Trust Before Transition: Tunisia’s Lessons on Community Power

Tunisia’s deep south—Tataouine and Kebili—holds a paradox. For decades, they’ve been among the country’s richest in natural resources. Oil wells, gas fields and, now, massive renewable energy projects mark the landscape.  

But these are also politically symbolic. Since the 2011 revolution, Tataouine and Kebili have led some of Tunisia’s most sustained social movements. Protesters have repeatedly halted oil and gas production, demanding not only jobs, but dignity, justice and a voice in decisions that shape their future.

From margins to the frontlines of transition

Today, as Tunisia embarks on its energy transition journey, Tataouine and Kebili are again at the forefront, but this time, not just as sites of extraction or protest. They are becoming testing grounds for a new kind of energy future—one rooted in participation, trust and local ownership.

For NRGI, this shift embodies our core mission: supporting energy transitions that center equity, local agency and lasting accountability. When communities move from the margins to decision-making spaces, transitions become not only fairer, but more durable.

The Trust Gap: Why Energy Transitions Can’t Be Top-Down

This isn’t just a Tunisian story. Across the world, transitions risk deepening distrust when driven from the top down. Without trust, energy reforms fail—no matter how ambitious or well-funded.

People have grown tired of promises of “development” that never reach them. They’ve seen plans drawn up without their input, resources extracted without benefits returning, and decisions made behind closed doors.

 

 

 

“If they keep deciding everything from the capital, they’ll never know what our people really need. We must be at the table, not outside the door.” Fatiha Amairi, activist from Tataouine

In Tataouine, after the 2017 El Kamour sit-in, the government promised 80 million TND annually and 4,500 local jobs in oil,  environment, and plantation sectors. By 2020, only around 2,500 jobs had materialized, and key funding and hiring provisions stalled—sparking renewed protests, strikes and roadblocks around regional oil infrastructure.  

Trust isn't a soft issue. It's the foundation that everything else rests on. Without it, even solar panels and wind farms can symbolize exclusion.

NRGI’s People-First Approach: Strengthening Capacity, Rebuilding Trust

Many projects focus on big goals and short timelines but miss the core that actually holds it all together: trust.

NRGI took a different path in Tunisia—by listening. In Tataouine and Kebili, that meant sitting with communities in familiar spaces: cafés, homes, tents, and not conference rooms. It meant speaking in Arabic, sometimes in local dialects, and taking the time to understand what people really wanted from the energy transition.

Building on that foundation, NRGI has supported civil society partners and local stakeholders to engage more confidently with authorities, better understand project timelines, and advocate for meaningful consultation, ensuring that communities are not only heard but also equipped to shape the decisions that affect them.

What we heard was clear. People weren’t asking for glossy transition plans. They want to know: “Will this create real jobs, or is it just another project on paper?” One local youth leader asked whether renewables would finally bring transparency—or simply repeat the same extractive logic. Farmers shared fears about solar projects taking over their land without consultation. Others spoke of the deep fatigue of being promised development without ever being part of the conversation.

“We don’t need another top-down plan. We need guarantees: jobs, justice, and a seat at the table.” Anouer Belhabib, activist from Kebili

Since 2020, we’ve taken a people-first and process-led approach: no pre-written agendas or imposed timelines. Instead, we co-designed each step with local actors, adapting language, formats and expectations.

At its core, this wasn’t just about participation. It was about restoring dignity to a process where people too often feel spoken about, but rarely spoken to.

The Shift: When Communities Lead

The change in Tataouine and Kebili didn’t happen overnight. It took three years of steady investment in local leadership through mentoring, technical training and ongoing collaboration.

Capacity development efforts were key—not just transferring technical knowledge, but equipping local actors with the tools, confidence and institutional know-how to engage as equals in governance processes. Whether analyzing budgets, navigating legal frameworks or speaking in policy forums, communities needed more than passion—they needed preparation.

When we began, more than 40 civil society organizations (CSOs) across Tataouine and Kebili were still emerging, fragmented and often reactive. Step by step, they grew into informed, coordinated actors who could analyze policies, interpret budgets, negotiate with ministries and speak with confidence in national spaces. Their transformation made them harder to ignore. The consistency of their engagement, combined with the credibility they built in locally, slowly shifted how government actors saw them. In some cases, ministries even reached out first—not out of obligation, but out of recognition.

Our support focused not just on technical skills, but on legitimacy:

• Providing safe, culturally appropriate spaces for women and youth
• Helping activists expand from protest, which remains vital, to constructive advocacy strategies that bring them into policy conversations
• Encouraging formats that communities trusted from tent meetings to café debates

Real change didn’t come from a single event. It grew from patient, persistent investment in local leadership. Today, these CSOs are no longer just calling for a seat at the table. They are proposing reforms, pushing for more equitable energy  policies, and hold  both local authorities and national energy institutions accountable, not from the margins, but as essential voices in Tunisia’s energy future.

Turning Point: When Dialogue Replaced Confrontation

Tunisia’s shift from protest to partnership is marked by key moments. In 2022, civil society groups sat with the Ministry of Energy to discuss reforming the Hydrocarbon Code—a topic long seen as off-limits. Just a few years earlier, such a meeting would have been marked by tension or simply dismissed altogether. But this time, there was no confrontation. Just dialogue — cautious, quiet, but real.  

For the first time, civil society wasn’t outside the room demanding change—they were inside, helping shape it.

By 2025, that dialogue had deepened. During a national workshop on the energy transition, organized by NRGI, CSOs from Tataouine and Kebili sat across from senior government officials. In a context where such engagement is rare, the event stood out for its openness, mutual respect and what it revealed: civil society had become a credible actor and trust was starting to replace tension.

Beyond Tunisia: Why This Story Matters Everywhere

Tataouine and Kebili might not headline global energy summits. But they reflect a truth that resonates far beyond Tunisia: transitions fail when people are treated as obstacles rather than partners.

All over the world, communities in resource-rich regions are asking to be more than just hosts to infrastructure. They want a voice in how their resources are managed and how benefits are shared.

If we want the energy transition to succeed—and to be just, not just fast—we need more than solar panels and updated policies. We need trust. We need legitimacy. And we need to build both with the people whose lives and lands are most affected.  

That’s the real work.  

Building trust isn’t just about good intentions. It takes investment—in time, in relationships and in capacity. Around the world, communities most affected by extractive projects or energy reforms are too often under-resourced to engage effectively in decisions. If we want just transitions, we need to fund not just infrastructure, but people—to ensure communities have the knowledge, tools and institutional muscle to co-lead the future of energy.

A Just Transition Starts by Slowing Down and Listening

It’s easy to talk about megawatts, investment flows and net-zero targets. But if we skip people—ignoring their knowledge, their fears, their hopes—we miss the point.

A truly just transition isn’t about who builds what, it’s about who gets to decide.

• For policymakers: Slow down. Make space. Legitimacy isn’t a given—it’s earned.
• For donors: Fund the process, not just the outcome. Trust-building takes time.
• For civil society: Keep centering the voices that have been pushed to the margins. That’s where real leadership is growing.

Tataouine and Kebili remind us: when communities move from the sidelines into real decision-making roles, transitions gain not just momentum but meaning.