This article forms part of a series of publications under SIRCLES project to support circular economy opportunities for employment and social inclusion in our partner territories in Palestine, Lebanon, Spain, Tunisia, Italy, Greece, and Jordan.

In partnership with the Agricultural Extension and Training Agency AVFA "Center for Professional Agricultural Training in the Rimel Forest Sector",  Tunisia Ecotourism, SIRCLES Project's partner in Tunisia launched the first specialized training in composting and organic agriculture in Tunisia for 92 NEETs and women from the Bizerte region between November 2021 and March 2022. This training program aimed at introducing the concept of the circular economy and the recovery of organic waste in order to create new job opportunities and preserve the environment. The training, focused on three main topics, soft skills, circular economy and composting.

In the first topic, the preliminary step was to provide essential skills like teamwork, adaptation, development and change. In addition to that, the trainees learned how to be creative, proactive, take initiatives, propose ideas, being innovative, organized, how to manage their time, stress and priorities. Secondly, the trainees took a deep dive into circular economy, namely bringing together a set of practices to produce goods and services with the aim of optimizing the use of materials and energies and limiting consumption and waste. Finally, the trainers provided training on composting and shared the regulations and the objectives of a composting unit (bio waste, organic waste, mud, co-composting). The trainees learned how to operate the composting unit, to monitor the process and the quality of the product, in addition to basic principles, what to compost and the different composting methods and materials.

The teaching methods were part theoretical and part practical. In fact, 60% of the training consisted of presentation, 10% case studies and 30% site visits and practical demonstrations. In the theoretical part, the trainees learned the regulatory framework, the theoretical bases of composting and the difference between slow composting and accelerated composting. In the practical part, the trainees were guided on how to operate a composting unit, monitor the criteria and parameters and the quality and standardization of the compost.

After participating in the training, Khera Souilhi, Deputy Head of Menzel Jemil, Bizerte: “Personally, I was excited to take part in this training. This experience should be a national strategy, a state policy and it shouldn’t be limited to municipalities. We learned to change our behavior because it’s a project for the future.”

At the end of the training, the NEET’s & women will have the first national diploma specializing in "composting and organic agriculture".