Tunisia

You are here: Our projects > Where we work > Tunisia

In Tunisia, Handicap International focuses on:

• creating services that are accessible to disabled people,
• building the capacity of hospitals and associations working in the field of disability
• training rehabilitation professionals to improve the treatment and social integration of people with disabilities
• setting up forums for the exchange of best practices among rehabilitation professionals in the Maghreb.

CONTEXT
In 2003, Tunisia, a country with a population of 10 million, had a UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Human Development Index rating of 92. Tunisia’s basic health and care centres cover the country and are, in theory, accessible to disabled people free of charge.
The large coastal cities in the southern regions offer basic health centres, regional rehabilitation units (which lack specialised staff) and an associative network that manages state-subsidised centres for the rehabilitation of people with disabilities. However, very few services are accessible to the widely dispersed population in the interior of the country. A large number of children do not receive care owing to the severity of their disability and / or to their geographical isolation.
Screening and early treatment either do not exist or force families to place their children in specialised centres in an unfamiliar environment. For this reason, local associations would now like to propose an alternative solution for these families by developing mobile screening and rehabilitation clinics. However, the shortage of professional resource people, the practitioners’ lack of multidisciplinary experience, and the absence of any frame of reference hinder the performance of these associations in the South-East of Tunisia, and prevent them from valorising and consolidating their initiatives.

BACKGROUND
1992: start of our work in Tunisia

1998 to 2002: "Preventing disability in children" project, which aimed to improve the quality of care offered to children with disabilities by training rehabilitation professionals, providing equipment to specialised associative centres, and establishing mobile screening and rehabilitation clinics at two centres.

1998 to 2003
- creation of 2 mobile screening and rehabilitation clinics
- building of a rehabilitation centre and a technical aids workshop in Medenine
- fitting out 2 mobile technical aids repair workshops in Tunis and Sfax
- organising training and exchange sessions for rehabilitation professionals
- developing and promoting therapeutic horse-riding through the training of trainers
- "Support to disabled people’s associations" project

ACTIVITIES
Handicap International continues the process of training rehabilitation professionals that began in collaboration with the Tunis-based Institute for the Promotion of the Disabled (IPH). Handicap International has designed a project called “Promoting the self-reliance of people with disabilities in the Maghreb (2004-2006).” This project would group together our actions in the 3 countries of the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia). The aim is to strengthen local initiatives for increasing the self-reliance and social integration of disabled people in the Maghreb. 

BENEFICIARIES
The main beneficiaries are the rehabilitation professionals (psychologists, special needs teachers, speech therapists, specialised primary teachers, directors in specialised centres, physiotherapists and social workers) working in structures managed by partners or associates, and the administration council members of our partner associations.

The end beneficiaries are disabled people and their families in rural areas, who receive specialised care and services facilitating their social integration, and those who, owing to the nature and / or severity of their disability, are not admitted to specialised centres.

Our main partners are:
- the Ministry of Social Affairs
- the Tunis-based Institute for the Promotion of the Disabled (IPH)
- the General Association for the Mentally Disabled (AGIM) in Medenine
- the Association of Family and Friends of the Disabled in Tunisia (Apaht) in Tataouine
- the Tunisian Union for Aid to the Mentally Disabled (Utaim) in Gabes and El Hamma

RESOURCES
With the closure of our office in Tunisia in 2003, activities are now being run by the our office in Morocco. Training missions are run occasionally to provide technical support to professionals and partners. In 2004, Handicap International is opening an office in Gabes and hire an operations manager and administrator to run the activities in South-East Tunisia.

CONTACTS
E-mail: handicapintertunis@planet.tn