Elyes Guermazi

Elyes is countering the widespread culture of violence and youth civic apathy in Tunisia by using informal debate as a tool to give voice to the voiceless and allow disenfranchised, vulnerable communities to be local actors of change.

The Arab Spring may have reflected the power of popular mobilization in bringing about change, but it deeply polarized Arab societies and reflected the lack of productive and peaceful public dialogue. Aggressive behaviors were not only displayed in households or in the street, but also in the mobilization of hundreds of young Arabs to join extremist groups. Furthermore, youth civic and political participation, peaking in 2010-2012, heavily dropped afterwards, leaving their voice unheard. Elyes is countering this reality by targeting highly vulnerable populations, unengaged youth, and prisoners, that constitute hunting targets for extremists on all sides and working with them to build peaceful paths to improve their situation.

Through the International Institute of Debate (iiDebate), Elyes is spreading debate as a tool to civically engage citizens who otherwise have no space to freely express their sociopolitical opinions, nor bring their aspirations to life. Through his flagship program, “Café Talks,” Elyes is empowering vulnerable youth by facilitating debates at local cafés – the most popular setting for sociopolitical discussions that go unheard. Elyes also works with underserved educational institutions: public schools, universities, and youth centers. Similarly, “Prison Talks” targets prisoners and prison staff in a setting where expressing an opinion is further proof of ‘criminality’ or ‘dissent.’ “Prison Talks” are designed to initiate non-violent communication between prisoners and staff, changing the prisoners’ perception of themselves as well as the prison administration’s approach towards them, thus leading to the improvement of incarceration conditions. Moreover, Elyes conducts election simulations and policy reform debates to provide young adults with a political voice and enable them to articulate their own democratic opinions to empower active citizens who would otherwise be disengaged from public life.

Since 2013, Elyes has engaged and mobilized more than 20,000 participants through 180 empowered agents and over 60 trainers. This has been done in six chapters and debate clubs across all 24 regions of Tunisia. Components of Elyes’ model have already been replicated in Jordan through the organization Drabzeen, impacting more than 5,000 people, and negotiations are ongoing for its implementation in three other countries across the Arab region. Additionally, since 2015, Prison Talks has been implemented in 10 Tunisian prisons.

When Elyes began his work, the percentage of youth who were “Not in Education, Employment, or Training” (NEET) had reached 46.9% for a young Tunisian man in rural areas and 34.6% in urban areas, while a young Tunisian woman had an 81.5% chance to be NEET in rural areas versus 60.2% in urban areas that same year. Aside from the economic implications caused by such a reality, social consequences include high citizen disengagement in the public and political spheres.
Political disengagement is further evident in the participation rate of Tunisian youth in public elections, which is the lowest across the Arab World, dropping from 25% in 2014 to 13% in 2018. A study conducted by the Muraqiboun network in cooperation with Heinrich Böll Stiftung in 2018 concluded that 47% of Tunisian youth ‘do not care at all’ about political life and local affairs. This can be attributed to political ignorance or the conviction that citizens’ opinions would be neglected in an increasingly controlled political sphere.

Nonetheless, even those seeking to be politically and civically engaged are not provided safe spaces/platforms to express themselves. According to a 2013 survey by the Observatoire National de la Jeunesse Sociale, 70% of young Tunisians consider cafés, followed by family gatherings, the primary settings, at which they can somewhat freely discuss sociopolitical issues. Conversations are hence rarely further delved into. Moreover, only 3% of rural youth are part of Citizen Sector Organizations, reflecting the deep marginalization of rural youth.

Marginalized and voiceless youth are also heavily present in prisons. Most detainees are young men (55% are under the age of 30) with a low level of education (half of detainees have only been to primary school, 43% to secondary school), and many are put in prison on the grounds of suspicion by the government – with no real charges. Extremist recruiters wait until detainees “break down” from the inhumane incarceration conditions to promote their ideologies.

Marginalized youth, prisoners, and ex-convicts share the same sentiment of frustration and distrust towards political institutions. As this mistrust grows, some people turn to extremist organizations where they feel like their voice/action matters and regain some of the self-confidence that was stripped from them as well as the prestige and sense of belonging they previously lacked. These organizations also enable them to regain a certain socio-economic status instead of the usual social alienation that they experience, which is especially true for ex-convicts. This led Tunisia to become one of the main exporters of fighters joining jihadist groups in the region as estimated by the United Nations in 2015.

Elyes helps society’s most vulnerable groups, from disadvantaged youth to students to prisoners, and recently even refugee populations, to gain a voice and learn how to use it. He equips them with the tools to become civically engaged citizens who improve their own situations as well as that of their communities.

Through his flagship program Café Talks, Elyes targets youth particularly focusing on rural areas where other organizations do not operate. With six official chapters in different Tunisian governorates and ambassadors covering the 24 regions, Café Talks are brought to Tunisian youth in cafés and informal places where people tend to gather (rural neighborhoods, stadiums, borders with safety hazards, etc.). Through partnering with local governmental delegations (mandoubiyat), Debate Clubs have been introduced in many public schools, four universities, and ten cultural and youth centers with facilitation from civic teachers. The topic of the “talk” is promoted, and participants go through iiDebate’s process: first, they are empowered to conduct mostly informal debates, then they are invited to identify local issues and produce concrete initiatives to tackle them. The discussed topics are as diverse as local challenges are and cover education reform, civic education, policy reform, civic participation, municipal elections, administrative processes, art and culture, migration challenges, diversity in Tunisia, unemployment, environmental challenges, media content, violent extremism, domestic abuse, and more.

iiDebate then supports the local initiatives that the participants come up with through different ideation phases, design thinking processes, research methodologies, and field visits. Projects and teams are evaluated based on the strength of their arguments and on-ground assessments. Finally, each governorate’s leading initiatives convene in a national competition, where the top initiatives are introduced to different stakeholders (public officials, NGOs, parliamentarians) for funding and/or endorsement. By motivating and incentivizing youth to create these initiatives, the outcome is concrete, and the impact is valuable in comparison to initiatives that perceive debate as an end in itself. 30% of all winning initiatives are implemented by their initiators with the support of iiDebate’s Innovation Research Centers (IRCs). The IRCs act as decentralized hubs across the country, with chapters in six cities. They are run by trained staff members who facilitate the dissemination of iiDebate programs into local communities. They also act as the coordinators and reviewers of the local outcomes, ensuring that challenges are autonomously chosen to maximize impact.

