ID: | 87859 |
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Country: | Tunisia |
Title: | Tunisia - Siliana Territorial Development Value Chain Promotion Project (PROFITS) – May 2024 |
Description: |
Fatma (44) is married to Mounir (63) and has two daughters, Takoua and Oumaima, aged 18 and 16 respectively, both of whom are still studying. Mounir is disabled and receives a disability pension from the Tunisian state. Fatma and her family live in the region of El Bayadh, ‘Imeda’ of Al-behirine, in the Siliana governorate. They live in extreme simplicity in their modest house, whose walls are still covered in cement, surrounded by the forest next to the Bargou mountain. They live with their hens, their dogs, their flock of sheep and lambs. Fatma received aid to buy some sheep and build a small cowshed, all funded by the IFAD-funded Siliana Territorial Development Value Chain Promotion Project (PROFITS). "I never thought that one day I would own a flock of sheep, breed them and have them graze in the wild", says Fatma. Because for her, it's like a dream come true in 2021 thanks to the PROFITS project. "This project has helped me a lot, improved my whole situation and that of my family", she points out, adding that she has always been ready to provide for her family so that her daughters and her husband do not live in need. “At home, I’m the mother, and outside, I replace my husband who, because of his disability, can't move around too much on his crutch”, she adds. Talking about her two daughters, she says that she always tried not to make them feel that their father is physically disabled and that he is still the strong man of the family. She would like her husband to earn more each month, as the disability pension is not enough to support four people. Thanks to the PROFITS project she’s able to produce and sell sheep to customers throughout the year, and also on the occasion of the Eid al-Adha festival (a religious festival celebrated once a year, during which Muslims sacrifice a sheep). The sheep are also used as meat to feed her family. The sheep trade allows her to dress better, cover the costs of her daughters' studies and pay the teachers for the support classes. In less than a month, Takoua, her eldest daughter, will pass her baccalaureate exam, and her daughter Oumaima is continuing her studies in the first year of secondary school. She has asked for help from the Omda (the third authority representing the Tunisian state in a governorate) to build a pathway leading to her house, but according to her, the Omda has always despised her. Her daughters help her commercialise her sheep by publishing photos of each of them on a Facebook page that they are going to create. She says she's illiterate and doesn't understand Facebook. |
Size: | 15.71 MB; 6720 x 4480 pixels; 569 x 379 mm (print at 300 DPI); 1778 x 1185 mm (screen at 96 DPI); |
Show more details: | Chedly Ben Ibrahim |
Copyright: | ©IFAD/Chedly Ben Ibrahim |
Categories: | New from Near East, North Africa, Europe and Central Asia |
URL: | www.ifad.org |