We Must Find Our Way in the Center

Editors Note – Essma Ben Hamida was born in Tunisia but spent much of her early career traveling and living abroad, where she focused on humanitarian development issues. Disillusioned by what she saw as a disconnect between policy circles in Brussels and New York and poverty alleviation efforts on the ground, Essma moved back to Tunisia in the early 1990s with her husband, Michael Cracknell, to found enda inter-arabe. For the past 16 years, Essma and Michael have worked tirelessly to build enda inter-arabe into the remarkable success it is today: the largest and only best-practice microfinance institution in the country, in the process earning a five-diamond rating on MixMarket and an “Excellent” social return on the MicroRate rating system.

Katherine Milligan, Head of MENA at the Schwab Foundation, recently sat down with Essma to discuss the tumultuous events unfolding in Tunisia, including the upcoming elections, the effects of the war in Libya, and what the revolution has meant for Tunisia’s poor.

Katherine Milligan: Tell me what the “Jasmine Revolution” has meant for you personally. Did you ever think you’d live to see this day in Tunisia’s history?

Essma Ben Hamida: No, definitely not. I thought I would die without seeing democracy and freedom in my country. We’ve never had any experience of big changes like this.  We are really happy we had this revolution – though it’s not mine. I’m not the youth, and this is their revolution. But it’s also a Tunisian revolution. It wasn’t the French or the Americans: it came from within, it was us. So we are proud of that.

KM: Back in February I heard some initial reports that a few members of your staff were injured in the demonstrations and some of your branches were damaged. What has the revolution meant for your staff and your clients?

EBH: We never imagined we would go through such an experience. enda experienced some minor difficulties during the Ben Ali era, but we were able to get on with our work without too much interference. That’s probably due to our international status, I think. But we escaped the funding restrictions and controls that most Tunisian associations had to cope with, and which virtually suppressed civil society for decades. Somehow the regime accepted our presence despite our having remained politically neutral.

Since the 14th of January, things have become difficult for us as for the rest of the country. There’s been so much confusion and totally unfounded accusations. People didn’t understand how an institution could work under the Ben Ali regime and not belong to the regime or the family. One of our branches was burned down. A few members of our staff received threatening phone calls. We took essential documents out of the branches and headquarters to safe places. It was the first time in my life I felt responsible for something so big: we have 800 staff across 65 branches who serve 160 000 clients. I was not sure we would escape the fires and sabotage.

As the saying goes, during hard times you know who your friends are. The beauty was that our staff and clients protected enda. Trouble makers came to our headquarters and a few of our branches intending to burn them, and the staff stood outside saying, ‘No, if you want to burn it, you’ll have to burn us.’ Then our clients spoke out and said, ‘This is our institution. They have been giving us loans for so many years.’ We sent the staff out to talk to people in cafés, and on the streets to explain to everyone that we had not worked with the regime. One of our clients had to defend enda in a Turkish bath when she heard women doubting enda’s origins. Today Tunisians understand we are the people’s institution. We have a good reputation among the people and the new government.

So these are the beautiful things. The nicest thing about the revolution has been the sense of solidarity. Everyone asked, ‘What can I do for the country?’ Our partners have all helped us. Over 40 people called from abroad asking, ‘How are things going? How can we help?’  This was really encouraging and moving.

KM: But clearly there are some terrible things as well. What is the economic situation today in Tunisia, and what are the implications for enda inter-arabe as an institution? How are your clients faring financially?

EBH: Before the revolution, unemployment was a major concern. Now, with strikes that have led to factories closing and investors going elsewhere, plus thousands of people returning from Libya, the need for micro-credit is greater than ever. The donor money that has been promised is taking a long time to arrive, and the interim government has severely reduced services. As far as our clients are concerned, we estimate at least one-third have been affected by the situation – because of family members who were injured or killed, businesses that were destroyed or looted, and jobs in the tourism and agriculture sectors that have been shed. We have rescheduled repayments for about a fifth of our clients and refinanced some others at reduced interest rates.

We made a gift of 500 dinars to each client who lost a family member, a payment usually reserved for the client’s family in case of death or disability and not the extended family. Of course, these measures are costly for enda. But a microfinance institution is for the poor and when something terrible happens to our clients, enda must stand by them.