No matter who the debate “winners” are, iiDebate regularly connects and follows up with participants that become socially and/or politically active and continues to support them. An online monitoring and follow-up tool, Skillsset.net, is being updated to serve this purpose so that there is a more systematized and user-friendly process. To date, iiDebate has organized and led over thousands of Café Talks in 24 regions including online talks during the pandemic, while more than 30 local projects were successfully implemented and funded. 65% of iiDebate’s alumni are rural women, and 2,000 participants have already become iiDebate ambassadors, replicating the talks in their neighborhoods, universities, and local radio shows.

Furthermore, “election simulations” and “policy debates” were introduced to a broad spectrum of Tunisians since 2015 to empower change agents and foster politically active citizens. Participants witnessed a simulation of elections, and political and policy reform processes for the first time. They were then able to articulate their political stances and become motivated to take part in the decision-making process. With clubs operating in five regions, iiDebate connects participants to local experts and to parliamentarians to debate, discuss, and advance policy reforms.

Witnessing firsthand the effect imprisonment had on his father and the radicalization of young prisoners who join extremist groups after their release, Elyes was spurred to introduce his program to prisons and youth rehabilitation centers. “Prison Talks” creates free debate opportunities for detainees to discuss their situations and aspirations in 10 prisons, mainly in the North, which is known for its high rates of violence. Initiatives are restricted to improving prisoners’ incarceration conditions. An example of implemented suggestions was doubling the operating hours of the prison cafeteria. Albeit simple, the fact that prisoners’ suggestions are being implemented symbolizes a form of respect to their needs and demands. Prison staff are also trained to moderate debates to independently facilitate detainees’ self- and group expression. Prisoners are thus provided with the necessary tools to debate, are better equipped to discuss issues in a civilized manner, and objectively evaluate ideas or ideologies endorsed by fellow inmates, including extremist ideologies.

iiDebate has supported over 100 organizations to include debate programs into their mandate and has spread the model internationally through a partnership with JCI that renamed the program as “Coffee Talk”. Debate Clubs have been replicated all over Tunisia (e.g., Tunivisions TBS, Ga’ada Café). iiDebate has also implemented components of their model in Jordan through the partner organization, Drabzeen, impacting more than 5,000 young people. Elyes also spreads his vision through radio shows through which 100 Café Talks alumni gained a platform to discuss and present their initiatives and spread debating techniques. Following the success of their Migra Talks radio show, iiDebate also launched their Media Academy and are training youth on developing their own podcasts and critically analyzing media content. In 2019, iiDebate was recognized by UNESCO and led the Youth Chart drafting in its 11th UNESCO Youth Forum.

Finally, given the importance of the identified community solutions by iiDebate participants, the government, corporations, and NGOs (e.g. GIZ and Dignity International) expressed interest in having iiDebate train their teams on debating and implementing identified local solutions. iiDebate launched their company, iInnovate in order to fill this need in exchange for consulting fees. This way, Elyes could also officially sponsor the implementation of local solutions in rural areas and offer certification that is recognized by the Tunisian State.

Despite being taught early on that “family always comes first,” it was made explicit that Elyes was expected to rely on his own capabilities and never count on others, even those closest to him. Born into an entrepreneurial family, he accumulated practical entrepreneurial experience over the years to the point where, as a child, he had always dreamt of starting his own agricultural business, like his uncle. At the age of 17, Elyes decided to be financially independent and started working as a DJ manager for his friend, and later in call centers, and in NGOs where he felt appreciated as an individual and as part of a community that does not discriminate based on socioeconomic backgrounds.

Within his household, Elyes was a victim of his father’s domestic violence who showed no other means of communication but verbal and physical abuse. Further, as his uncle owned one of the biggest farms in Tunisia, Elyes observed how female farmers were constantly mistreated. He questioned the reasons for this common aggressive behavior at a very young age, and his frustration sparked iiDebate. If it weren’t for his mother, who led by example when it came to communication and supporting him and his siblings through their educational trajectories, Elyes’ personality and worldview would have been substantially different.

Enrolled in a diverse school, Elyes had the chance to connect with people from various social and economic backgrounds. In university, he joined NGOs like AIESEC, which gave him the chance to travel to over 20 countries and meet hundreds of people. Elyes’ time at AIESEC opened his eyes to the world of social entrepreneurship where he drew influence from people like Muhammad Yunus.

After joining a debate program called “Young Arab Voices” in 2011, Elyes started five different debate clubs in five different universities, but soon realized that the formal debate approach targeting university students was elitist and excluded a considerable number of young people who weren’t multilingual, or even aware of the existence of such initiatives. With the aim of giving voice to the voiceless and most vulnerable groups, Elyes founded iiDebate in 2013 to turn disengaged youth in rural and underserved areas into active citizens with a strong sense of identity and belonging to their local community.