UNESCO and the Dr. Sadok Besrour Foundation (Canada) signed, on September 15, 2025, in Paris, a US $1.5 million partnership agreement to support the role of culture in sustainable development in Tunisia.
Running for four years (2025–2029), this Program aims to combine heritage preservation, training, and the creative economy in order to strengthen the sector’s cultural and socio-economic impact on the ground.
The agreement was signed at UNESCO headquarters by Charaf Ahmimed, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for the Maghreb, and by Dr. Sadok Besrour, President of the Foundation, in the presence of Tunisia’s Ambassador to UNESCO, Dhia Khaled.
The initiative is part of an integrated vision: protecting, passing on, and showcasing heritage while creating opportunities for young people and local communities.
At the heart of the project, the crafts component will roll out a knowledge-transfer program : 28 master craftspeople will train 84 apprentices over the course of the Program.
The target is explicit : to preserve the nine Tunisian elements of intangible cultural heritage inscribed by UNESCO, all related to crafts, by ensuring generational succession and quality of practice.
About world heritage, the partnership provides for technical support and capacity-building for the managers of Tunisia’s nine listed sites. Attention will be paid to Djerba as well as to the completion of the “UNESCO Heritage Route” and the preservation of oasis systems, key links in environmental resilience and tourism appeal.
The project also addresses the skills shortage in heritage-related trades. It will fund qualifying training pathways for young practitioners, who will in turn become trainers, to establish a lasting dynamic of professionalization in museums, restoration sites, archives, and archaeological sites.
Finally, the initiative relies on scaling up the creative economy: supporting and building the capacity of local stakeholders to structure projects, improve access to financing, and prepare applications for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) in the 2027 and 2029 cycles.
The goal is to transform cultural capital into economic opportunities and skilled jobs, particularly for young people and women. By strengthening heritage protection, knowledge transfer, and value creation, this partnership aims to align Tunisian cultural policy with the requirements of sustainable development, while enhancing the country’s standing on the regional and international stage.
The inscription of Djerba on UNESCO’s World Heritage List marks a major international recognition of the island’s exceptional value, shaped by a harmonious relationship between people, culture, and environment.
Through its landscapes, traditional dwellings, iconic monuments, and religious pluralism, Djerba embodies a distinctive way of inhabiting the land, carrying history, diversity, and collective intelligence.
This recognition, made official on September 18, 2023, is also the culmination of a decisive commitment made possible by the endowment of the Dr. Besrour Foundation, whose support played an essential role in the international profile and recognition of this universal heritage. Beyond the prestige, this inscription opens lasting prospects for preservation, transmission, and promotion for the island and for Tunisia.
The 2014 Conference : This Conference was framed around innovation and action. Its goal was no longer simply to reflect or organise, but to concretely advance family medicine worldwide through tools, strategies, and new partnerships. It began by presenting the results of the working groups established in 2013: accounts of the emergence of family medicine training in several countries, a faculty development workshop, and initial publication work. The groups were refocused and expanded, notably with the addition of community engagement and the creation of a new group on continuing medical education for general practitioners, including those not specifically trained as family physicians. The Conference also proposed the creation of research teams to more rigorously demonstrate the effects of family medicine across different contexts. Finally, it led to a major institutional milestone: approval of the creation of the Besrour Centre, conceived as a lasting platform for collaboration, research, dissemination, and support for the development of family medicine worldwide.
The 2013 Conference : The second Conference marked the shift from reflection to more concrete implementation. Its theme, "Strengthening the Foundations," reflected the intent to consolidate the discipline and turn discussions into structured action. Four working groups were created. The first focused on narratives of family medicine training, documenting the rollout of programs in different countries. The second addressed advocacy, community engagement, and the ethics of international partnerships, with the goal of producing frameworks and tools useful to those working on the ground. The third group was tasked with producing discussion and dissemination documents. Finally, the fourth group examined faculty development, particularly in medical schools that did not yet have a family medicine program. This Conference thus helped structure collaborative work and confirmed the key role of university departments in the discipline's global development.
The 2012 Conference : The first Conference mainly laid the groundwork for the project. It aimed to define a shared vision, mission, and strategic priorities for strengthening family medicine worldwide, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. Five major priorities emerged: making family medicine a central, viable, and effective component of national health systems; strengthening continuing education and knowledge among family physicians; encouraging accreditation and certification; supporting the development of medical faculties; and fostering knowledge production to measure the impact of family medicine on health. This first Conference played a founding role by establishing the intellectual and strategic framework of the initiative.
La conférence 2014 : Cette conférence s’est inscrite dans une logique d’innovation et de passage à l’action. Son objectif n’était plus seulement de réfléchir ou d’organiser, mais de faire avancer concrètement la médecine familiale à l’échelle mondiale grâce à des outils, des stratégies et de nouveaux partenariats. Elle a d’abord permis de présenter les résultats des groupes de travail mis en place en 2013 : récits sur l’émergence de la formation en médecine familiale dans plusieurs pays, atelier de perfectionnement professoral et premiers travaux de publication. Ensuite, les groupes ont été recentrés et élargis, notamment avec l’ajout de l’engagement communautaire et la création d’un nouveau groupe sur la formation médicale continue des médecins généralistes, y compris ceux qui n’avaient pas été formés spécifiquement comme médecins de famille. La conférence a aussi proposé la création d’équipes de recherche pour mieux démontrer, de manière rigoureuse, les effets de la médecine familiale dans différents contextes.
Enfin, elle a mené à une avancée institutionnelle majeure : l’approbation de la création du Centre Besrour, conçu comme une plateforme durable de collaboration, de recherche, de diffusion et de soutien au développement de la médecine familiale dans le monde.
La conférence 2013 : La deuxième conférence a marqué le passage de la réflexion à une mise en œuvre plus concrète. Son thème, "Renforcer les fondations", traduisait la volonté de consolider la discipline et de transformer les échanges en actions structurées. Quatre groupes de travail ont alors été créés. Le premier portait sur les récits de formation en médecine familiale afin de documenter l’implantation de programmes dans différents pays. Le deuxième s’intéressait au plaidoyer, à l’engagement communautaire et à l’éthique des partenariats internationaux, avec pour objectif de produire des cadres et des outils utiles aux acteurs du terrain. Un troisième groupe avait pour mission de produire des documents de réflexion et de diffusion.
Enfin, un quatrième groupe s’est penché sur le développement professoral, notamment dans les facultés de médecine qui ne disposaient pas encore de programme de médecine familiale. Cette conférence a donc permis de structurer le travail collaboratif et de confirmer le rôle clé des départements universitaires dans le développement mondial de la discipline.
La première conférence a surtout servi à poser les bases du projet. Elle visait à définir une vision commune, une mission et des priorités stratégiques pour renforcer la médecine familiale dans le monde, en priorité les pays à faible ou moyen revenu.
Cinq grandes priorités en sont ressorties : faire de la médecine familiale un élément central, viable et efficace des systèmes nationaux de santé ; renforcer la formation continue et les connaissances des médecins de famille ; encourager l’agrément et la certification ; soutenir le développement des facultés de médecine ; et favoriser la production de connaissances permettant de mesurer l’impact de la médecine familiale sur la santé. Cette première conférence a donc joué un rôle fondateur en fixant le cadre intellectuel et stratégique de l’initiative.
