Local development through self-help: some Tunisian case studies

Through revolting on the 14 of January 2011, Tunisians showed their rejection of the political, economic and social system. In fact, the political system was locked since their independence in 1956 and especially during the presidency of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (1987–2011). Nevertheless, some local development systems or local populations used their entrepreneurship and have established an „anti-system” which marks their response to the system imposed by the State. Therefore, in this paper we have chosen to consider two cases of local development through self-help. The first case concerns agriculture and will be illustrated by Ghannouch, north of the town of Gabes. The second case will concern fishing and will be demonstrated in the Kerkennah islands in the Mediterranean Sea, in front of the city of Sfax. The Ghannouchis faced the narrowness of their agricultural land, and the Kerkennians faced the narrowness of their marine horizon. The Ghannouchis intensified their agriculture through jumping and land reclamation to gain new areas away from their essential space. Nevertheless, the Kerkennians remained closely linked to fishing with considerable efforts to pursue fishing campaigns in the Gulf of Gabes and away from their seas. These results are verified by field surveys and confirmed by diachronic images from Google Earth.