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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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The Shawiya of Italy

The Shawiya of Italy, numbering approximately 39,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Berber ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the Aurès Plateau region of the Atlas Mountains of northeastern Algeria. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Tachawit is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Shawiya

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Arab Peoples
Country: Italy
People Cluster: Amazigh-Shawiya
Primary Language(s): Tachawit (shy)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 39,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG000353
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Pray for the Shawiya of Italy

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

100%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tachawit
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Tachawit Speakers

Media Resources in Tachawit:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tachawit:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tachawit bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Shawiya:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Shawiya of Italy

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
readIsaiah 48:11

Pray that those who have been living for their own glory will turn to the One who is worthy of all praise and find their true identity in Him.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
readMatthew 13: 45-46

Pray that they will recognize the treasure of knowing Christ Jesus and be willing to give up everything else to gain Him.

“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
readLamentations 3:24

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and walk through trials, they will be satisfied with the Lord as their portion and will place all their hope in Him.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.
readLuke 10:1

Ask God to raise up, send out, and sustain Christians who can go together to share the good news of Jesus with those who need it.

Amazigh, Shawiya Across Countries (ROP3 - 108925) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

5 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ShawiyaPG011273ShawiyaAlgeria2,525,000Engaged yet UnreachedTachawitSunni Islam
ShawiyaPG011679ShawiyaFrance196,000Unengaged and UnreachedTachawitSunni Islam
ShawiyaPG012220ShawiyaTunisia53,000Unengaged and UnreachedTachawitSunni Islam
ShawiyaPG000070ShawiyaBelgium42,500Unengaged and UnreachedTachawitSunni Islam
ShawiyaPG000353ShawiyaItaly39,000Unengaged and UnreachedTachawitSunni Islam

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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