The Press — Tunisia Suffers from a Persistent Difficulty: Clearly Communicating in Times of Crisis
Nowhere is this weakness more pronounced than in water management, a vital resource deeply linked to social stability. As the country faces a structural water deficit, a reality that exacerbates social tensions, particularly in Gafsa and Kairouan, to the point of justifying the support of the United Nations for peace consolidation through the "Apaise-PBF" project, the official discourse still struggles to produce the necessary mobilization effect for a full collective awareness. The idea persists that discretion can contain concern. However, in a context of scarcity, the lack of detailed information on the state of dams, irrigation quotas, or distribution criteria tends to fuel misunderstanding, divergent interpretations, and sometimes a feeling of territorial inequity. Water is a finite resource. Managing scarcity implies, above all, sharing the effort and explaining it. The urgency is not only to diversify sources but also to consolidate the trust relationship between the state and the citizen, between regions, between urban and rural areas. This requires a change in posture: a public communication based on transparency, realism, and consistency. Making hydrological data accessible, region by region, explicitly linking the water issue to territorial development choices, showing that equity in management is a lever for investment and social peace: these are approaches that can associate citizens with the national effort to rationalize an essential resource. In the same vein, education on sobriety by launching a large civic campaign would gain from prioritizing explanation over moral injunction. It's less about constraining than making people understand the difficult trade-offs imposed by scarcity. Speaking out, explaining, contextualizing, listening, and sometimes even shocking: these are necessary acts to prevent the information space from being occupied by fragmented or contradictory discourses. The quality of this communication also partly depends on the country's ability to sustainably manage its water and preserve its social cohesion.
