Collective learning and radical change in fragile regions

For years, huge financial resources have been directed towards the civil and economic renaissance of the fragile African regions. Theoretical studies have revealed the challenges and characteristics of development, conflict resolution, reconciliation, democratisation and state rebuilding. But the problems remain largely unresolved and the regions remain fragile.

Evidence of this failure is clear: millions of migrants are knocking the doors of Europe, and civil leaders and populations are appealing to developed countries and regions for urgent intervention.

Almost one-third of the world’s population lives in countries affected by open or covert warfare.

Poverty and conflict coexist in complex ways. If you wish to create enduring communities and national rebirth, history shows that you cannot rely on economic and financial interventions, international jurisdictional courts, or military interventions, not even peace-keeping.

In the ALLIANCE model a fragile community is a community whose members feel that they are trapped in extreme deprivation, far away from the world of the rich and prosperous. The community fabric has been shaped by deeply rooted influences and conditions that may go back as far as colonialism.

When people live is extreme poverty, civil war and natural catastrophes cause betrayal, grief, abandonment and violence. The soul of the community suffers further from a deep, complex illness, hidden and hard to detect.

 The ALLIANCE foundation principles

The ALLIANCE model  (http://www.artes-research.com/en/portfolio-articoli/alliance/), initiated by Lilia Infelise, was presented and discussed at three international conferences, at Le Mans (1998), Dortmund (2002) and Pisa (2003). The operational model was evaluated by the Scientific Committee and included in some thirty exemplary international experiences at the first World Cluster Conference, organized by OECD and DATAR (Paris, January 2001). The experience was debated and introduced in various forms in Brazil, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. An extensive discussion took place at the international seminar held in Lugano on 21 and 22 September 2006 entitled “The Border Crisis. Towards regional development engineering”. At this stage, Lilia Infelise identified the need for both a more solid theoretical development and the urgent need to engage in the practice of post-conflict rebirth of fragile regions.

 ALLIANCE addresses three core questions:

(1) How can a community (children, young adults, aged women and men, etc) develop and revitalize its desire for a rebirth, given

• its physical environment (with its own climate and geographical connotations)
• its peculiar history, myths, written and unwritten – a unique cultural landscape
• the deep and penetrating wounds of conflict and violence ?

(2) How can a local community discover its potential and identify specific pathways for a full exploitation of its tangible and intangible resources?

(3) Is it realistic to establish a complete, permanent regeneration? In regions which have suffered  civil war, it is particularly hard to rebuild robust innovative networks. They are brittle, and seemingly trivial incidents can bring back mistrust and violence?

Fragility and fragile communities vary. Only in some specific circumstances it is possible to start a collective and radical change process with a reasonable expectation success.

Therefore the ALLIANCE operational model starts with an audit, a due diligence of the territory aimed at discovering the tangible and intangible resources hidden in the soul of a community and its territory, especially:

• an intact natural heritage of great value;
• unknown and rare arts and crafts and a strong cultural heritage;
• a deep-rooted sense of belonging to a history and the territory;
• vocations strongly focused in the territory (for instance coffee, fishing, etc).;
• a major commitment of the Diaspora (people who left due to war, economic or political reasons), young and highly-schooled population ready to come back home and help rebuild the community (2);
• the true commitment of women and young people, and leaders of associations, local administrators and charismatic subjects to starting a change/learning process aimed at upgrading their own role and that of the whole community;
• a technology infrastructure that is capable enough for the exploitation of digital communication.

Given these circumstances, the ALLIANCE model could be introduced and turn key components of the fragile fabric into strengths.

A custom-designed Risk Prevention and Management is critical to the intervention.

Above all, a founding principle the ALLIANCE model of intervention must be respected: every local community is a living creature of its own, with a unique cognitive map, unique attributes, times and ways of learning and changing. Therefore the cognitive learning and change potential is shaped on a system of innovative networks with its own morphology, own language, own ways of learning and motivation and its own history (3).

Innovative Networks are systems of long-term relationships between actors that ensure a significant flux of information and interaction. They are formed from existing relationships (professional, acquired through shared experience of education or training, or formed through shared participation in associations).

Innovative networks are the result of a long process of relational learning. They depend on a solid background history. The relationships are long-term. The members of the network have known and trusted each other for a long time. Career paths are often crossed. People respect one another, and there are often ties of deep affection.

