True democracy in Tunisia!

As a member of the civil society (NGO), I had the chance to participate on a meeting organised by the current secretary of state for the environment, Mounir Majdoub. He has offered to different members of the population – NGOs, educational, public and private sector – in order to contribute with their own ideas to a new action plan for a more sustainable development in Tunisia.

This idea shows that not only the government sets a high value on environmental issues despite economic, security and social problems (unfortunately, ecology is often judged as a luxury problem of the industrial countries while it is a matter of existence), but it is also a sign of a true democratic process. All NGOs, which are in some way active in the sustainable development, were able to participate in the discussions and workshops about different thematic issues. What stroke me most was that each workshop was led by one minister! A minister leading a workshop with NGOs – isn’t that amazing? I couldn’t imagine this in my country, Germany, which claims to be very democratic and participative. But Tunisia shows once more that it can be a model for others! Congratulations!