Tunisian Diaspora Humanitarianism in times of COVID-19

How has the Tunisian diaspora responded when COVID-19 hit their country of origin? How did they support and engage with families, communities back in Tunisia? And did they coordinate with the wider humanitarian system when delivering humanitarian aid?

DEMAC has conducted a Real-time review between July and September 2021, providing a rapid analysis of the humanitarian response of Tunisian diaspora organizations to the fourth and most severe wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 crunched Tunisia

Although Tunisia coped well in responding to the first waves of COVID-19, the situation deteriorated dramatically with the fourth wave striking in July 2021. At that time, Tunisia reported the highest number of deaths per capita from COVID-19 in the Middle East and Africa. The government, previously coping well the situation, swiftly got overwhelmed with the response and called for support from its diaspora.