Future Leaders Project empowers Tunisians through social entrepreneurship

In February 2021, Scout Leader and primary school teacher Meriam Mechiri attended a Scout Group Leaders Forum in Gafsa, Tunisia. Hailing from a small village called Bir Thalathine in Tataouine, a city close to the country’s southern borders, she has witnessed accounts of violence in her community which impact the delivery if Scouting.

“Our Scout group has been inactive for years due to the highly volatile environment in the area. Young people are prone to negative influence and this makes it harder to reach out to them,” explains Meriam.

At the Forum, Meriam learned more about the Future Leaders Project, its social entrepreneurship component, and the role of Volunteer Organisational Developers who are individuals that provide voluntary assistance to Scout Leaders to reactivate their Scout groups across Tunisia.

The Future Leaders Project is an international partnership between Les Scouts Tunisiens and the Danish KFUM-Scouts with the generous and ongoing support from Alwaleed Philanthropies, a partner of World Scouting and the World Scout Foundation, to enable more young people to play a leading and constructive role in society as active global citizens.

The Forum encouraged Scout Leaders to implement fully-funded social entrepreneurship initiatives through the Future Leaders Project to create a desired impact specific to their local communities. Equipped with new confidence and the support from volunteers, Meriam saw an opportunity to change the fate of Taïeb Mhiri. She envisioned creating a Scout library in her school, bringing a variety of books and knowledge, new learning opportunities, and subsequently, a path for young people to experience Scouting again in the village of Bir Thalathine.

“Currently, the children who attend this school have no way of learning effectively. There is nothing that can motivate them to stay in school and out of violence, let alone help them become future leaders. As a teacher and a Scout, I believe that books have a powerful impact on who we are - a single book can change a person’s life instantly,” she shared.

Stepping into leadership under extraordinary circumstances

Leading a social initiative like this has its own set of challenges for Meriam. As a 37-year-old woman in a male-dominated, violence-prone locality, there were many unchartered territories for her to navigate. She had no previous experience in social entrepreneurship, or leading initiatives that required funding. However, her resolve to create change for young people in her village drove her to set aside her fears, venture out of her comfort zone, and manifest the vision of a creating a new Scout library in her school.

Meriam connected with the Volunteer Organisational Developers who assisted her in developing skills required to successfully plan and implement a social impact initiative. These included business and entrepreneurship skills such as understanding proposal writing, project management and communication skills, among others. As a result of her determination, Meriam’s proposal was approved by the Future Leaders Project for full funding.

“Once we finished working on the library a few months later, it was a life-changing moment for me, the children and their families,” she said. As parents witnessed children enjoying the newly established library, more young people and volunteers came forward to ask if they could continue to participate in Scouting activities. Eventually this also encouraged mothers to accompany their children in school activities, thus increasing the participation of women and young girls in societal and Scouting initiatives.

Enabling transformation through social initiatives

Bir Thalathine is one of many localities in Tunisia that are still feeling the after-effects of the revolution in 2011. Dubbed as the 'birthplace of the Arab Spring’, Tunisia has seen its fair share of unrest, uprisings, and protests in the long fight for democracy and economic stability. Ten years since its peaceful transition, it still faces many challenges, most of which impact its largest demographic: youth.

The partnership between Les Scouts Tunisiens and the Danish KFUM-Scouts has been at the forefront of empowering young Tunisians to radically transform their lives through the Future Leaders Project, a long-standing programme that has been running since 2007. It aims to empower Tunisian youth to play an active role in society through creating an awareness of their rights, enabling them to create impactful change in their communities, and participate in decision-making processes to transform and shape themselves and their communities, both within and beyond Scouting.

As the largest youth organisation in the country, Les Scouts Tunisiens has the most dynamic and well-structured framework to sensitise young people towards their rights and duties as active global citizens, while also promoting the role of youth in building a future Tunisia that they wish to see.

The current phase of the project began in 2018, and is anchored in the idea of empowering youth through education in four key areas: social entrepreneurship, becoming democratic change agents, empowerment through civic society platforms, and public diplomacy activities.

The ripple effect of social entrepreneurship initiatives for small villages like Bir Thalathine means that they not only empower Scout Leaders to actively affect change, but they also pave the way for the promotion of inclusivity and peace for the community.

For Meriam, implementing the new Scout library was just the beginning of her personal growth and social entrepreneurship journey. Since then, Meriam has successfully raised more funds with her newly found skills and knowledge to support the transformation of her school and community, and increased her Scout group membership to empower eight female Scout leaders and 60 young Scouts.

Providing entrepreneurial opportunities to marginalised youth

The lack of employment opportunities in Tunisia is one of the main drivers of the social entrepreneurship component of the Future Leaders Project, as it directly impacts the ability of young people in the country to find a viable source of income while affecting change. 

The training through education in entrepreneurship and business skills led to more than 900 young people establishing over 200 impactful initiatives between 2012 and 2014 alone. It has also enabled entrepreneurs to establish a relationship with several banks in Tunisia (Solidarity Tunisian Bank and Small and Medium Enterprise Corporate Banking) that issue small business loans, providing new opportunities for youth to launch their business plans successfully.

Since 2018, the social entrepreneurship component has focused on training young people in project management and awareness seminars, where participants acquire entrepreneurial skills and knowledge to develop localised projects and social initiatives, just like Meriam did.

“Despite all the challenges, I managed to get full funding for the social entrepreneurship initiative, and bring eight other female leaders on board. I feel like I can do anything!” she said. When asked how she feels today as a female Scout Leader, Meriam declared that she feels proud and powerful.

Through the commitment of Scout Leaders such as Meriam, young people in Tunisia, especially those in marginalised communities like Bir Thalathine, have a better chance to rise above challenges and realise their potential as leaders and changemakers.