The final seminar of the TATRAC project took place on the 3rd and 4th June 2016 at Hotel Solaria Thalasso in Hammamet, Tunisia, organised by the dall’ANPR – Agence Nationale de Promotion de la Recherche Scientifique, the project coordinator.
TATRAC – Tissu Associatif et Transfert de Connaissances is a cross-border cooperation project co-financed by the European Union in the field of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument – ENPI, Operational Programme Italy-Tunisia 2007-2013, which aims at encouraging civil society to assume an active role in the innovation and valorisation of scientific knowledge.
The representatives of the project consortium, composed of Italian and Sicilian institutions, attended to the event:
- ANPR – Agence Nationale de Promotion de la Recherche Scientifique (Coordinator)
- ISBAN – Institut Supérieur des Beaux-Arts de Nabeul
- ESSECT – École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales de Tunis
- GE.V.I – Società di Gestione della Valle d’Ippari
- CESIE
- Università di Catania – Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale
- ISHTC – Institut Supérieur d’Histoire de la Tunisie Contemporaine
The seminar started with the welcome speech by Khaled Ghedira, General Director of the ANPR and with an overview of the TATRAC project and the social innovation offered by the project by the coordinator, Abdelhamid Abidi. Moreover, the seminar featured interventions by Faysal Cherif, representative of ISHTC, who talked about the past and future relationships between Tunisia and Sicily, Hichem Messaoudi, Director of ISBAN, who described art as an innovative resource for civil society, and Zeineb Mamlouk Ben Ammar, representative of ESSECT, who talked about sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. The morning session ended with a debate.
The afternoon session was dedicated to interventions given by the Sicilian partners of the project, starting with Francesca Vacanti, representative of CESIE, who described the training path developed by the organisation in the field of the TATRAC project, and the Training Guide (Guide de formation) elaborated by CESIE with contributions from the Sicilian partners. Later on, Salwa Sadok, representative of the INSTM, shared her organisation’s experience with two other cross-border cooperation projects (BIOVecQ e SecurAqua). The last part of the afternoon featured an intervention by Rosario Sinatra, Professor at the University of Catania, regarding the shared responsibilities in terms of protection of the environment and renewable energies, as well as the intervention of Faouzi Mahfoudh, Director of the ISHTC regarding the protection of the Tunisian and Sicilian heritage. The first day ended with a projection of the documentary «Un conte de faits» directed by Hichem Ben Ammar.
The second day of the final seminar has been dedicated to the sharing of experiences from the Tunisian associations involved in the educational and support path of the project, active in different fields:
- Education field: ATPE, TEARN, ATG
- Healthcare field: RECT, IPT, ATERA, RABTA, STI
- Agriculture and environment: REACT, CBC, PINNA, ADRI
- Culture and heritage: Association des Amis du Patrimoine, Tourath
- Arts and crafts: ANP, ISBAN
The second day ended with a debate and a social meal.
TATRAC is shortly coming to an end after two years and a half of activities, structured around the development of a “roadmap” regarding the knowledge transfer methodology and a two-phase training path, starting with a week of training a visits in Sicily which involved 15 Tunisian associations and 6 Sicilian associations (Mobilita Palermo, Libera Palermo, PUSH, OsservaRAEE, SVI.MED, Comune di Vittoria) in several frontal training sessions and a sharing of experiences and good practices. The associations have been followed by CESIE in the elaboration of original project ideas, which were validated through a group work facilitated by the representatives of the selected Sicilian association during the second training phase in Nabeul, Tunisia, last November. The project ideas and related activities performed by the Tunisian associations were presented during the final seminar, providing further exchange opportunities to all the associations who took part in the project.
The TATRAC partners are satisfied with the work done so far, and will keep working together in order to guarantee the sustainability of the project’s results, particularly the two guides composing the main product of the project, the knowledge transfer guide (Guide de Transfert):
- Awareness-raising guide (Guide de Sensibilisation – valorisation du Patrimointe commun Tunisie-Italie par les associations et sociétés savantes – developed by Faouzi Mahfoud and Faysal Chérif)
- Training guide (Guide de Formation – developed by the Sicilian partners of the project as a support for the training sessions)
For more information regarding the TATRAC project, please visit the website www.tatrac.tn, the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/tatrac.tn ) or write an e-mail to francesca.vacanti@cesie.org.
Useful links:
Italy-Tunisia: EU Tatrac project, bridge for innovation (ANSAMED, 9/06/2016)
