Tunisian Roundtables with a Twist

With an innovative twist, one Tunisian NGO is turning its roundtables into a forum that could spur broad public debate.

DEFI Media, making use of a MEPI small grant, recently launched the first in a series of discussion sessions designed to bring together ministers, private-sector representatives, academics, journalists, and other key actors to share their views on pressing issues of the day.  While the conversations are enlightening in and of themselves, the twist comes after the talking is over.

Through these targeted roundtables, DEFI Media and its local partner, the press group Dar Assabah, are distributing supplements in two leading Tunisian newspapers – “Le Temps” in French and “Essabah” in Arabic – in an effort to increase public awareness on these issues.

In this way, some 60,000 readers gain access to the results of these open debates, conducted by experts on key reform subjects, such as good governance, the rule of law, and civil society development.  Many more people will learn about the issues as they are posted in electronic format on the newspapers’ web sites or through word of mouth.

The topic for the first roundtable, held in April, was on developing a free trade agreement between Tunisia and the United States.  Subsequent themes will include the role of the media in combating extremism (scheduled for June), areas of divergence and convergence between the United States and the Arab world (September), and the role of civil society in Tunisia (December).

The first roundtable drew participation from two Tunisian ministers, the U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia, and the U.S. General Counselor to Morocco, as well CEOs from major Tunisian and regional companies, general managers of various banks and small businesses, the president of the Tunisian-American Chamber of Commerce, and two university professors specializing in business and economics.

Shortly thereafter, both newspapers published 36-page special sections detailing the highlights of the roundtable and running full texts of remarks made by the speakers.
As if they had been in the room when the discussions were taking place, readers were able to learn about the challenges in negotiating a free trade agreement, or consider competing views on how to boost Tunisia’s economy.

To evaluate the impact of the roundtable discussions, DEFI Media plans to conduct online surveys that will enable readers to know how others felt about the topics being discussed – yet another innovative twist intended to further expand public debate.