Sharing of experiences within the family houses

Our 5 partners in the ViaFamiliis project (Women's Resource Center - WRC in Cambodia, Cameleon in the Philippines, AJDM in Mali, Association Kogl Taaba in Burkina Faso and Solidarité Batoto in the Democratic Republic of Congo) met for the first time since the opening of their Family Houses, during a seminar organised by Apprentis d'Auteuil in France.

This meeting was an opportunity to exchange ideas on the same concept, the Family Houses, while each one had its own specificities linked to its local context. For example, in Cambodia, WRC focuses its activities on the prevention of domestic violence, in particular through parent-child workshops, because the development of a child in a safe and secure family environment is essential. In Burkina Faso, the security crisis linked to terrorist attacks in the border areas of Burkina Faso has caused hundreds of thousands of families to move to urban centres. These families find themselves in particularly precarious situations and have, in most cases, suffered serious trauma. Kogl Taaba supports these families in the Maison des Familles in Koudougou.

The aim of this seminar was therefore to allow our partners to exchange on the difficulties encountered by each of them in accompanying families, to learn from the Maison des Familles experience that has existed for many years in France and to create a group of professionals with a similar approach that can be adapted to each of their local contexts.

This was an important moment for all that allowed each partner to feel accompanied and supported as educators or social workers.

Various workshops were held, with the participation of Carl Lacharité, doctor in psychology - Université du Québec à Trois Rivières - on themes such as support for parenthood, the development of a supportive environment for child protection, how to create collective participation within the Maisons des Familles, etc.

Finally, each international family house is twinned with a house in France, the partners therefore spent a week of immersion in their twinned house. This was a memorable experience for all, including the families visiting the Maisons des Familles in France, who themselves prepared the planning of activities for the week.