Introduction

For the financial year 2008/09 the British Embassy in Tunis has £55.000 (TD 136.000 approx) from its Bilateral Programme Budget to finance projects in Tunisia that support HMG's international stratgic priorities. Please contact us if you have ideas for any projects that might support the UK's international priorities.

CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU promotes the service in Tunisia, 12-13 November 2008

Sara Cole, Deputy Manager of Stratford CAB has just returned from promoting the work of Citizens Advice in Tunisia.  She participated in a conference and a series of visits together with Kirsteen Gunnion Chief Executive of Citizens Advice Direct in Scotland.  The Tunisian government is keen to build links with Citizens Advice services in the UK and this project was funded and arranged by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as part of its programme of bi-lateral projects around the world.  It was arranged locally through the British Embassy in Tunis as a project that will promote good governance and democracy by developing co-operation between Tunisian ministries and Citizens Advice, to promote a similar service to be run by the Tunisian government.
The conference was introduced by a government minister and the event covered in the Tunisian press and on the main news bulletin on their national television channel.

The UK participants also visited various government departments to see how they managed their relationship with citizens.
Citizens Advice Direct in Scotland operates an advice call centre which was of interest, and they were also keen to learn about the model of advice delivery that is used by Citizens Advice Bureaux, especially those operating in rural areas.Sara said “ It was a very interesting visit with benefits for both sides.  The Tunisian government had heard of the services offered by the Citizens Advice service and were keen to learn more.  They are interested in the independent and impartial holistic advice that we give in bureaux, and in the reach and accessibility of a call centre based telephone service.  We also discussed the ways in which we maintain the quality of advice through regular audit, and the campaigning work that we do, based on statistical evidence derived from our clients’ experiences.”
The contact is due to continue in 2009 with a return visit to the UK from Tunisian participants who are keen to see the CAB service in operation.

TUC/UGTT Conference on Women and Youth in Trade Unions on 27-30 October 2008 in Flora Park Hotel in Hammamet

 The British Embassy has funded a new joint project of the British Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the UGTT in Tunis. The main element was a conference, in the Flora Park Hotel, Hammamet, on the theme 'Women and Youth in Trade Unions'. The event took place under the aegis of the 2007 Twinning agreement between the Ben Arous branch of the UGTT and the Yorkshire and Humber office of the TUC.

It brought together TUC trade unionists from Yorkshire and the Humber, of different backgrounds and education, led by secretary- general Mr Bill Adams, and trade unionists from the UGTT from Ben Arous region led by the deputy secretary- general in charge of information, women and youth, Ms Wassila Ayachi.

 The two groups exchanged views on several issues affecting their daily working lives, especially the obstacles they face and the problems they might encounter with line managers who are not part of a trade union.  The two groups highlighted the similarity of issues between the two countries and agreed on the importance of bringing together movements from both the UK and Tunisia sharing the same goals.

Maternity rights was one of the key issues discussed during the conference. The TUC underlined that maternity rights are unquestionable and must be protected and granted to working women. However, trade unionists noticed that UK working women currently enjoy more benefits than their counterparts in Tunisia.

The conference also tackled the problem of youths' reluctance to join trade unions. TUC activists encourage young people by making them aware of the benefits of joining the union and thereby guaranteeing their rights. They suggested that the UGTT consider a similar approach.

The young trade unionists from both sides found the experience very rich and beneficial especially because they met new people and discovered a new culture.  Interpreters helped to overcome the language barrier.  Furthermore some of the UGTT members had already benefited from British Embassy funded English language Training at the British Council.  

Following the conference the participants will be visiting some factories' shop floors in the Ben Arous area. A visit to the British Embassy is also scheduled for a joint review of the ground covered during this week's seminar, the lessons learned and the scope for further development of cooperation under the twinning agreement..

Visit of two members of the Tunisian Association for the Reintegration of Prisoners to the UK

 On 19-27 July, the British Embassy was proud to sponsor a visit to the UK by Lotfi Hedhili and Dorra Chelbi. These two senior members of Senator Mohammed Ben Sedrine’s, Tunisian Association for the Reintegration of Prisoners were given a tour of the UK’s approach to re-educating and rehabilitating offenders by the International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS) at King's College London.

As members of a relatively new organisation, Lotfi and Dorra, were looking for programmes and ideas that could be incorporated into the Tunisian penal system. With many thanks to the ICPS team, led by Jim Haines, our Tunisian colleagues returned with an extensive overview of all the support and rehabilitation networks available to prisoners in the UK. Additionally, ideas on prison management and categorisation of prisoners were also developed.

As a result of the visit there is an invitation to British expertise to come to Tunisia to work with Tunisian officials in the creation of rehabilitation programmes and establish official links between the UK and Tunisian prison services.

Public Sector Reform - Joint study on Executive Agencies

On 14-15 July 2008 Dr Adrian Rossiter (Principal Consultant, National School of Government) and Mr Tony Ward (former Deputy Chief Executive, Child Support Agency) held meetings with officials at the Prime Ministry and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) on Executive Agencies.  The visit formed the first part of a joint study into the effectiveness of Executive Agencies in delivering services to the public.  A visit to the UK by two Tunisian experts is planned in the autumn after which the Tunisian side will deliver their final report with recommendations.

Videoconference on Employment at the British Council

On 8 July the Embassy brought together (via a videolink) officials from the Tunisian agency for employment and independent work (ANETI) and Mr Anton Eckersley from the UK's employment and benefits agency, JobCentre Plus . Held at the British Council in Avenue Mohamed V, the videoconference enabled both sides to learn about one another's experiences of helping people find work - a key priority for Tunisia's 11th Development Plan and its public sector reform programme.The UK has over one hundred Executive Agencies delivering high quality services to the public and accountable to British Ministers. Jobcentre Plus is one of the most successful. Mr Eckersley explained that Jobcentre Plus supports people of working age from welfare into work, and helping employers to fill their vacancies. Since the agency's creation in 2002, all people of working age (16-64) can access welfare, jobs and training under one roof through a national network of 860 offices throughout the UK. Every day Jobcentre Plus receives about 18,000 jobs from employers and over 1 million job searches on its website. One of the keys to its success has been to focus its resources on personal adviser interviews with jobseekers. 45,000 interviews are carried out each day and every jobseeker must see his adviser every two weeks. Three of the agency's principal aims are to:

-help people into work and employers to fill their vacancies
-help achieve 80% employment rate target
-support parents and families: stamping out child poverty

In reply Mr Hamadi Boulares (Director General, ANETI) informed the UK side that his agency was created in 1993 with a national network of 88 offices. Among other things, ANETI provides information on job opportunities, deals with individual job applications, develops relations with employers and promotes micro-businesses. Through training programmes the agency also helps improve employability of individuals.After the presentations there was a diverse and rich discussion between both sides. It is hoped that, thanks to this first contact by videoconference, this dialogue will deepen and be mutually beneficial.

Find out more about the British Embassy's Bilateral Projects with Tunisia during the year 2007-08 .