History of the project

Invitation of Kairouan as an observer of the 9th meeting of the “Club of Strasbourg”. Indeed, Strasbourg has established partnerships in Europe and internationally. His relationship with Kairouan is of particular importance. Considered as the European Capital of Human Rights, Strasbourg wishes to support Tunisia in its ongoing democratic process. The establishment of strong links between these 2 local communities and their respective populations can only help.

Reception in Strasbourg of a delegation from Kairouan comprised of the governor and two municipal councilors. Following the Tunisian revolution, a decentralization process is underway aimed at giving more powers to municipalities. This is how the temporary special delegation in Kairouan took charge of new subjects such as urban mobility. She is very attentive to the participation of citizens in the development of public policies.

Participation of elected representatives from Kairouan at the first two editions of the global forum on democracy in Strasbourg where representatives of civil society, elected officials, political leaders, media representatives from more than 100 countries participated to question these major developments and measure the chances they represent but also the risks they pose to fundamental freedoms

Official visit of the mayor of Strasbourg to Kairouan where he signed, along with his counterpart Mr. Ghdami, a declaration of intent to cooperate. This official visit was part of Strasbourg's strengthening of its position as European capital thanks to its twinning arrangements and through decentralized cooperation actions. It also supports the international solidarity initiatives of the Strasbourg associations.

Reception of the mayor of Kairouan in Strasbourg and signature of the partnership convention, supported by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, where the two major topics were: The reinforcement of local democracy, i.e. any action that aims at promoting participation and the universal expression in order to ensure a more active citizenship. Enhancing the living environment in the perspective of sustainable development of the two cities in the service of their residents. Since then, the question of urban mobility has been brought up as a priority axis of cooperation by the elected official of Kairouan. The first contacts have also been established between the city of Strasbourg, the representatives of the CODATU network of which Strasbourg is a member since 2014 as well as the municipality of Kairouan.

First study visit made by Mr. Eric Fontenit, deputy head of the department of movement of the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg, and by Mr. Matheiu Martin, in charge of the CODATU mission, which opened the door for an understanding of the challenges of mobility in place and drawing the major axes of a joint work on this thematic. Indeed, Kairouan is a city where cycling takes a special place, the culture of cycling having remained very present despite the development of the car, thus creating a certain affinity with Strasbourg, which is one of the 4 French cities (the 1st of the list) in the world's top 20 cycling cities (ranking established by the Danish firm Copenhagenize).

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (MFAID) launching a call for projects in collaboration with its Tunisian partner, which gets responded to by the city and Eurometropolis of Strasbourg and the municipality of Kairouan in partnership with CODATU and ALDA. Positive response of the MFAID for a project of one year from October 2016 to October 2017, which aims at establishing and sharing of technical tools and methodologies permitting to elaborate a global and coherent vision of movements in the city and improve the quality of life for the inhabitants.

Official launch of the project during the Arab Week of Local Democracy in Kairouan, with the attendance of a Strasbourg/CODATU delegation and the municipality of Kairouan. As part of this project, a technical unit was set up within the municipality of Kairouan to work on the development of the local urban mobility policy. While the need to collect relevant data has been identified as an essential prerequisite for establishing strategic objectives, several areas have already emerged from the reflections of this unit.

Creation of the Agency of Local Democracy of Kairouan whose objectives are, among others, to contribute to the improvement of the living conditions of the populations and to strengthen the democratic process by promoting the dialogue between local authorities and citizens. The ADL Kairouan, was the 13th existing ADL and its activities are part of a dialogue between citizens, local associations and authorities present on the territory. It thus constitutes an operational platform for debate, skills development and cooperation, both locally and internationally. This opening marks an important step for decentralized cooperation in the Mediterranean and reinforces the many efforts undertaken by Tunisian actors and their European partners in favor of local democracy in Tunisia.

PARFAIT project and contact with the municipality of Mahdia. With the support of the LDA and the municipality of Kairouan, workshops were organized on October 19 and 20, 2017 involving Kairouan civil society actors. These workshops were set up following field visits and meetings between the Strasbourg delegation and the driving forces of the Jeblia district on 17 and 18 October. Their objective was to reflect on the mobility issues of the district with the actors directly concerned and to propose quick projects to be set up in the pilot district. These workshops organized in the municipality of Kairouan and followed by fieldwork brought out several project ideas. Actions such as the upgrading of plots, improvements in front of neighborhood schools, or the establishment of cycle paths have thus emerged.

Launch of a call for projects by the European Commission entitled “Local authorities; partnerships for sustainable cities”, of which the city and Eurometropolis of Strasbourg is a laureate in its quality of leader of the AUTREMENT project. It is an incentive for dialogue and exchanges between European communities for the management of sustainable urban development. The general objective of this call for projects is to promote integrated urban development through partnerships between local authorities of EU Member States and partner countries, in line with the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. The envelope earmarked for this call for proposals is 53 million euros. The proposed partnerships must meet the first specific objective (urban governance) and at least one of the three remaining objectives. They must clearly adopt integrated urban development in order to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Start of the AUTREMENT project. By the European Commission entitled "Local authorities: partnerships for sustainable cities", of which the City and Eurometropolis of Strasbourg are among the 16 winners as leader of the AUTREMENT project. It is an incentive for dialogue and exchanges between European communities for the management of sustainable urban development. The general objective of this call for projects is to promote integrated urban development through partnerships between local authorities of EU Member States and partner countries, in line with the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. The envelope earmarked for this call for proposals is 53 million euros. The proposed partnerships must meet the first specific objective (urban governance) and at least one of the three remaining objectives. They must clearly adopt integrated urban development in order to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).