Summary of the exchanges
Host : Swann HAREL, Youth Officer, REF
Moderator : Chaden MOATAZ (Shamseya - Egypt)
Speakers: Blanche HOSTEING (Institut de Tramayes - France) Blanche HOSTEING (Institut de Tramayes - France) ; Malik KARAJAH (Ard el Yas - Palestine) ; Issam ZORGUI (ADES - Tunisia)
Blanche HOSTEING - Tramayes Institute - France
At the end of her studies, Blanche didn't know where to turn. So she went to the Institut de Tramayes for a 9-month training course designed for people undergoing professional reorientation. In this small village of 1,000 inhabitants, she discovered a completely different pace from the big cities, a slower pace where people get to know each other better. At the end of the 9-month training course, Blanche decided to stay in Tramayes and work at the Institute.
The Institut de Tramayes is a training center for people questioning their professional and personal lives. The institute's mission is based on three pillars: thinking, working and undertaking. A variety of training courses are offered to enable students to discover the crafts and agricultural trades. Within its training courses, the Institute adopts a dual approach, combining entrepreneurship (learning masonry, plumbing, carpentry or market gardening) with apprenticeship by inviting teacher-researchers to teach courses (in social and human sciences, sociology, economics or philosophy). This two-pronged approach gives us a concrete grasp of the interconnectedness of global issues and the world of work.
As a young person committed to rural life, Blanche believes it is vital to build bridges between rural towns and big cities, and to raise the profile of rural areas, which are often sidelined in France and deserve to be heard.
Malik KARAJAH - Ard el Yas - Palestine
A young Palestinian living in an occupied country, Malik began farming at the age of 20. His village, Saffa, is close to an area confiscated by the Israeli occupation, where racial discrimination is omnipresent. Together with a group of young friends, Malik decided to launch their organic farming cooperative in order to replant agricultural crops on land abandoned by the village's landowners, in order to protect them from the occupation. His action thus became a tool of resistance, enabling him to produce fruit and vegetables, to be independent, not to be governed by anyone and not to allow the settlers to monopolize agricultural production. Malik's cooperative is located on two plots of land in the village, one of which is very close to the separation wall.
Being a young farmer in an occupied country has its share of challenges: settlers destroy crops, the cooperative runs out of water as the occupation controls the amount of water allocated to them; land maintenance is expensive; market prices are high and competition with Israeli produce is tough; work is almost impossible as the occupation doesn't allow the use of bulldozers, and so on.
Despite these challenges, Malik and his group found alternatives to counter the occupation blockades. Using the tools at their disposal, they created a well and a container to preserve the water.
Their resilience has inspired other villagers to do the same. Every Sunday, they teach the villagers how to cultivate the land and raise their awareness of the issue. Today, two other families have taken up farming thanks to Malik and his group.
Malik would like to encourage young people to get involved, for example in agriculture, but he hopes that his experience will motivate young people to mobilize against the occupation.
Issam ZORGUI - Association for Development and Strategic Studies (ADES) - Tunisia
In Tunisia, young people make up the majority of the population. In rural areas, however, they have few opportunities. They don't have access to good education or cultural activities like in the big cities. Government institutions offer no opportunities or services to these young people, hindering their positive development. Young people thus face a number of challenges: they don't know what their ambitions are; they are marginalized in their decisions; they don't have the means to realize their ambitions; they are isolated; etc.
Issam joined forces with Tunisian civil society to launch initiatives in the south and east of the country aimed at young people. With his association, they have developed various projects for young people around 4 major ecosystems:
- Young people's space: providing young people with spaces dedicated exclusively to them.
- Communication area: to enable young people to exchange ideas, create clubs and discuss ideas for improving society.
- Espace création: enabling young people to find job opportunities and receive training
- Cultural space: giving young people access to art in all its forms
