With Paper Drawings, Tunisian Youth Turn Democracy Into Something Real

The old man looks at the drawings and pauses for a while. With colorful icons, the fliers illustrate the steps of voting to over 8,000 citizens across south Tunisia. “Your vote is your voice,” it reads.

The campaign was led by The Citizenship Academy Project, an initiative led by Tunisian youth to raise awareness about the significance of elections in the North African country. Focusing on youth and women in the governorates of Gabes, Tataouine, Mednine, Touzeur and Kebili, the campaign is now in its second phase.

“After training about 40 volunteers in each governorate, we have started the field work with four-day awareness campaigns before legislative elections,” project director Basma Azizi told BarakaBits. The program will be completed with four other awareness days before the presidential elections.

But Azizi knows that turning democracy into a civic practice is not just a matter of awareness raising. “This work has been accomplished through a coalition between five local NGOs from the five governorates. The project represents a real asset to civil society, as it creates a solid coalition between NGOs to make a successful transition to democracy in Tunisia,” she says.

For more information: Visit the Citizenship Academy Project’s Facebook page