The activities of the "Savoirs éco" (Economic Knowledge in Tunisia) project, which aims to promote an open and constructive public debate between decision-makers, experts, researchers, the media and citizens on economic issues, were officially launched in Tunis on Tuesday.
Funded by the European Union (EU) to the tune of pound 4.5 million (around 15 million TND), the 36-month project will be implemented by Expertise France in partnership with the Foundation for Studies and Research on International Development (FERDI), the Global Development Network (GDN), the French institution "France Stratégie" and the French Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE).
Savoirs éco aims to facilitate public debate on economic and sustainable development issues in Tunisia. It does so by supporting organisations involved in the generation of economic knowledge, including public decision-making bodies, economic research laboratories and think tanks.
Speaking at the launch, EU Ambassador to Tunisia Marcus Cornaro said this project aims to support economic knowledge producers, in particular universities and public and private think tanks, to strengthen the role of the media in stimulating debate on economic issues, to support the efforts of civil society working on economic issues and to encourage exchanges between citizens and public authorities on economic and budgetary issues at national or local level.
Cornaro also emphasised the importance of the project's areas of intervention, given "the complex economic situation that Tunisia is experiencing, which leaves the state with little room for manoeuvre to finance investments that could help boost growth".
The government has already undertaken a series of economic reforms, "which are, however, difficult to implement due to the existence of conflicting categorical or socio-economic interests".
However, these reforms must be pursued and, above all, explained with maximum clarity, rigour, credibility and accessibility in order to "respond effectively to the growing expectations of Tunisian society, which today, as elsewhere in the world, is facing an accelerating multidimensional crisis", he said.
For his part, Alexis Ghosn, head of the "Savoirs éco" project, said the aim of this project is to monitor the production, analysis, popularisation and dissemination of the knowledge production chain by providing technical and financial support to ensure that information is rigorous and accessible.
In this regard, he indicated that the project's activities will focus on three areas Capacity building through specific support to the Ministry of Economy and Planning and to public analysis institutions, namely the Tunisian Institute for Strategic Studies (ITES), the Tunisian Institute for Competitiveness and Quantitative Studies (ITCEQ) and the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
He said capacity building will also target the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, university laboratories and research centres in social and economic sciences, as well as civil society think tanks (associations, NGOs and trade unions).
The second priority will be to support the drafting and production of policy briefs and studies on economic and sustainable development issues, such as monetary policy, fiscal issues, climate change, regional disparities, inequalities and social justice, he added.
The third strand will cover the dissemination, promotion and testing of policy briefs and studies by supporting the dissemination and popularisation of policy briefs, studies and analyses by knowledge generators in the media. This component will also support the funding of pilot projects based on the recommendations of policy briefs and studies, as well as the organisation of meetings and exchange of information between knowledge generators.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse