Working as a network of partners
For the past 8 years, we have been organising an annual meeting of our international partners, who come together for the ‘Communities of Practice and Knowledge’. The goal is simple: to develop our skills and the tools of our partners, who are facing similar issues, particularly when it comes to supporting children in street situations. Ultimately, the aim is to develop our work as a network of civil society players.
This year's meeting took place from 28 October to 2 November in Tangiers (Morocco). It brought together 26 participants from 19 organisations in 10 different countries1. The participants were social workers, heads of service, psychologists, legal experts, unit or organisation managers: all of them have close links with the families supported by their organisations and have a detailed knowledge of the work carried out with them.
Fruitful exchanges on the approach towards families
This year, the various workshops focused on the theme of families: "How can we support families differently? This is also a fundamental issue in supporting children living on the streets, as it helps to prevent breakdowns on the one hand, and to rebuild ties and reunite children with their families where possible on the other.
During the week, the group shared their experiences of working with families (both the successes and the difficulties), questioned their practices, pooled their support tools and developed new ones. The aim is to enable the group to stimulate innovation in their practices, constantly adapt to the realities of families and provide them with the best possible support.
Building collective knowledge over the years
This collective workshop was also an opportunity to hand over to the participants a tool developed following the Brazzaville meeting in 2023, and the group work that continued for an entire year. The tool was very positively received, and the participants are now the ones who will pass it on to their respective organisations to share and disseminate it in their practices for supporting young people.
Finally, this annual meeting enables all of us to create and maintain ties, because after all, these are professionals who share similar problems daily. For example, during the week, participants were able to visit the 100% Mamans scheme run by our Moroccan partner, which was co-organising the meeting, to observe the support provided there.
We are convinced that developing work as a network of professionals is beneficial to civil society players. It is essential to develop horizontal links between us and all our partners, so that we can learn from each other and constantly evolve our practices.
"We had a wonderful time with you. We've acquired several tools that we'll be sharing with our colleagues", says one of the participants.
11 The 10 countries represented are Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, France and overseas territories, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Peru, DRC and Senegal.