The Shawiya of Tunisia

The Shawiya of Tunisia, numbering approximately 53,000 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: Tunisia
People Cluster: Amazigh-Shawiya
Primary Language(s): Tachawit (shy)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 53,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012220

Pray for the Shawiya of Tunisia

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

—
%
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 Tunisia

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
readPsalm 19:1

Pray that those who are lost will look to the heavens and see the glory of God displayed, leading them to seek Him and know Him as their Creator and Savior.

...And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
readLuke 24:47

Pray that the message of repentance and forgiveness through Jesus will reach everyone.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
readActs 2:42

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will devote themselves to God's Word, to fellowship with each other, and to prayer.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
readHebrews 4:12

Pray that God will make His living and active Word available to everyone in this people group so that many will respond to the gospel. Ask Him to provide Jesus-followers to walk with new believers as they grow in Him.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

5 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguage ▼Religion
ShawiyaShawiyaBelgium42,500Unengaged and UnreachedTachawitSunni Islam
ShawiyaShawiyaItaly39,000Unengaged and UnreachedTachawitSunni Islam
ShawiyaShawiyaAlgeria2,525,000Engaged yet UnreachedTachawitSunni Islam
ShawiyaShawiyaFrance196,000Unengaged and UnreachedTachawitSunni Islam
ShawiyaShawiyaTunisia53,000Unengaged 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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