Every network has its own history and shape! Innovative networks are a precious relational capital that permits the members to extend their collaboration and develop new innovative projects, and rebuild trust when endangered by conflicts or poverty.

A network evolves and assumes different forms, but maintains its core identity in spite of change. This identity consists of:

• the character of the principles on which it is based;
• the norms which regulate the internal relations of the network;
• the memory of ancient techniques and habits.

Building or rebuilding a network, therefore signifies creating or rebuilding a relational capital, vital for any serious development and innovation process.

Civil wars and, especially, genocides destroy Innovative Networks. They undermine the community’s capacity to build or rebuild trust and start a learning and radical change process.

In post conflict fragile regions ALLIANCE  starts a spiral individual and collective process of change learning dynamics which allows discovery of – and rebuilding from – deep-rooted, hidden Innovation Networks.

ALLIANCE has translated into an operational model the spiral of learning of Ikuiro Nonaka (1994) and the NIS paradigm of Å. B. Lundvall (1992). It has broken down the principles into individual, small group and large group learning methods, procedures and techniques. It has devised the appropriate connections between them in terms of rhythms and duration.

Time, sequence and the rhythm of project development are crucial and must be designed according to a precise learning/change dynamic that entails the interplay of four knowledge creation and conversion forms. These must interact at the proper time, location and rhythm : combination of explicit knowledge, throughout interactive classroom or video conferencing ; externalisation of implicit knowledge or internalisation of explicit knowledge, through reflective practice methods that foster awareness by reflecting on properly designed experiences (project work and action research); socialisation, through shared experiences in challenging situations, such as full immersion in a new completely different environment when participants come from different regional and cultural backgrounds having been recruited for an ambitious task.

The graphic explains the ALLIANCE implementation model. It leads from innovation to learning. It puts into action a process that:

• Augments the stock of knowledge;
• Maintains economic and social-relational capital through the processes of memory – culture, arts & crafts, but also the hospitality and the culture of the ancient use of natural resources for cooking, medical care, dressing, building, music instruments, and their symbolic meanings;
• Unfreezes obsolete capital– false beliefs, wrong techniques and habits in resource exploitation – through various forms of creative forgetting– regeneration of arts & crafts tradition using new bioprocesses, eco-design thinking;
• Forgetting habits which block changes can act through a process of feedback and lead, indirectly, to the increase of knowledge. For example, to the development of a new bio process to produce bio products that respect nature and culture while improving quality and performance.

Learning, memorisation, forgetting are processes extremely sensitive to institutional factors. The behaviour of Banks, Chambers of Commerce, Ministries, international organisations such as the World Bank Group, UNIDO, UNESCO; UN, etc. who devise policies and programmes is crucial. This is why ALLIANCE emphasises stakeholders’ dialogue building and, on Institutionalisation, gives the major role to a Task Force that is properly recruited and trained. Its role is to influence visions and decisions, advocate common interests, and build innovative networks; to help guide the various elements and relations of a complex community system, typical of a fragile region. The Task Force favours processes of negotiation, consolidating the memorisation of learning, and attenuating conflict and the devastating impact of the destructive phases.

Finally, the ALLIANCE model is very flexible. It could be used in a systemic approach or concentrated in a few days intervention. It could build on a highly structured masters degree programme, or in a few days empower committed local stakeholders such as managers of nature reserves, municipal candidates of all  different parties. The achieved results are obviously very different, but the careful process, from due diligence to learning techniques remains the same.

During any intervention, we learn, and we adapt the operational strategy to best fit the characteristics and circumstances we have found.
In order to fully exploit the model’s potential, a minimum of four years of intervention are required, together with the  convergence of financial resources.
The pilot experience in Bururi ,which I present in the following paragraph, represents a  pilot initiative, which could open the door to a custom-designed systemic intervention.

Valorisation of tourism potential around the Bururi forest and transfer strategy to other protected areas

The World Bank and  the Global Environmental Facility – GEF, through the Project PADZOC – Projet d’Aménagement Durable des Zones Cafféicoles du Burundi, managed by the Ministry of Agriculture of Burundi, have started a pilot community regeneration programme in one of the 14 reserves and protected areas of Burundi, the Forest Nature Reserve of Bururi – RNFB.

The Forest Natural Reserve, situated in the South-West of Burundi, may be among the smallest protected areas (almost 300 ha) on our planet, but it is of particular value for the unique character of the biodiversity it has retained.

