The Shawiya of France

The Shawiya of France, numbering approximately 196,000 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 2.5 Flash: Shawiya

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Arab Peoples
Country: France
People Cluster: Amazigh-Shawiya
Primary Language(s): Tachawit (shy)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 196,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011679
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Shawiya of France

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
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

Bible Resources in Tachawit:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Tachawit bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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 France

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
read1 Chronicles 16:26

Pray that those among them who are lost and seeking after worthless idols will have the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news, seeing that Jesus is better than any idol.

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed"
readGalatians 3:8

Ask the Lord to fulfill His promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed by advancing the gospel to every people group who has yet to receive it.

The LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
readNumbers 6:25

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember that He has given them His favor and His presence.

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
read3 John 1:2

Ask God to grant protection and good health — both physical and spiritual — to those He sends cross-culturally to share the gospel.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

5 people groups

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ShawiyaShawiyaTunisia53,000Unengaged and UnreachedTachawitSunni Islam
ShawiyaShawiyaFrance196,000Unengaged and UnreachedTachawitSunni Islam
ShawiyaShawiyaAlgeria2,525,000Engaged yet UnreachedTachawitSunni Islam
ShawiyaShawiyaItaly39,000Unengaged and UnreachedTachawitSunni Islam
ShawiyaShawiyaBelgium42,500Unengaged 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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