On 26 and 27 October 2022, transnational meetings were held in Roubaix, France, to launch the FAMOUS project – Formation des Acteurs en MOUvement pour la Solidarité.
FAMOUS: an innovative project
This is an ERASMUS+ project carried out within the framework of the KA220-ADU action – Cooperative Partnerships in Adult Education. Involving 5 European partners, FAMOUS aims to build the power to act of people in precarious situations, users or volunteers of associations by developing a training programme for the recognition and development of their soft skills, activated within associations. 24 people from this group in France and Romania will be involved in the co-design of these training tools.
Complementary partners
The project is implemented by the Secours Populaire Français Committee of Roubaix (France), which is the lead partner of this project with 4 international partners: Asociatia Stea de Satu Mare (Romania); Pour La Solidarité (PLS) (Belgium); Coopérative pour le Développement de la Créativité et de l’Innovation (France) and Université de Paris (France).
2 constructive days
The FAMOUS launch days enabled the representatives of the 5 partners to meet for the first time in person to prepare the implementation of the project. Beyond the management aspects of the project – establishing the means of monitoring and communication – an important part of the discussions allowed the methodological bases of the joint work with the target public to be laid down.
People in precarious situations and co-design
The participants shared their experiences of working with people in precarious situations who have limited access to traditional training and professional integration programmes. The exchange focused on the new approaches of co-design that will be built and tested thanks to this transnational project allowing to support the valorisation of the competences of these people to increase their power of action. The joint work will enhance their soft skills (knowing how to be and knowing how to do) acquired through their experiences within the associations and make them more visible to themselves and others. Through participatory workshops and the co-editing of a glossary, these people will be able to appropriate theoretical concepts, become aware of their own abilities and recognize their increased skills, which will lead to choices and actions for personal and collective development (through the development of their power to act). Throughout the process, they will be accompanied in this rise in skills (intra, inter-personal) which will allow them to access a more traditional integration pathway.
Organization of the work and first achievements
Other parts of the working meetings in Roubaix focused on the preparation of the different activities of the project with a more precise division of tasks of each partner, the updating of the work schedule, the risk analysis and the evaluation plan. Particular attention was paid to the identification of concrete measures for the promotion of gender equality through this project.
A leaflet presenting the project to the target audience was discussed by the participants, identifying the key elements to be conveyed in a way that is understandable to people in precarious situations, users or volunteers of the Secours Populaire Français Committee in Roubaix in France and the Stea Association in Romania, in order to motivate them to get involved in the project.
The meetings also allowed the preparation of qualitative interviews to start the direct work with the co-designers who, in the first stage, will be involved in a survey on the obstacles to integration linked to soft skills, and on the training needs.
