Annual Report
2024-2025
Annual Report
2024-2025

Tunisia

Project

PSSEETAT

Women in Agribusiness on the Move

At the heart of the Project to Structure Economic and Environmental Services for Tunisian Women in Agri-Food Processing (PSSEETAT) are women and young women who are committed, motivated, and determined to achieve their ambitions!

Since 2022, the project has been supporting 12 women's professional agricultural organizations to improve their members' resilience to climate change and make them more socially and economically autonomous.

This year, after extensive analysis and consultation, the project began rolling out its training program on 17 topics related to the environment and climate change, processing, marketing, gender equality, and inclusive governance. A total of 358 people (352 women and 8 men), including 100 young people, took part in the activities.

In addition to training, the APOs received support in structuring their services and strengthening their entrepreneurship and financing plans.

  • In February 2025, a three-day event on strengthening financing and entrepreneurship for professional agricultural organizations and women entrepreneurs was held. A total of 133 people gathered to discuss the various financing instruments available, how to apply for financing, and to share examples of successful women's entrepreneurship. This activity was greatly appreciated by the participants, who now feel more confident.
  • Members of the 12 professional agricultural organizations involved in the project followed a participatory process throughout the year to define their real needs and prioritize the collective services to be developed or improved.

It is thanks to the support of the APOs in this process that they will be able to access funds that will enable them to better structure their organizations and have a greater collective impact.

The determination, resilience, and ingenuity of Tunisian women agri-food processors continue to impress us! There is no doubt that they will achieve great things by the end of the project.

The PSSEETAT is implemented in collaboration with the Tunisian Union of Agriculture and Fisheries (UTAP) and the Maghreb and North African Union of Farmers (UMNAGRI). It is made possible thanks to the financial support of the Government of Canada, through Global Affairs Canada.

Model Families for Greater Gender Equality

Marie-Soleil Sturm Aubert

As part of the PSSEETAT, three rural families have embarked on an innovative approach: gender-based model families.

This approach recognizes families as units of social transformation to promote gender equality and change perceptions of traditional roles.

Marie-Soleil, a Canadian-Tunisian gender equality specialist and volunteer with the Agro-Innov Network, worked with each family to co-develop an action plan aimed at achieving a more equitable distribution of tasks in the home and on their farms.

Thanks to the project, Warda, her husband, and their children now share domestic and farm work in a spirit of solidarity. “You can't applaud with one hand,” says Warda, illustrating the importance of collective change.

Marie-Soleil's commitment has helped document and amplify this social transformation, positioning these families as inspiring role models for others and highlighting a path toward greater equality, dignity, and resilience.

Senegal
Benin
Martin Caron
President of the Board

The future of agriculture, here and around the world, depends greatly on the decisions we make and the actions we take today. Hence the expression, “The future starts now.”

This projection into the future calls for deep reflection. Are the necessary resources available? Is the sustainability of family farming assured? Are collective marketing systems alive and well? Are structural initiatives continuing to emerge? Does the next generation of farmers have confidence in the future?

Each of these questions is relevant and deserves careful consideration. If the answer to most of them is yes, we must continue along the same path. If the answer is no, we must act, innovate, unite, and collectively change the course of events —preferably sooner rather than later.

This concern for the future is central to the mission of UPA Développement international (UPA DI), which, since 1993, has drawn on Quebec's agricultural values to support the development of a large number of rural communities around the world.  To do this, we pilot environmentally friendly projects that are transferable to future generations and designed to enhance food security and autonomy for populations.

Our local farmers can take pride in all these projects, as well as in the many forms of representation that UPA DI provides to numerous international organizations. Reading this annual report will surely convince you!

Hugo Beauregard-Langelier
Chief Executive Director

While many are content to believe that the future will be the same as the past or trying to revive an idealized version of the past, others are forging ahead, dreaming of a future they are building. For them, the future is not something that simply happens to us, but something shaped by the actions we take.

These dreams to be built and actions to be taken, have been central in the past year at UPA Développement international (UPA DI).  All this leading to the adoption of a new strategic plan, an opportunity to reflect on the mark UPA DI seeks to leave in the evolving landscape of agriculture and international solidarity.

Rooted in its history, engaged in the present, and ambitious towards the future, UPA DI's vision is for those who feed the world and inhabit our agricultural lands to live with dignity from the fruit of their labour. This vision is built on ecological economic growth, strong collective action, and the socio-economic empowerment of women.

But the realization of these aspirations will inevitably depend on young people, the next generation, who will live in a time where the potential for technological and social innovation has never been greater, yet crises have never been more frequent or severe.

If, as they say, history repeats itself, we must trust these young people who will feed us tomorrow to rise to the challenges they will face, just as our ancestors did before us. And if history repeats itself, UPA DI will be by their side to dream, innovate, and build a future driven by collective action, solidarity, equity, social justice, respect, and democracy.

Happy reading!

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