It lies 20km from the beautiful shores of Lake Tanganyika, at a height of 1800 meters. In this intact natural oasis are to be found rare bird species and enchanting flora, including rare medicinal plants. The reserve guards take care of the local chimpanzees, at risk of extinction, and help them get used to visitors.

In the surrounding, larger Natural Reserve of Bururi are to be found production of biological coffee and experimentation with shade-grown coffee. There too are mountains and verdant woods. The superb sandy coasts of Lake Tanganyika are cultivated with citrus fruit such as oranges, mandarins and lemons, plentiful in full summer, and luxuriant banana plantations within vegetation typical of the tropics – excellent Arabic coffee, mango, avocado, papaya, passion fruits. You can visit thermal waters, and superb waterfalls and southernmost sources of the river Nile. The Natural Reserve also hosts an exemplary experience dedicated to a Batwa community, whose members are employed for the maintenance of the paths and the valorisation of local arts and crafts.

In this oasis where we find an inestimable patrimony of natural resources, I have been requested to accompany the natural reserve management and the whole community in the discovery of the potential for tourism that could allow environmental protection, while enhancing living conditions of local communities, through job and enterprise creation. The programme started in June 2017 with an in-field mission of 20 days followed by two other short-term missions, in November 2017 and February 2018. The major work was done through distance mentorship thanks to an intense use of digital instruments and social channels.

The intervention was run in full cooperation with Leonidas NZIGIYIMPA, Curator of Protected Areas of Southern Burundi – Burundian Office for the Protection of the Environment.

The last mission (12-28 February 2018) was carried out in the Bururi Forest Reserve and other protected areas of Burundi. It had two major objectives:

1. To reinforce the capacities of the Bururi community and especially the 350 farmers’ families that cultivate shade-grown coffee to start a Coffee Tasting Service;
2. To assess the feasibility of, and conceive, a systemic pluriannual intervention in the most gifted protected areas where an excellent Arabica coffee is produced.

As part of the mission, a team of experts that included the Europe-Africa Alliance for bio-economy  (https://goo.gl/5gz7SV) was taken on a route that  showcased the area’s biodiversity, as follows: Forest Nature Reserve of Bururi, the hills of Mugamba-Matana, the thermal waters of Muyange, the source of the Nile, the national parks of Kibira, Ruvubu, Eastern Monuments (Karera Falls).

The experts encountered the  Kayanza and Mulongwe Coffee Research Centers, the Coffee Shedding Company and BUDECA.

Beside the visit, training of members of the Co-operative Dukorere Ikawa was undertaken by a team of trainers from ARTES, ART- Africa Renassaince Time, the University of Naples – Federico II and the Pascucci business group.

Through the study visit,  the training initiative with Dukorere Ikawa, and the first community festival of the Ecotourism District, hosted in the Forest Nature Reserve of Bururi, I have concluded this first pilot implementation of the Alliance Model in Sub-saharan Africa. I have been able to conceive and propose a more systemic and ambitious pluriannual intervention aimed at creating a network of ecotourism districts: The route of biodiversity and shade-grown coffee.

Several specific, concrete achievements deserve to be mentioned:

– A Coffee Service, offered by a cooperative founded by 350 families living in the surroundings of the Nature Reserve of Bururi, has opened its doors. Tourists are served with coffee cultivated and naturally processed in the forest, an excellent Arabica species. With the coffee they can eat delicious homemade desserts using only local ingredients, such as honey, berries, orange and mandarins.

– A hospitality quality charter has been agreed and signed by the major community stakeholder.

– The Mentorship Without Borders network has been created and is gradually involving entrepreneurs, researchers, designers, musicians, cooperating either at a distance, through webinars, and/or taking part in holiday programmes and creating projects and planning longer stays to share activities with the local communities.

National Geographic visited the territory early in May 2018, and has seen these results.

We have produced a video that tells this story in less than five minutes. And an even quicker glance is given in a 60 seconds video on digital channels.

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FOOTNOTES

[1]Follow the evolving debate animated by  OECD: Join the conversation on Twitter: @OECDDev & #StatesofFragility

[2]See  the data on the role played by immigrants  in support the country of origin economies  in OCSE, International Journal.

[3]The major theories which contributed to the model development are:  innovation network and inter-organisational network mainly developed in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the USA, the studies on milieu innovateur developed by the international group GREMI,  the NSI model developed by Lundvall, and  the studies of Ikujiro Nonaka and his team at the Institute of Business Research, Hitotsubashi, Tokyo, concerning the “managing” of the knowledge creation processes.

