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.

Under SIRCLES project which wants to explore new employment opportunities by applying the circular economy model applied to the biowaste sector, a specialized training in composting and organic agriculture was organized  in Tunisia by Tunisia Ecotourism in collaboration with the Agricultural Extension and Training Agency AVFA "Center for Professional Agricultural Training in the Rimel Forest Sector", in which 92 NEETs and women’s lives from the Bizerte region successfully participated.

For Mohamed Said, son of a farmer and trainee, the training was an opportunity to discover that the current agricultural practices make the soils sterile, and that farmers should nourish the soil to keep it alive in order to let it feed the plant instead of feeding the plant to produce it in mass. He believes that changing habits slightly will allow farmers to keep their land and produce better quality.

Kamel Souihli, gardener and collector in the Municipality of Menzel Jemil and trainee: “I participated in this training for 21 days, and it allowed me to strengthen my skills and learn new information and techniques. We usually throw all our waste in the landfill, despite the fact that with selective sorting we can create multiple sources of income, such as green and organic waste that we can recover in composting.”

As for Bochra Gafsi, agricultural engineer and trainee, she was particularly interested in environmental issues. The training in composting technique and organic farming gave her additional knowledge to her engineering degree. For her, the sessions were very beneficial, especially the practical part, as it met all her expectations. She concluded with: “The opportunity to embark on a composting project seems very feasible to me.”

Finally, Mariem Berrouha, trainee: “we do not have many job opportunities in our region. This training allowed us to acquire new skills, and the opening of the composting plant will create job opportunities and give us the chance to provide additional income for our families.”