«Together we preserve our Blue treasure; together, we value our Gabès!» With these two sentences have been the slogan of the awareness campaign that took place during May in Gabès in collaboration with local environmental NGOs in the framework of ValEUr Gabès project.

Four local associations and a communication agency have been involved in the organisation of various activities addressing children, youth, and adults with the support of the Municipality of Gabès and MedCities. The agenda included video forums in university and youth centers; information stands in different points of the city with activities on non-conventional water resources and efficient water management; a special session on non-conventional waters (NCWR) within the framework of the Gabès environmental film festival, a Street Art Activity; guided tours to learn about the water recovery system of the Ibn Khaldoun Mosque and visits to the Gabès ecological treatment plant with planned activities for the whole family. In total, more than 3,300 people have directly participated in these activities.

In addition, the campaign has been accompanied by visual communication support in the city of Gabès with the installation of 7 urban banners and 1000 posters displayed at strategic points in the town and the diffusion and coverage given by Elyssa FM, which is the environmental radio station of Gabès, and whose social networks have more than 130,000 followers. We also highlight the coverage provided by other media, such as Tunisian national TV (Watanya 1), as well as the active participation of members of the partner associations in regional radio broadcasts from Tataouine, Palma and Panorama. In order to enhance online outreach of the campaign, we finished the campaign by preparing and broadcasting a video on the NCWR during June, in order to communicate the potential of the use of NCWR to the population of Gabès.

We are delighted with the great outreach and participation that the campaign has had and its impact on publicizing the potential of non-conventional water resources for this region, which is one of the most affected by the climate crisis in Tunisia. In a situation of water scarcity and pressure over water resources, the ValEUr Gabès project, funded by the EU Delegation in Tunisia and coordinated by the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona aims at providing technical and institutional solutions to ensure rainwater and greywater valorisation.

Click on the links below for more information on the awareness campaign:

Activity programme

Street Art Activity

Information Stands

Mosque Water recovery system guided visit

Videoforum

Tunisian national TV news: Watanya 1