Recommended bibliography: Anderson, J. R. (1983), The Architecture of Cognition, MA: Harvard University Press, Cambridge; Camagni, R. P. (1994), Freeman, C. (1990), Networks of Innovators – a Synthesis of Research Issues, International Workshop on Networks of Innovators, Montreal.; Freeman, L. C. (1987), Centrality in Social Networks: Conceptual Clarification, Social Networks, Vol. 1.;Johansson, B.; Karlsson, Ch.; Westin, L. (1994), Patterns of a Network Economy, Springer-Verlag, Berlin; Lundvall, Å. B (1992), National Systems of Innovation – Towards a Theory of Innovation and Interactive Learning, Pinter Publishers, London; Nonaka, I. (1994), “A Dynamic Theory of Organisational Knowledge Creation”, in: Organisation Science, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 14-37.

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I. The current pattern of materials use in Europe

The current pattern of materials use in Europe endangers the availability of the natural resources on which our welfare is based. In addition, this pattern of usage has a negative impact on the quality of air, water and soil, on human health, on climate change and on biodiversity. This environmental degradation occurs both within and outside the EU. If each inhabitant of the world would adopt a consumption pattern equal to that of the average European, the ecological carrying capacity of our planet would be exceeded by far. It is well known that Europes’ imports of agri-food commodities from poorer countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia impact many societal, economic, cultural and environmental dimensions such as landscape resilience (see the dedicated large extension of land cultivation) and food security of local communities. A typical example is the coffee commodity. Another relevant example is constituted by the so-called high-tech metals. Platinum, cobalt, titanium, indium and others are  critical materials for the development of environmental technologies aimed at boosting energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The EU will not master the shift towards sustainable production and environmentally responsible products without such high-tech metals. EU is faced with a supply risk for high-tech metals due to a high import dependence especially from Africa, where 80% of world production is extracted. Put simply, while Europe imports natural resources, it is exporting environmental pressures. Summing up, the main problems related to the present European model of materials use are twofold :

1. The environmental impact generated by the current pattern of materials use.

The extensive use of natural resources to generate energy and to produce products causes direct and indirect environmental problems and pressures, such as the destruction of fertile land and loss of biodiversity due to extraction; pollution of air, water and soil during production and waste management; the negative effects of transport; and global warming. In short, our use of materials and the related production of damaging greenhouse gas, toxic and non-degradable waste are more extensive than the planet’s capacity to maintain healthy ecosystems.

2. Scarcity caused by the current pattern of materials use.

The current pattern of production, consumption and materials use in Europe endangers the availability of the natural resources on which our well-being is based. Natural resources use in Europe exceeds availability, and Europe heavily relies on the import of natural resources. Worldwide population growth (from 7 billion to more than 9 billion by 2050) and economic development lead to an increasing demand for natural resources, many of which are finite. This implies that growing global competition for natural resources is adding to the concerns about the future availability of natural resources for Europe. All the above mentioned facts urge Europe to move from waste policies to materials policies covering the full life-cycle, crossing generational and geographical boundaries.

II. Investing in new Bio-refinery approaches

 III. The GINEXTRA^® technology

GINEXTRA^® is already a European Registered Brand (Registration number 7055312, classes 01, 07, 16, 22, 23, 40) which identify patented and proprietary multipurpose modular bio-refinery technologies and a duly tested model of community regeneration. Thanks to an intense research activity, led in partnership with the most advanced European R&D bodies specialised in white and environmental biotechnologies and their application to natural fibres, ARTES has achieved the following tangible results:

- Two proprietary non-commercially released microbial strains selected and used to produce an enzymatic cocktail with a high degradative capacity of lignin and hemicellulose, but not capable of attacking the cellulose component, which had to be separated but not modified in its physical and mechanical characteristics.

- Realisation and patenting of a pilot biotechnology plant (in a small scale for the extraction of 5 kg. per day of crude fiber) with low power consumption (Patent n° 0001396855 entitled “Machine, procedure and combined plant for the separation of fibers for textile by macerated stems of fiber plant”); which only uses enzymatic retting and mechanical defibering.

