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Making dreams come true
Rym Hamdi, a wizened but still energetic 60 year old, rushed out of her dazzling white house, threw her arms
around me and kissed me several times on the cheek. Mohamed El Hadi Ben Abdallah, a director at the National Solidarity
Fund explained it was my camera that had excited the old lady.
Two years ago, President Ben Ali had made his second visit to a site in Ben Arous, a suburb of Tunis, to see
if his directive of a year before, to completely upgrade the living conditions of one of the poorest communities
of the area, had been carried out fully. He saw rows of spanking new houses, fitted with running water, electricity
and sewerage. One of the new occupants was Rym Hamdi. She wriggled through the throng around the President, gave
him a bear hug and planted several kisses on his cheeks. Someone took a photograph.
Later the photo became part of a poster displayed all over the country. As a result, Rym has become one of the
most famous faces in Tunisia. "From that time onwards, she loves everyone with a camera," explained Ben
Abdallah who was showing me around projects built through the National Solidarity Fund, popularly known as '2626'.
Rym told me that she and her four children had lived in abject poverty until one day, "April 7, 1997"
she remembered, President Ben Ali himself suddenly appeared in the area. "He promised us that in one year
we would live in good homes, have electricity, running water, a sewerage system and have some means to increase
our income."
"We had dreamt about this for so long that most of us were convinced it would remain only a dream. But
miracle of miracles, one year later, the President came back and asked us if the dream had come true. 'Yes!' we
cried and I hugged him and did not want to let him go."
For Rym Hamdi, 2626, the campaign to eradicate the last vestiges of poverty in Tunisia, means that she can spend
her retirement years in relative comfort and have some share in the economic boom that has swept the country. For
her grandson, the well-appointed little house is the norm. He can only go up from here.
The campaign began in 1992 when President Ben Ali, making a series of impromptu tours to remote areas of the
country, was appalled at the condition some of the most marginalised people were living in. Without strong intervention
from the government, there was no way these people could be integrated into the economic mainstream or see any
improvements in their living conditions. The President decided to set up the National Solidarity Fund into which
individuals and companies would contribute voluntarily and the state would match their contribution.
Guidelines were drawn up and it was decided that villages had to have a minimum of 26 families to be eligible
for assistance. Thus was born the national account number, 2626, into which people could place their contributions.
2626 has caught not only the national but also the international imagination. Concerts by Michael Jackson, Fairuz,
the Lebanese singing legend, and the Vienna Opera raised TD1.5m. The Chinese have donated computers and some European
countries have contributed funds. But the greatest support has come from the Tunisian public itself. Television
coverage of the poor areas has galvanised people into contributing. It has now become normal for people celebrating
marriages, births, circumcision and other ceremonies to contribute. Companies have given freely. The state has
not raised any new taxes but takes small portions from taxes on coffee, tobacco, cement, airport tax and so on.
December 8 is celebrated as National Solidarity Day with a variety of functions and fund-raising activities. During
the 1998 celebrations alone, donors contributed TD16m. So far, more than $300m has been raised.
"We identified 1,444 'shadow' areas," says Ben Abdallah, "of which 928 have been upgraded. Some
151,000 families have benefited. The target is 181,000 families, representing roughly one million Tunisians."
All the money collected goes into projects, none into overheads. All administrative costs are met by banks and
other sponsors.
Apart from upgrading basic infrastructure and providing decent housing, the fund has also build a large number
of schools, hospitals and dispensaries and laid down an extra 2,500 km of roads. The fund initiates a number of
income generating projects, mostly in agriculture and some in handicrafts.
"The fund is not a charity," insists Ben Abdallah. "The aim is to assist people get out of the
poverty trap and live with a measure of dignity and hope."
All expenses are controlled and bids for projects are subject to open tenders. The budget is voted by Parliament
and the National Auditor approves the budget.
The National Solidarity Fund, brilliantly simple in design has served a number of functions. It has highlighted
priority areas of action in the fight to eliminate poverty; it has brought marginalised peoples into the mainstream
and it has created a vigorous national movement that has united most of the population into a sustained and uplifting
campaign. Little wonder that dozens of nations from the developing world have been sending representatives to Tunisia
to find out how they can start similar campaigns in their own countries.
Copyright © IC Publications Limited 1999. All rights reserved. No part of
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