INVESTING IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN NORTH AFRICA

NORTH AFRICA

For over 40 years, IDEAS’ core partner has worked with individuals and communities in North Africa. Through interdependent relationships with local people, we work to combat poverty in all its forms.

Living witnesses to justice, dignity, and hope

AT THE CROSSROADS OF CULTURES

The Mediterranean coastline of North Africa has always been a significant intersection of cultures. Due to its strategic location, it has been a place of interest for conquerors like Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, and Arabs, as well as people seeking refuge such as sub-Saharan Africans and Jews. This diversity of people has led to a vast array of family names that are still present today.

Marhabe!
Welcome!

Speaking the local language

North African culture is very hospitable. Guests are welcomed with warm smiles and a cup of sweet mint tea or strong coffee. IDEAS believes in deep relationships, which are best built through familiarity with local language and customs.

Free and proud

What’s in a name?

The indigenous people of North Africa are the Amazigh, a name that means “Free People.” The Greeks referred to the Amazigh as “Berbers,” meaning “non-Greek speaking” or “foreigner.” This term was later adopted by colonizers, who referred to the people they were subjugating as “barbarians.” IDEAS’ partner has projects that support the retention of Amazigh culture and the protection of minority rights.

Try Couscous, different + delicious in all its forms

Sample a local delicacy

Cuisine varies widely across the thousands of miles of the North African coast, but one common dish is couscous. In Tunisia, it is traditionally tossed in a spicy red tomato sauce and served with pumpkin and peppers. However you eat it, it’s delicious.

FINDING SOLUTIONS
IN NORTH AFRICA

At IDEAS we work with local communities and partners to identify specific barriers to dignity that arise out of the cultural context. Together, we implement expert, programmatic solutions that result in appropriate and meaningful impact that serves the community as a whole.

CHALLENGES + OPPORTUNITIES

Hope to the hopeless

Inspiring communities to ‘Be the Change’

Over centuries of foreign rule, the people of North Africa were often taught that their ways of thinking and living were inferior to those of their colonizers. This has contributed to an enduring legacy of hopelessness, and a sense that local communities don't have the power or ability to address the economic and social challenges facing the region.

Bringing together perspectives and resources

Building local capacity of local groups

Locally-led development projects in North Africa have grown in number over the past 10 years, but many passionate young visionaries have struggled to make a broad impact because they lack resources and mentors. IDEAS' core partner helps bring together diverse perspectives and resources to promote the success of local efforts to bring justice, dignity and hope to vulnerable communities.

Support IDEAS Work in Tunisia

Help support our work in North Africa.

In North Africa, IDEAS partners with a not-for-profit, international development organization based on Christian values that has worked with vulnerable, marginalized, and disadvantaged people since 1982.

  • "We partner with a resource center for children with disabilities. It has become a place where the whole community wants to play and connect people with disabilities alongside those without."

    Staff Member

  • "For the first 20 years of my life I almost never left my home. I was so ashamed of my cerebral palsy. I never talked. Never. Now, you can’t get me to stop talking! I now see it as my mission in life to make sure that no other children lose so many years of their life to shame."

    Khadija, Tunisia

  • "The trainers didn’t come to bring a recipe – every child is different and needs a different approach. Instead, they came with 8 guidelines for us as professional caregivers and parents. We can change ourselves, the image we have of the child in front of us and the interactions we have with him."

    Team Member

JOIN OUR WORK IN NORTH AFRICA

We’d love to have you join our family!

IDEAS is looking for qualified professionals ready to serve. Our application process introduces you to IDEAS values and methodologies, matches your skills to IDEAS programs, and carefully walks you through steps to discover if you and IDEAS are a good fit.

APPLY

Complete application.
Initial conversation. Assessments.
Interview with leadership.

PREPARE

Create job description.
Develop budget.
Cross-cultural training begins.

JOIN YOUR TEAM

Book your plane ticket. Join your team.
On-site orientation.
Let’s go!!

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Where we work

As of 2019, the surface of the Dead Sea is 430.5 metres below sea level, making its shores the lowest land-based elevation on Earth.

Helping individuals & communities flourish

Our Impact

21,780

Adults + children in Asia with no access to healthcare were treated in local clinics

1000+

Wheelchairs provided in Africa + Latin America, providing mobility for people & their families

1500+

Farmers & their communities in Central Asia received agricultural training

Celebrating removing barriers to dignity

Stories of Transformation

Alma was born in Guatemala with a disability called spina bifida. Unable to walk, she spent the first 14 years of her life isolated, locked in a room, confined to a bed or the floor. Her mother said she was a mistake. Her father said she was not his daughter. Alma wanted to go to school and have friends, but her disability made that impossible.