- Conception, engineering and lab testing (300 gr, 2,5 kg) of a multipurpose new fast bio – refinery plant, which reduces the fibre extraction time to 1/8, compared with the already patented plant and produces liquid and solid wastes of particular potential interest for the extraction of hemicelluloses, lignin, and other biochemicals (patent demand N°To achieve rapid, sustained and concerted changes in lifestyles and resource use that cut across all levels of society and economy).

- Cultivation and mechanized harvesting of the Spartium junceum successfully tested, with parameter definition of profitability compared with hemp and flax;

- Industrial spinning and weaving of the resulting fibres and realisation of samples of yarn, paper, bacterial nanocellulose, lignin and hemicellulose.

- Creation and registration of the CTM GINEXTRA (Registration number 7055312, classes 01, 07, 16, 22, 23, 40)

Upscaling and integration of technologies, moving from lab research and small-scale demonstrators is the goal of ARTES which has formed a large partnership among industries and biotechnological European laboratories and is developing project proposals in both BBI JU calls and other programmes such as ENI CBCMED and INTERREG Central Europe. A huge investment in project design and development. GINEXTRA® technology consists in obtaining fiber from Spartium junceum (Spanish broom, or Ginestra) a perennial shrub which has a structure similar to a brush, with straight pedicles and evergreen, tender twigs. ARTES, has isolated strains and developed an enzymatic process which uses proprietary enzymatic cocktail branded as GINEXTRA® with high performance as ligninase but which does not effect cellulose and allows the extraction of intact high-quality fibers. The fiber extracted has a great interest in many industries starting form textile. Spanish Broom plants are often found growing together as dense thickets, in waste areas, abandoned pastures, and roadsides, preferring poor, infertile soils. Its penetrating root structure indicates that Spanish Broom is an important pioneer species, holding together poor soils and preventing erosion. It is indigenous to temperate Europe, northern as well as in South Asia, such as in Tajikistan, but also it spontaneously grows in Latin America, such as Paraguay.  

IV. Side stream valorization: the project VALUE FROM WASTE | VA-WA

One of the projects conceived and recently submitted by ARTES and its international network, within the BBI-JU the last call, is the project “VALUE FROM WASTE | VA-WA – Upscale and integrate multipurpose modular bio-refinery to produce high value-added materials from wastes originating from renewable plant biomass”.  

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We are all now at the starting line, however there is huge inequality in the distribution of knowledge, know how, and in the abilities for the development and utilisation of individual and collective talents: the human capital.

The deepest form of poverty for a country is the underutilisation of its human capital, which takes the form of unemployment, underemployment, migration and the inherent fragility of the education and training systems.

The scientific systems (universities, research institutions, policy makers), as well as the business system, must develop new awareness on social responsibility and not just be promoters of individual freedom (which of course must also be defended from forms of biased impositions).

In this framework, we need to rethink deeply the concepts underpinning international cooperation policies and in particular those concerning Europe and the poorest and most fragile countries geographically closer to us.

In an extremely complex context, we believe that a main way is the construction of common scientific and research infrastructure (laboratories, research teams), for training of young scientists, researchers, leaders of high-tech enterprises, fully aware of the social challenges and their economic and leadership role, without distinction of origin.

They will share knowledge and together find solutions to problems that arise in different contexts. The scientific systems of Southern Italy can play a pioneering role in this regard and encourage the flowering of a new civilization that avoids the risk of destructive conflict and natural disasters connected to an unwise use of the planet’s resources.

ARTES is engaged primarily in this effort, and it has built and continues to expand and strengthen a multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary network committed to promote knowledge sharing and creation as the major lever to achieve regeneration and development of the economy and labor, as well as quality of life improvement for all. In this context and in the framework of a memorandum of understanding that brings together more than 12 European and African universities and chambers of commerce, a series of international meetings will be realised in the network’s partner universities, in Italy and abroad. We start with UNICAL  with a first opportunity to meet and debate. On March 27^th in UNICAL CAMPUS – RENDE, Caldora room, from 14,30 to 17,30, Tindaro Paganini World Bank Senior Trade and Competitiveness expert, will present his book: “World Bank: an opportunity for Young people and enterprises – work with an international organisation and fight world poverty.”

By Lilia Infelise

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I am traveling throughout Europe and North Africa to call attention and promote interest by public and private actors in Europe and MENA countries and foster convergence of  interests and funds  on ARTES initiative for an Africa  – Europe cooperation in the field of bio economy.

