Scholarships
Taa Marbouta Scholarships
Overview
Objectives
- Increase the academic and professional skills of the participants through full-time academic study, professional internships, and civil society activities.
- Help connect international students with local NGOs in Tunisia.
- Learn more about Tunisia and the development of its civil society after the revolution of 2011, Immerse participants in a North African and Arabic-speaking country.
- Create sustainable links with Tunisian communities and increase students’ cross-cultural understanding.
Eligibility
From all countries and territories.
Demonstrable interest in human rights, anti-corruption & civil society
Able to secure a visa or travel visa-free to Tunisia.
How to apply
Previous scholarship recipients
The second recipient of the Malek Sghiri Scholarship was Joe Dunford from the UK. Joe worked extensively with Amnesty International while studying at Edinburgh University, and then continued to work with the organisation in Tunisia. He balanced his Arabic studies alongside his human rights work, covering a range of issues across North Africa.
The third recipient of the Malek Sghiri Scholarship was Cindy Xue from China. Cindy had previously worked in international consulting, covering a range of issues that touched on human rights. An exceptional musician, Cindy became deeply integrated with musicians and the music scene within Tunisian civil society, while learning Arabic with Taa Marbouta.
Have a question
If you have any inquiries or need clarification about the Scholarship, feel free to reach out to us. You can email us at info@taamarbouta.com with the subject line “Scholarship Inquiry”. Our team will be happy to assist you with any questions regarding eligibility, the application process, or the program details.
Don't hesitate to contact us, your interest is important to us!
About Malek Sghiri
One of the last prisoners of the Ben Ali Regime, Malek Sghiri was arrested on 11 January 2011. He was released six days later to discover that the people of Tunisia had toppled the dictatorship and started the rippling effect of the ‘Arab Spring’.Malek was an activist as a student at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Tunis, and later as a history teacher, researcher, and journalist. As noted in the book Writing Revolution, Malek led marches in Tunis, fought against security forces in Gasserine, and was detained and tortured in the depths of the Interior Ministry in downtown Tunis. ‘At a conference in Tunis on the Arab revolutions he criticized older speakers for limiting speaking time for younger delegates: Don’t patronize the youth as our dictators have done for decades!‘
Malek came from a family of activists and freedom fighters; his grandfathers fought for Tunisian independence, their fathers were leading figures in the 1906 uprising in Gasserine, and he could even trace his revolutionary genes to Ali Ben Ghadahom, a leader in the 1864 revolt against Mohamed Sadok Bey. Malek’s father was imprisoned for political activism under both Bourguiba and Ben Ali, and Malek vividly remembered his experiences visiting his father in jail. Malek wrote: ‘I confess that I am angry and bitter at this regime and I confess that I wanted revenge, but I also confess, with a clear conscience, that the trifling things I did – which others call fighting for freedom and which I call the search for meaning in an unintelligible world – were in no way the fruit of that thirst for vengeance… I cannot remember ever being pleased to see another person’s downfall or making the fight against tyranny a purely personal issue.’
He dreamt of a new generation of politicians and founded “Nouvelle Génération جيل جديد”, a movement of young activists in April 2011. He later joined the “Manish Msameh مانيش مسامح” campaign countering impunity, before becoming head of the “Courant Democrate التيّار الديمقراطي” political academy. Malek passed away on 10 June 2021 at the age of 35 while rescuing a friend from drowning. He lived and died for the values he believed in. With the blessing of Malek’s wife, Azza, we are proud to name this scholarship after Malek, with the hope that his dreams may one day become Tunisia’s reality.
