During the period 1997-2000, the National Solidarity Fund was consolidated through the setting up of new solidarity mechanisms aimed at providing micro credits in order to back up efforts for the creation of small businesses and income sources. These mechanisms are also intended to support the state policy on employment, both by improving the employability of job seekers or vocational adjustment through the development of wage employment or self employment. They are three mechanisms added to Fund 26-26 in order to make up together a national solidarity system through components that complete one another but with different scopes of intervention. These new mechanisms, which provide important support to the state’s balanced development policy, are:

The Tunisian Solidarity Bank was established in 1997. Until late October 2009, the bank has contributed to the creation and expansion of about 117,686 small business projects through micro-credits with funds amounting to 935.544 million dinars including 25,755 projects which benefited people living in areas where the FSN intervened.

The micro-credit system provided by development associations (currently 282 associations). This system, established in 1999, has until late October 2009, granted 406,494 micro-credits out of which 59,755 benefited applicants for projects in the areas where the Fund intervened. The total value of these micro-loans was 49.472 million dinars.

The National Employment Fund (21-21) was established in 1999 to promote training and youth employment. The Fund provided training to job seekers without any professional qualifications or university graduates. Many of these trainees are seeking specific or additional training likely to improve their employability and opportunities to integrate wage earning employment sectors or self-employment by becoming eligible for loans in order to start up a small business. Since its inception and until late October 2009, this fund has provided assistance to 969,154 beneficiaries including 121,900 university graduates with global funds of 802, 3 million dinars.