Last June ARTES has signed a partnership agreement  with  Tunisian Universities and companies which aims at introducing a new growth paradigm through piloting a research driven cluster start up focused on bio economy, in fragile peripheral regions, such as Gafsa and Kasserine, in the larger horizon of a Mediterranean stabilisation and cooperation strategy.

This revolutionary approach envisages green technology and art as the engine for an accelerated job and enterprise  creation initiative in the peripheral  landlocked regions of Gafsa and Kasserine.

If we succeed in the implementation, it would have real positive repercussions on employment, on economic development and on innovation in these areas, but it needs a wise awareness raising campaign to mobilise the key actors. Without local partners and institutions sharing our view and our efforts, it would be impossible to implement concrete solutions and have success in the long term.

To this aim, on the 2^nd of December I visit Tunisia for the third time.

Wednesday 3nd, Sousse

I arrive at Tunis Carthage around noon and the driver bring me straight to Sousse, where I meet Marzio Maiocchi, president of ATI Engineering  and my assistant, Leonardo Franceschi, who’s staying in Tunisia for two months  to follow more closely the current projects of Artes, in Tunisia. We have few hours to brief and to prepare my speech for the following day. I have been invited to speak to the Forum de Convergeance (http://site.forumeniso.com/), an important annual meeting organised by ENISo (the National Institute of Engineers of Sousse) under the leadership of Zoubeir Tourki, the young and charismatic director of the school.

Under the motto: to be wired or not to be, the forum is aimed at connecting with each other representatives of institutions, education and enterprises from within and outside the country,such as Artes, ATi Engineering, ALTAIR and many others.

ENISo  is located in a modern building equipped with laboratories and an incubator space which hosts more than 130 spin offs. A leading Tunisian institute in the field of robotics, mechatronics, and automation is the  preferred destination of  bright and committed students who are prepared to take the lead of their country.

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I set out from Bologna, in 2 minutes I prepare my luggage, as usual, while I’m coordinating our teams in Bologna and Bujumbura to prepare the submission. We want to be shortlisted for the assistance of Burundian authorities in drafting the national energy efficiency plan. The project is financed by the European Union and the deadline is in one day, the 19^th of June, at 11 a.m. The schedule is so tight that I have to be on the phone until the plane takes off.

At the airport of Tunis, two persons I met in my last visit in Tunisia are expecting me: Jamila, researcher at INAT (Institut National Agronomique de Tunisie) and Samira Missaoui, a very talented textile artist. I need to be aware of her work if I really want to explore the possibility to introduce the Alliance model in pilot regions of Tunisia. Art, artisanship and design can reach an important status, and they should, but in order to achieve this result it is vital to create networks among actors, and first of all among women.

June 19th, on the road to Gafsa ( قفصة )

It is 5 a.m.; we need to leave early from Monastir to be at the University of Gafsa to review and sign the framework agreement that would start the process of transfer and adaptation of the Alliance and n4f models in this region.

I keep following and supervising  the submission of the application in Bujumbura, but I do not want to miss the experience of travelling. We manage to make the delivery at 10.59: just on time. Now, we just have to wait for the outcome.

I finally turn my tired eyes away from the screen of my laptop and I start watching the bustle on the streets. I see factories of Benetton and the Miroglio passing by, placed in the middle of non-urbanised territories. These industrial sites communicate indifference, alienation and arrogance towards everything outside the walls of the factories. I wonder about the social model introduced by Olivetti, at the beginning of last century. I think … about our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I ask a question to Marzio, who’s travelling with me:

“How is that our Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not set up a forum with the leaders of the dozens of Italian companies delocalising in Tunisia, in order to study together possible synergies with the foreign policies of development aid?”

It is extremely hot that morning and we take a break in a rest stop,  well equipped, as usual. We arrive in Gafsa on time and we find Imen Said waiting for us. She is professor of the faculty of sciences, appointed by the dean to coordinate the final drafting and signing of the agreement.

June 19th in Gafsa

After a short break, we spend the afternoon visiting Gafsa: archaeology and art crafts. We visit the center of ONA (Office National de l’Artisanat) Direction du développement des compétences.

