PARIS PRESENTATION

The following text is an adaptation of the transcription of the audio CDs of the Conference 2005.

From Paris there have been present: Ms. Michèle Souaille, Nigeria co-ordinator from Amnesty International, Ms. Anne Guilloteau, Representative from the Department of local political and urban development, Ms. Geneviève André, Deputy director at the Mayor’s in Paris – Department of organisational life, Mr. Yannick Freytag, Responsible for the field of youth, sport and prevention of addiction at the Mayor’s 11^th district and Ms. Cécile Stern, Responsible for civil affairs and coordinator of the youth councils of the 13^th and 14^th districts.

Ms. Souaille presented the work of the local Amnesty groups and stressed the direct contact to the population and mainly to the schools as an important element in the field of human rights education. Besides there have been concerts, theatre plays and conferences that are being organised by Amnesty International in Paris. The cooperation with the district town halls and associations in Paris plays an important role as well.

Ms. Guilloteau presented subsequently the work of her authority, which has as a target group ten districts in Paris that are known as disadvantaged. The department she is working in is responsible for the cooperation with representatives of the civil society, for defining the main problems of the citizens living there and for presenting all this to the urban deputies. It focuses on the coordination with concrete leisure offers, on the support with finding training places and on the goal oriented instruction of social workers in the intercultural field. Moreover the department supports the organisational life, though the state does not offer any financial support.

Mr. Freytag presented shortly the focus of his work on the support of the cooperation between associations and institutions, mainly in the fields of child protection and youth care.

Ms. Stern presented finally the work of the Youth Councils in Paris. Voluntary 15 and 25 years old young people represent the interests and worries of the people of their age and create a sphere of dialogue and exchange. The Youth Councils contribute to the organisation of participation projects for young people. The main difficulties the representatives of this form of political representation have lie in the fact that they are not always being taken seriously by the political officials and deputies and that young disadvantaged people can rarely achieve something with this form of representation.

Trainer: Clément Dupuis is French; he lives in Paris und contributes actively to international educational projects.

Fields of possible cooperation: Participation ideas