Includ-ed, red europea de educación inclusiva

The Regional States of Inclusion is a project that was started in 2011 by the incluD-ed network partner Association des Paralysées de France (APF). The five-year project aims to foster the development of an overall inclusive society in France. In each of the 52 French regions, an annual event is organised to talk about the concept of inclusion and different national and European inclusive policies. Topics covered include; how to foster the inclusion of people with disabilities, the exchange of good practices and practical experiences of people with disabilities related to work, training, schools, social life etc. and the initiation of concrete local action. The events differ in form, size and function, depending on the regional and local actors’ determination, priorities and capacities. The project is ongoing until 2016.

incluD-ed asked Eric Magnier, Associative Development & Information Systems Manager of APF in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, where the city of Liévin and the incluD-ed LPG is located, to present his experiences. Nord-Pas-de-Calais is in the north of France and has about 4 million inhabitants. 

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incluD-ed: How did you organise the Regional States of Inclusion in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region?

Eric Magnier: In June 2012, the team from APF Nord-Pas-de-Calais organised the first meeting for our partner organisations related to disability. The meeting was also for representatives of local authorities such as the General Council and the National Education Agency and business representatives. From the roughly 100 selected people we invited, 40 assisted in this first meeting that aimed at evaluating interest in the idea of the Regional States of Inclusion and also how stakeholders and partners could join the project.

We had a positive return, even if we noticed that the word "inclusion” and its concept had not been completely understood by the audience and also that it had not necessarily been accepted. Some of the invitees were "for" and others were reluctant to inclusion.

We then created a working group on the Regional States of Inclusion in September and decided to organise the 1^st Regional States of Inclusion of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in April 2012. Before the big event, we organised a conference targeted at representatives of associations and institutions, on the concept of inclusion in order to find common working definitions and clarify the question, “What is Inclusion?” Then, we met and promoted existing or planned inclusive actions in the region. The Regional States of Inclusion in April 2013 should gather different stakeholders, make them work and define together objectives for the coming years. For us it was clear since the beginning that inclusion is really a topic that needs to be approached, discussed and realised in a participatory manner.

incluD-ed: Did you achieve what you had planned?

Eric Magnier: The conference on inclusion “L’inclusion dans tous ses états …” (Inclusion in all its states) gathered around 300 people from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, France, Belgium and the Netherlands in February 2012. The inventory and promotion of inclusive actions in nearby areas was quite difficult to organise, especially contacting people and selling them the idea so that they take ownership and implement it. People were already overloaded with work and other projects so that only little work in  regards to the inventory and promotion of inclusive actions has been done. For the Regional States of Inclusion “Si l’inclusion m’était contée… “ (Tell me about inclusion…) we have decided to work with a more active and participative approach, the Open Space Technology (OST). A known researcher presented the concept of inclusion at the beginning of the event that gathered over 550 people! Associations, professionals, politicians, businesses, public workers, health and social service agents, academics and people with all kinds of disabilities and their families participated in the event

incluD-ed: Could you explain the OST approach to us and the reason you’ve chosen to work with it?

Eric Magnier: OST is an interactive and participatory approach for meetings and community events that is especially interesting for events on inclusion. Within the Regional States of Inclusion Nord-Pas-de-Calais everyone interested in the given topic of inclusion could attend the event. There was no set agenda; instead people were invited to create it by submitting their own themes and priorities within the topic of inclusion. A facilitator presented the rules to do so and the method at the beginning of the event.  

Assistants then created specific discussion workshops with all of the participants’ ideas – about 80! The ideas were then displayed on a wall so that everyone could chose three or four workshops they wanted to attend during the day without any registration. People could also switch groups at any moment or simply discuss over coffee.

In the workshops people discussed inclusion in all its states, thought of concrete actions to realise in their region, and together defined objectives for the coming years.

The workshop groups regulated themselves – even if there was no initiator of the subject, someone spontaneously led the group, someone took notes etc.. Everyone enjoyed the freedom of expression offered by an OST event. People wore name badges that withheld the function or organisation/institution in order to guarantee respect and equality in the discussions, which fostered openness. In each workshop, the most important ideas, recommendations, discussions, and next steps were documented in a report typed, displayed and available in real time on- and offline. People could get the reports printed and they were also later uploaded on the project website.

incluD-ed: How did people react to this innovative format for an event on inclusion?

Eric Magnier: At the beginning of the event, people were very surprised at the apparent non-organisation. They arrive, there is no agenda etc. and they are lost and afraid because they are not accustomed to this. Soon they realised that everything besides the content was prepared. They were reassured and really motivated to participate. In addition to the positive feedback, people had a really big smile because they felt a notion of, “I participated in something strong and important” and it is this “emotional and affective” result that impressed people a lot.

incluD-ed: What were the challenges to organising a large-scale event for over 500 people?

Eric Magnier: The form of the OST requires a lot of organisation, but it is a valuable alternative to formal conferences. It is very suitable for complex topics involving a lot of different stakeholders such as inclusion. Since the participants chose the issues that were most important to them, they developed a strong motivation and actively participated in the discussions. This fosters ownership of ideas and projects, lively exchanges and the emergence of concrete and innovative ideas and solutions.  

We had one facilitator and four co-facilitators for this big group of 500 people. Furthermore, we had 40 PCs to write the reports and more than 20 volunteers to assure the smooth functioning of the event. The location was totally accessible. We had sign language interpreters throughout the day, an induction loop for people who were equipped with devices and the room was accessible to people with reduced mobility. In advance, we asked for the accessibility needs of people and other problems to be solved such as intellectual or psychological difficulties where is it very difficult to assure the accessibility when it comes to communication.

In regards to sending invitations, we tried to collect contacts of people we already worked with (e.g. for the conference) and contacted them directly. Afterwards, we convinced those people to use their organisations and own professional networks to pass on our information so that they can re-inform their employees, users or association members. This worked well, but it’s a pity that in the world of disabilities things are very segregated and unfortunately it is very difficult to communicate with employees, clients or members of other associations directly.

We had a lot of people with disabilities who participated in the different workshops. In the workshop groups you could find professionals from the communities, the municipalities and regional councils such as mayors and other politicians, as well as representatives from the national education. Nevertheless, in our opinion there were far too few companies, and we will have to work on this for the 2^nd edition in 2014.

Click here to read “Tell me about inclusion - Regional States of Inclusion” - Interview with Eric Magnier, APF Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2/2)