Afterwards we take part to the closing ceremony of the academic year at the ‘Institut Supérieur des Arts et Métiers de GAFSA”. We spend the evening to acquaint ourselves with Fatma, with whom we have cooperated to create a network of international specialists in the field of water governance. Fatma was born in Turin and she can perfectly speak Italian. Her father is a Tunisian engineer belonging to one of the most ancient families of the country, her mother is from Turin and she has chosen to stay at the heart of this country, she is fluent in Arabic and French. She is a wonderful example of the richness that comes from the intersection of cultures and traditions of our Mediterranean. Imen is with us. We talk about recent and remote history, the role of women in the future we are hoping for, and about our joint projects for Gafsa and Kasserine. In order to intervene in a territory you need, gently and respectfully, to approach its soul.

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Upon my arrival at the Carthage airport in Tunis, I am welcomed by Marzio Maiocchi, the founder of ATI ENGINEERING, a company that specialises in management  and business start-up. Maiocchi who was previously an important player in the Alliance Project, in Calabria, has invited me to discover this new Tunisia with the hope that it will become an example for other  Nations in the Mediterranean Sea by playing the role of trait d’union among continents situated  on the Mediterranean shores.

I have come primarily to meet the artist and artisan women of the inland, but also to make acquaintance with the scientific world, the Administrators of Universities and the Government executives. The communities of the Governorates of Kasserine, Gafsa,  Kairouan, Zaghouan have a ancient tradition of crafting art out of a Mediterranean shrub, called Alfa or Stippa Tenacissima, which they do not want  to lose.

Alfa grows in dry, remote regions in the South-West of Tunisia, up to the Algerian border, covering more than 4 million hectares. In the rural communities it is appreciated as a barrier against desertification and it has historically been used as fibre to create baskets, wickers and, more recently, paper pulp. The processes adopted by these traditional artisans have a high environmental impact, consuming scarce water and energy resources.

My pioneering action for the valorisation of the Spartium Junceum, which combines art and “green” frontier technologies, could be of use in this territory. In fact, the Spartium Junceum, grows on arid and rocky terrains and has been known since ancient times by the Mediterranean populations.

On our way to Monastir (المـنسـتير), where I was hosted overnight by Marzio, we attended our first meeting with theDean of the Athenaeum of Monastir, Prof. Abdalwheb DOGUI.

I wrote to him before my arrival to explain the reason for my travels: to find partners who would help the Artes Institute to attract public and private investments in North Africa and Sub Saharian Africa with thegoal of creating and reinforcing a solid infrastructural network of industrial research entities.  Such research entities would focus on fields of knowledge that would guarantee economic growth of the country, preserve natural and environmental resources, and allow the country to become a leading actor in the bio-economy era.

I have been conducting this task for more than a decade and, starting a few years ago, I could count on the support of the network, nzymes4future, which gathers together European Laboratories, Research Centres and Universities leaders in the field of green, industrial and environmental biotechnologies.

The main objective is to develop programs that would allow Mediterranean and Sub Saharan countries to become aware counterparts to Multilateral Funds and be able to negotiate the allocation of resources according to the African continent’s vision of sustainable development. Ultimately our goal is to achieve the valorisation of natural and cultural original resources of the territory, especially of inland and rural areas.

Although it was not easy to find time to meet within our full schedules, both Prof. DOGUI and I understood the importance of this opportunity. We met in Sousse (سوسة) in an informal atmosphere and we got straight to the point, coming to a quick understanding. We concluded the meeting with the intention of implementing the project idea to create synergy between the work already done in Tunisia and the networks mobilised by Artes in the field of bio-economy.

We arrived very late at Villa Abir; the Mediterranean Sea and the elegant environment calmed and reenergised me.

THE TRAVEL FROM MONASTIR, TOWARDS THE INLAND

The trip towards the inland regions starts on Tuesday April 22^nd at 6,30 am. We move from Villa Abir, our base in Monastir to Kairouan (القيروان‎), around 73 km south-west, which is  the fourth among Islam sacred cities, known for the carpet craft and the quality of its olives. After another 100 Km we arrive at Sbeitla ( سبيطلة), an impressive memorial of the common roots shared by the different regions that face the Mediterranean Sea.

Afterwards we head towards Kasserine (القصرين) driving 30 km on a road flanked by arid and uncultivated land, rarely interrupted by irrigated plots of land for olive plantation.

