The WIPO Academy and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Tunisia launched TANIT, an intellectual property (IP) project for Tunisian youth club members, and the youth club facilitators and inspectors who manage the youth centers and their activities.
The project kicked-off with the online training component for the facilitators and inspectors held in Arabic on April 18, 2024, which was followed by an in-person workshop held in Arabic and English from April 23 to 25, 2024 in Hammamet, Tunisia.
Youth club facilitators at the kick-off training offered by the WIPO Academy from April 23 to 25, 2024 in Tunisia to launch the TANIT project (Image: Ministry of Youth and Sports of Tunisia).
Fifty youth facilitators and inspectors from all regions of Tunisia, participated in the workshops and shared their experiences of creativity and IP-focused activities for the youth. The participants also gained practical takeaways on how to integrate creativity, innovation and IP education and skills-building into youth activities.
The first training component of the TANIT project in Tunisia falls under the IP4Youth&Teachers Service. The service was designed and launched by the WIPO Academy in 2018. Its primary purpose is to engage young people involved in the creative process to leverage IP for the benefit of their communities and jointly, with national authorities, promote the use of IP among young people.
What did the workshops cover?
The workshops covered:
key IP concepts including copyright, patents, trademarks, and industrial designs;
copyright issues raised by participants such as ways of protecting creative works before publishing them online;
creative ways of teaching modeled by out-of-the-box thinking and the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ);
Tunisian, regional and international success stories of businesses that addressed social problems and provided societal benefits through innovative use of IP strategies;
new interdisciplinary youth model activities that include creativity, innovation, IP and entrepreneurship;
gamification tools and strategies to enhance engagement in interactive activities for youth; and
a guided practice on designing and developing youth activities using a final assessment template.
As part of the TANIT project, the youth facilitators will go on to prepare an IP youth model activity plan for their respective clubs, and continue to partake in a final phase of training before completing an evaluation leading to their certification as WIPO Academy Youth Facilitators.
What is TANIT?
The TANIT project supports youth innovation hubs across Tunisia to empower the youth through IP. The first component of TANIT targets youth club facilitators and inspectors, and the second component is dedicated to training the youth on creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and IP with a focus on the role of the IP innovation ecosystem in job creation.
Youth facilitator reactions:
(Image: WIPO/Aji)
My expectations prior to the workshop were to learn about the specifics of intellectual property (IP), but the experience exceeded that by far. Key points I gained include adopting out-of-the-box thinking, understanding the multiplicity of expressions in IP protection, and learning methods to develop creativity in the youth. The workshop contributed to my professional development by linking my activism and organization's productions to intellectual property. Practical elements I'll add to my club activities moving forward include choosing specific topics and linking them to IP while employing methods of innovation and creativity.
Ms. Zorgane Boudour, Youth Club Facilitator, Tunisia
(Image: WIPO/Aji)
Initially, I assumed the workshop would be purely theoretical, with me merely receiving lessons and concepts. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself interacting, participating, and generating ideas with the group and trainers. I was mostly engaged through the gamified lessons. Following this workshop, I will try to provide young people with a general understanding of innovation, creativity, and intellectual property (IP) in my role as a club facilitator. Additionally, I will work on raising awareness among young creatives about the significance of IP and guiding them on how to protect and profit from their innovations and creativity.
