing the capacities of associations active in Douar Hicher District.
• Create spaces for youth dialogue in Douar Hicher District.

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1. Report of the Independent High Authority for Elections, 2014.

2. The Fourth Arab Report on Employment and Unemployment in Arab Countries.

3. Foreign Fighters, an updated assessment of the flow of foreign fighters into Syria and Iraq, The Soufan Group (TSG), December 2015, pp9-11.

4. Olfa Lamloum, Politics in the margins in Tunisia, vulnerable young people in Douar Hicher and Ettadhamen, http://www.international-alert.org/resources/publications/politics-on-the-margins-in-tunisia#sthash.eQQaHawp.dpbs, 2016.