We are getting closer to the area where, in January 2011, the revolution (SIDI BOUZID) began. We arrive at the industrial plant SNCPA, (Société Nationale de Cellulose et de papier Alfa). We are guided by the General Director and by the Head of the Research Laboratories, and we walk through the entire manufacturing process, climbing up, in slight fear of our own safety, to the top of the plant. We are told that the many other plants located in adjacent areas are similar but that the one we are visiting utilises exclusively Alfa to manufacture paper pulp. The production is exported mainly to Japan, even though Japanese buyers have never come close to this remote region of Tunisia nor to the plant. The particular paper obtained by the transformation of Alfa apparently has properties of elevated permeability and very high absorptive capacities.

The process utilises soda, chlorine at very high temperature. The following day at the seminar in Gafsa , after Artes presented the Alliance and Ginestra Valley_nzymes4future projects, we had a long talk with the director about the great interest that these experiences could present for these territories. We will talk about new models of rural development based on the creation of infrastructures for advanced research, specialising in environmental and industrial biotechnologies and the revival of ancient arts and crafts.

The plant employs 200 workers, and clearly does not meet standards that would guarantee the safety of workers and of the environment. It appears to be in a state of decay.

To bring together expertise and financial resources in this territory would set a great example that could allow for further production of non-polluting enterprises. By creating links between the world of agriculture, science, technology, art and design, we hope to generate an environment conducive to the creation of new jobs.

THE SEMINAR AND THE ART EXIBITION WITH ALFA FIBRE.

After the visit to the plant, we continue towards Gafsa (قفصة), 112 Km southwards of Kasserine, in order to arrive in time for the seminar opening, scheduled for the following day.

We take a short break at the hotel, and we are ready for the opening of a design tapestry exhibition at the Maison de la Culture, created with Alfa fibre by the artist Samira Missaoui.   We are in the presence of the Dean of the University of Gafsa, a team of professors from the Science Faculty and members of the local government.

The day after Wednesday, April 23rd, at the end of the seminar we take a tour in the research labs and we have a traditional Tunisian meal at the University cafeteria.

The major topic of the seminar is the shrub of Alfa that is, (similar to the Spartium Junceum in Calabria in Italy), a resource which seems to have a symbolic meaning connected not only to the hope of economic improvement and a better quality of life but also to the social identity of the population in this inland area bordering Algeria.

The Alliance Project, the story of my long and strenuous work to unite ancient traditions with advanced research for the sustainable development of marginal regions such as Calabria, creates interest and stirs new energy.

I conclude with the wish to create a team to carry out the project, thus transforming the idea into reality.

Two young students, PhDs at the faculty of Science, stop me and leave me their contact cards, with a note on top: “for participating in Alliance”.  When we join the committee at the end of the seminar, I look at the young students sitting in the first row and I invite them to raise their hands.  We need their help in the commission.

THE CRAFTSMANSHIP NATIONAL FAIR AND THE MEETING WITH MINISTRIES’ GENERAL DIRECTIONS

We have no time to lose, we leave the hotel a day before we are scheduled to leave in order to prepare the visits and meetings at the Craftsmanship National Fair, which will take place in Tunis on Friday, April 25^th. This is an excellent occasion to experience the value of the artistic heritage of this country. On this occasion, we have the chance to meet the highest executives of the Ministry of Commerce and Craftsmanship who have been solicited by the officials we encountered in Gafsa to participate.

That same day we also have a meeting at the Ministry of High Education and Research with Prof. Slim CHOURA, Advisor in Charge of the National Observatory for Science and Technology and a mechanical engineer who, in perfect English, introduces us to a member of his team, Dr. Kochle Malek, Director of the Bilateral Cooperation with the EU who speaks perfect Italian and five other languages.

We establish an understanding of common visions and areas for possible cooperation; we talk about Tunisia, a territory of three continents, and about the unique role that it could play in the integration of North and Sub Saharan Africa.

PÔLE DE COMPÉITIVITÉ DE SOUSSE

On Saturday 26^th of April we attend a seminar in the Pépinière at ENISo (Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sousse), an “incubator” for more than 100 start-ups. During the seminar we are presented with entrepreneurial projects in the field of home automation. In the late morning we have a conversation with Prof. Zoubeir Tourki, the young and determined president of the National Engineering School of Sousse. We talk about his priorities: to institute training for home automation, science and advanced technologies, as well as methods and educational content that would guarantee the most effective way to connect university education and the entrepreneurial world. We also agreed upon fields in which we could cooperate as well as upon a short-term plan.

We finally enjoy a walk in the touristic port of Monastir, discussing our return to Bologna and how we can give value to the many encounters and experiences of our first visit to Tunisia.

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