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In Tunisia, women generally carry out the water chore
A young mother in a rural village in Tunisia, with her two children, filling her cans from a drinking water point to use them at home. | © Amine Landoulsi
To mark National Women’s Day in Tunisia on Friday 13 August, Agence Française de Développement, the leading donor for rural drinking water supply in Tunisia, has published the handbook “Water: A Promise of Empowerment”.

Access to drinking water, in particular for rural and remote communities, is a priority sector of operation for Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group. At the end of 2020, it was financing 248 projects around the world related to this issue for a total amount of over 7 billion euros.

To improve the effectiveness of its operations, AFD now systematically includes specific action to fight against climate change and gender inequality, two of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the UN in 2015.

Further reading: Water: A Promise of Empowerment (in french)

Access to Water: an Empowerment Issue

In Tunisia, the difficult access to clean water in rural areas is a perfect illustration of how this issue is linked to gender inequality. Indeed, women generally carry out the water chore. It is an exhausting and time-consuming task which holds back their personal development and ability to engage in productive activities.

Women also face harassment and sexual assaults on their way to the standpipes. To combat this violence, it is necessary to facilitate access to water facilities in secure places. Investing in these facilities considerably improves the living conditions of women and their families and also protects them against sexual violence.

 

Over the last 20 years, AFD has committed some €260 million in the water and sanitation sector in Tunisia. To date, some 465,000 people have benefited from 4 successive drinking water supply programs. These projects have improved the daily lives of many Tunisian girls and women by increasing access to education, facilitating civic participation and giving access to financial independence.

On the Ground: the Difficult Daily Lives of Tunisian Women

To mark the publication of the handbook “Water: A Promise of Empowerment”, AFD has made a photo report on the reality of inequality related to access to drinking water in Tunisia:

In Tunisia, women take care of the water chore

In rural regions in Tunisia, when households lack drinking water, women take care of the water chore: filling and transporting water cans on a donkey, when the family is lucky enough to have one. | © Nouredine Ahmed

 

A mother in Tunis, lacks clean running water but has a common water point

A mother in a periurban village on the outskirts of Tunis. It lacks clean running water, but has a common water point. | © Nada Bouaziz

 

A young mother in a rural village in Tunisia, with her two children, filling her cans from a drinking water point

Women fetching water in Tunisia. | © Amine Landoulsi

 

A young schoolgirl in Tunis, lacks clean running water but has a common water point

A young schoolgirl in her periurban village on the outskirts of Tunis. It lacks clean running water, but has a common water point. | © Nada Bouaziz

 

In Tunisia, the lack of clean running water is becoming one of the main reasons for school dropout

The end of the day at a primary school in a town in the interior of Tunisia. Tunisian girls have the same access to education as boys, but the lack of clean running water in many schools in rural areas is becoming one of the main reasons for school dropout. | © Amine Landoulsi

 

Young women attending a municipal meeting of a rural community in Tunisia

Young women attending a municipal meeting of a rural community in Tunisia. The more women are freed of the water chore, the more they have time to take part in citizen and public activities. | © Amine Landoulsi