The ongoing war in Libya and the trouble in Syria are also exacting a toll – many clients, mostly women, were traders who purchased goods from Libya and Syria and sold them here. Their businesses have been severely affected. Other clients have been affected by the troubles in Libya, which was one of Tunisia’s biggest export markets for milk and dairy products.  Dairy processors are no longer [selling milk to Libyan companies], therefore they’re no longer buying milk from small Tunisian dairy farmers, therefore the farmers have to simply throw their milk away.

In total, there are about forty thousand Tunisian refugees who have come back from Libya. They used to have jobs and businesses there, and now they have nothing. We are working with some of the refugees who are resettled here to help them start businesses. So far, we have provided about 50 start-up business loans. The French Embassy and the Ministry of Social Affairs will be helping us extend this pilot project to about 500 refugees. 

KM: I recently spoke with a member of the interim government in Tunisia and got the impression that the government is still crippled by frequent demonstrations, despite their outreach efforts to the youth in particular. What’s your opinion – do you see the situation improving?

EBH: Our prime minister is 85. There is no tradition of talking to the grassroots and to the youth. It’s still top down. But at the same time, people are going overboard – being impatient, destructive, asking for unreasonable things. There are strikes everywhere fueled by the country’ main Union, UGTT.

If you turn on the TV or the radio you just hear a litany of complaints. People are criticizing everyone and accusing everyone of working with Ben Ali and his wife. I’ve talked with people who have lived through similar situations, for instance after the sudden fall of communism in Poland – I had the privilege of being invited to lunch with former Polish President Lech Walesa – and they reassure me this is normal. After decades of oppression when you cannot utter a word, all of a sudden there’s a revolution and you tell people they are free and it just pours out, sometimes irrationally.

KM: As a leading member of Tunisian civil society, are you in regular consultations with the interim government on policy issues?  What do you think the main priorities of the interim government should be?

EBH: With respect to microfinance there is good news. I met the Minister of Finance and we talked about microfinance for two hours. He also made a 90-minute visit to one of our branches and talked with a group of micro-entrepreneurs and came away impressed by the impact of microcredit on women’s empowerment. Things are moving quickly at the Ministry, with a team drafting new legislation based on best practices. So I hope in the near future we’ll have more institutions coming to Tunisia to work in microfinance, and enda will be able to become a fully fledged microfinance company offering a whole series of financial services to its clients.

But today we have 700 000 unemployed in Tunisia, and every year thousands more will join the labor market. Finding jobs for them is a major challenge for the government and for society. I’ve met a lot of young people who would like to create their own businesses or associations, but these efforts are only a few months old and they don’t know yet how to do it.

Today Tunisia is at a crossroads. We’re in a new wave of unfettered “democracy”. What should be the role of women in shaping the constitution? We cannot go to the extreme left or right – we must find our way in the center. We should not go from a dictatorship under Ben Ali to a dictatorship by an extremist party. This is what is worrying us today.
Some are calling on women to stay at home, calling for Sharia law, calling for polygamy and so on.

The intellectuals in Tunisia – we are trying our best to fight against this plague. Enda is conducting apolitical civic education sessions in our branches, explaining what democracy means, how to register, why voting is important. You can say, but you’re in the microfinance sector, why are you getting involved in this? Well, we cannot not be involved. It is our obligation as citizens. We are running out of time. People must understand that they need to vote for progressive parties in the [October] elections, as the victors will be responsible for writing the constitution. That will shape our society for decades to come!

KM: If there is one final message you would like to share with the international community, what would it be?

EBH: Tunisia is the first Arab country to have achieved women’s rights even before some European countries such as Italy or Switzerland. In 1956 we adopted a family code that has resulted in women having rights that are very similar to those in Europe or North America. This is a source of pride for Tunisia. It’s in our blood. Tunisia is successful because of our women. Thanks to family planning, the population is only 10 million; without family planning, experts think our population today would be 15 million or more. We have a lot of educated people today, including women. I think Tunisia will be saved by its women.

I fear that if the fundamentalist parties come to power, this may lead to a big step backwards in the area of women’s rights, the symbol of freedom in our country. Tunisia needs to continue progressing with the rest of the modern world while maintaining its Arab Muslim identity. This does not require turning back to the Middle Ages.