Meaningful Participation of Newcomers in France

Fédération d’Entraide Protestante (FEP) run a Humanitarian Corridors programme in France, and have welcomed hundreds of vulnerable people from Lebanon since the programme launched in 2017.

FEP have taken decisive action to ensure the meaningful participation of the people they have welcomed in their programme design and delivery.

In the video above, Guilhem Mante explains their project. You can also read a full description below.

Objectives of the Project:

• Identify the needs of newcomers and the difficulties encountered in their journey - whether in relation to the system itself, the administrative procedures, or the integration process
• Pass on information about the project to newcomers
• Improve the project through the participation of newcomers
• Allow newcomers to participate in events and to speak up for themselves

Outcomes

Creating Citizens Collectives

FEP worked with an external facilitator to lead workshops with paid staff, newcomers and volunteers. One of the outcomes was to set up two participation groups, or "collectives" - one for volunteers, and one for newcomers.

The members of these collectives now participate in the training and support of new collectives, both by participating in the training sessions, and by developing a new guide for citizen collectives.

Introduced Peer-Led Training & Support

The collective of newcomers identified the need to improve support. They now deliver a peer-led video conference session two months after each new arrival. They are also working on a newcomer's guide, translated into Arabic, explaining all the procedures and steps to be taken in the context of the humanitarian corridors.

Empowerment

During the debriefing of the session, a Kurdish woman who participated in the project said that it was the first time she felt considered. Whether in her home country (Syria) or in Lebanon, as a woman and a Kurd, she had never felt that she was listened to, yet in this discussion space her opinion was taken into consideration.

Some members of these participation groups have gone on to join other bodies, such as the refugee advisory group of ICMC SHARE.

Concept note Participation of refugees in FEP Humanitarian corridors in France.pdf