The I Am the President TV Reality Show Narrative Quarterly Report
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The I Am The President TV Reality Show Narrative Quarterly Report Award number: DSH-4000002118 Reporting Period: January 1 – March 31, 2020 Contact: Hilde Deman Khadija Maalej Country Director Project Manager Search for Common Ground-Tunisia Search for Common Ground-Tunisia 3, Rue Florence, Mutuelleville, Tunis 3, Rue Florence, Mutuelleville, Tunis Tel: +216 98 743 803, [email protected] Tel: +216 24 222 666, [email protected] Acronyms Search Search for Common Ground Search-Tunisia Search for Common Ground-Tunisia Ma’an Ma’an Network CSO Civil society organisation NGO Non-governmental organisation INGO International non-governmental organisation M&E Monitoring and evaluation ToRs Terms of Reference MENA Middle East & North Africa CGA Common Ground Approach Munathara The Munathara Initiative IIDebate The International Institute of Debate ToT Training of Trainers SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats 1 Contents 1. Executive Summary 3 2. Activities of this Quarter 4 2.1 Community Dialogues 4 2.2 The Candidates After the I Am the President TV Show 5 2.3 Media and Social Media Outreach 6 Social Media 6 Media Coverage 7 2.4 COVID-19 Youth-led Initiatives 8 3. Monitoring and Evaluation 8 Internal Reflection and Evaluation Seminar 9 Initiating the External Final Evaluation Process 11 4. Challenges and Lessons Learnt 11 5. Next Steps 11 2 1. Executive Summary On November 19, 2018, Search for Common Ground-Tunisia (Search-Tunisia) and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Stabilization and Humanitarian Aid Department signed a Grant Decision to fund “The President TV Reality Show: Empowering the Next Generation of Tunisian Democratic Political Leaders” for the period of November 19, 2018 to March 31, 2020. The overall goal of this project is to reignite Tunisian youth participation in inclusive democratic processes. This goal will be achieved through the following two specific objectives and expected results: ❖ S.O. 1: Increase Tunisian youth’s knowledge of and support for democratic political processes at the local and national levels. o E.R. 1: Tunisian youth have an increased understanding of and support for local and national democratic processes. ❖ S.O. 2: Promote a conducive environment for youth’s participation in formal politics. o E. R. 2: Communities and decision-makers are aware of the importance of the inclusion of young women and men in local and national governance in Tunisia. Fostering youth engagement in the political sphere holds the potential to develop a lifelong engagement in the democratic process and sustain Tunisia’s democratic transition. Search-Tunisia, together with its partners, the Ma’an Network, Baramij production house and Carthage+ TV Channel, has leveraged the role of mass media by producing and broadcasting a reality television programme, called I Am The President, combined with a significant social media component and outreach campaign, to reach and mobilize youth and adult audiences across Tunisia. Throughout this project, a hundred selected youth participants (18-35 years old) will have gained leadership skills; strengthened their knowledge of politics, business, and civil society; practiced democratic governance; and increased their professional networks. The young leaders will have had the opportunity to participate in an exclusive youth leadership programme alongside some of the most prominent Tunisian leaders from the private sector, academia, politics, and civil society. As part of the project’s Theory of Change, Search will instil social norms on democratic governance and educate the audience on political processes, as well as trigger positive intergenerational conversations about democracy, inclusive governance, and youth leadership through the television show. Also, in order to connect youth to decision-makers and illustrate the importance of political participation of youth, Search-Tunisia – together with local CSOs – will facilitate community dialogues between youth and local authorities throughout Tunisia with a particular focus on rural and semi-urban communities where many marginalized youths reside, using the television show’s episodes as an entry point for discussions. This final quarterly report covers (1) the implementation of the community dialogues by local partner IIDebate, (2) the internal evaluation and reflection seminar with the show’s candidates, and (3) some activities conducted by the participants of the show, including during the COVID- 3 19 crisis. During this quarter, the Search communications team ensured social media coverage of these activities and engagement with the show’s social media audience, including by raising awareness during the total COVID-19 lockdown enacted in Tunisia since 22 March. The Search M&E team conducted an internal evaluation and reflection seminar with the TV show’s candidates and launched the independent final project evaluation process. 2. Activities of this Quarter 2.1 Community Dialogues During this quarter, Search’s implementing partner International Institute of Debate (IIDebate) conducted the community dialogues. These dialogues aimed to promote democratic consolidation and youth leadership at the local level and were held across six regions of Tunisia: Manouba, Sfax, Gafsa, Gabes, Kasserine, and Jendouba. These regions were selected in consultation with our media partners as most of the topics that were discussed during the live show are highly relevant for them, including unemployment, pollution, early drop out from schools, marginalisation, and the condition of rural women. The dialogues discussed the challenges faced by youth within their respective communities. At the same time, they identified opportunities that exist within each community that can advance the national democratic process in a positive way. The dialogues engaged community members in local discussions aimed at developing concrete ideas and useful recommendations for the development of their region. Thirty sessions were organized in total, with five dialogues per region and were attended by 485 participants in total. The ages of participants ranged from 17 to 60 years old, and 52% of them were women. Graphic 1: Community dialogue participation by gender 4 Graphic 2: Community dialogues in numbers The community dialogues were conducted through the “Café Talk1” format and IIDebate trained The President participants on this tool so they could facilitate the dialogue sessions themselves, supported by IIDebate. The discussed topics varied from one region to another, depending on the priorities and the needs of each region, as selected by The President candidates during the Training of Trainers (ToT) organized by IIDebate. Recommendations also varied based on local issues that needed to be solved. IIDebate’s final evaluation of the community dialogue process was planned to be conducted with the participants in mid-March. However, due to the country-wide total lockdown enacted in mid- March in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing partner IIDebate managed to finalise it online. 2.2 The Candidates After the I Am the President TV Show During this quarter, the Munathara Initiative invited candidates from the I Am The President TV show to participate and collaborate in their TV show entitled “99 Days: The Parliament”. This TV show is part of the implementation of their project “Tunisia Decides.” During the Tunisian presidential and parliamentary debates that took place before the elections in October 2019, the Munathara team asked the official candidates if they would accept to participate in another debate session 99 days after taking office. Seven out of 21 deputies were elected after the parliamentary 1 Cafe talk is a tool designed by IIDebate which provides youth with the opportunity to express their opinions and debate social issues that impact our society. It enables young people to develop initiatives and launch projects after gathering ideas and insights from participants. The project is open to everyone who believes that dialogue is the first step towards change. 5 debate and accepted the invitation to participate in the “99 Days: The Parliament” show. The Munathara team suggested that the candidates from the I Am The President TV show ask questions to the deputies live during the “99 Days” show. These questions would address to what extent the deputies had achieved electoral promises that they had made during the last debate. 30 candidates from I Am The President were involved in this process. The live show hosted parliamentarians from across the political spectrum who were questioned about their achievements to date. The President project candidates, from the same regions as the deputies on the show, asked their questions live and followed up with the deputies if they did not receive satisfactory answers. 2.3 Media and Social Media Outreach Social Media During this reporting period, which represented the last quarter of the project, the communication team focused mainly on Facebook as the main social media platform, as this has proven the most engaging platform for our audience (compared to Twitter and Instagram). They posted photos and videos of recent activities that the candidates organised or participated in, including the episode of “99 Days: The Parliament,” the internal reflection and evaluation seminar (see section 3 of this report), and some of the community dialogues that took place in the regions. Additionally, the team managed to film and edit success stories of candidates and to post them on social media to share inspirational