What motivates me to do this job

I love meeting people. I love bringing people together and meeting people myself, always in very different territories and on very different themes.
Doing this job is my way of contributing to a more democratic decision process. We make that possible by setting up opportunities for exchange and dialogue, whether they last a couple of hours or several days.

My first ‘public mission’

The citizens workshops on ageing well, for the Nord department in France in 2014.
An ambitious process driven by genuine political will, very strong citizen mobilization and very extensive reflexivity around this process, so that it gets better each time it is applied.
And there was an atmosphere unlike any other I’ve experienced: people in the north of France know how to create a really warm working environment.

The mission that left the strongest impression on me

We helped the Institut National du Cancer with a citizen and scientific consultation on breast cancer screening policy.
It was fascinating for two reasons: its subject matter, which was scientific and extremely complex and which I knew nothing about at the outset; then the original method we applied – a process of two-way mirror consensus conferences involving the lay public and healthcare professionals.

What motivates me to do this job

It is the ability to have an impact on politics in association with the inhabitants of a city, a region, a country or a continent. Not to be only in the vision of a technical and cold practice, but to integrate the knowledge, the experience of the citizens. If we all had time to devote to the exercise of citizenship, then we would be able to understand the major issues of the planet. But people have little time for that. Our job is to create moments where citizens can talk to experts, elected officials, technicians, and debate together. It’s about creating dialogue and putting horizontality back into decision-making.

My first ‘public mission’

It all started with the revision of the Montreuil urban plan. The city wanted to write its road map for the next 10 to 15 years. Our intervention consisted in associating citizens to the project by making it as accessible as possible.
Among the issues, there was bringing in audiences that usually do not mobilize. We then went to French language learning classes, or to migrants’ shelters, in order to get in contact with alien populations who would have to remain in the country for a long time. We also went to the public space, to meet and mobilize the citizens, directly inside marketplaces and subways.

The mission that left the strongest impression on me

The mission on culture in Haute-Garonne. The management team of the department has a voluntarist cultural policy, and yet they have the feeling that they can not reach enough people, and that they alone do not have all the answers. They decided to meet local cultural actors. We then organized consultations with industry professionals and citizens to tour existing structures and understand their limitations.

What motivates me to do this job

I want to play a role in the collective construction of our society, to make it more meaningful. In our age of great change, we need to come together and take time to reflect on our shared values. In my view, debate and communication are key to the healthy and responsible evolution of our societies.

My first ‘public mission’

I worked on the challenges involved in health and home care for sick people (or people with limited autonomy) in Franche-Comté. Our consultation involved the various stakeholders, the citizens concerned by the protocols and the healthcare staff. After listening to these people’s experience, we were able to think about ways of improving the region’s health policies. The healthcare professionals confirmed the relevance of the collaborative tools.

The mission that left the strongest impression on me

The citizens’ debate on Space for Europe. I worked very closely with the ESA and forged a better understanding of the issues it faces. I found myself at the heart of the processes, working with partners from the 22 countries in which the debate was held.
From a professional viewpoint, the methods used once again proved their worth when it comes to shaping future policies. On a more personal note, I was buoyed by the adrenaline rush that such a dense and intense event induces.

What motivates me to do this job

I do this job… because it’s a wonderful job! It’s creative, fun and varied. Because I get to work on all scales from local to global, on general interest topics, finding out what people want or fear, and gathering their ideas. With and for my fellow citizens.

My first ‘public mission’

My first ever public mission was back in May 2013, for the national debate on the energy transition. At the time, I was director of the regional environment agency (ARENE) for Île-de-France and as partners of Missions Publiques, we were organizing the area’s contribution to the multi-site debate ahead of the draft law. I adored that job, the approach… and Missions Publiques!

The mission that left the strongest impression on me

There are so many! What they all have in common is in-depth methodological and collective reflection, then there is the pleasure of being together, debating, listening… and contributing to the development of society. They are all intellectual and human endeavors.

What motivates me to do this job

It’s the conviction that no one is better judge of a house than the one who lives in it – as Aristotle said two millennia ago. In a highly technological society, where the people have delegated their decision-making power to experts and political representatives, it is necessary to allow citizens to express themselves on matters affecting the construction of the city. Without this, social tensions and inequalities will only increase.
And then there is reaching people and allowing them to enter the complexity of collective choices. Realizing that far from individualistic clichés, they want the advent of a more just and egalitarian society.

My first ‘public mission’

I discovered Missions Publiques during an internship for the RATP – a field observation experiment set up to fight against incivilities and insecurity in public transport. Missions Publiques was working on how RATP agents and users could solve those problems together.
This allowed me to discover a job where people are made to talk about the subject of living together, literally, without avoiding the conflicts and difficulties experienced when one tries to find very concrete solutions – like challenging the decision-makers.

The mission that left the strongest impression on me

The revision of Montreuil’s local urban plan. It seems very technical, but in the end we had to go closer to the citizens, for example in a migrant worker’s home. Some had lived in France for almost thirty years and I was impressed by the knowledge they had of Montreuil. They had so many proposals to make about the city, while being so discreet and so absent from the public workshops, and it convinced me that we must go out and get the thoughts of these inhabitants who are not usually given the opportunity to speak.

My first ‘public mission’

In 1986, a discussion with the late Jean-Louis Thys, then Secretary of State for the Brussels region, left him convinced that by getting users, drivers and STIB field workers involved, they could double user numbers on the Brussels public transport network. The innovation I put forward and conveyed to the government and public service operators was based on one simple idea: public transport would be used more, and used more effectively, if the service was designed using input from the main stakeholders – users and field workers. That lead to an innovative management contract between the government and the public company, creating a new momentum in Brussels and later in Europe.

The mission that left the strongest impression on me

That was the global citizens’ debate that covered 24 time zones in 30 hours. The results showed that citizens’ expertise brings clarity, intelligence and a new outlook when decisions need to be made. Bringing the citizens of 76 countries together around the table and acknowledging the huge convergence in opinion was pivotal in confirming the value of humanity’s collective intelligence.

What motivates me to do this job

To be honest, consultation is more than just a job: it is a matter of conviction. A desire to do justice to the people who are excluded from public debate, either because they are told they don’t understand the issues, or because they rule themselves out, thinking that they ‘don’t know’. There is also a wish to help improve democratic processes. The processes of defining and implementing public action, decision-making and the vision of a territory have so much to gain by getting citizens involved.
I had been inspired by anthropological studies and projects run in Argentina and Ireland and really wanted to create the opportunities, tools and methods needed to reinstate dialogue between citizens and the public powers. With the aim of improving the policies that shape our lives and our future.

My first ‘public mission’

The global citizens’ debate on climate and energy in 2015. I joined Missions Publiques for that project. We had six months in which to find 100 countries, bring together 10,000 citizens, train 97 national coordinators, make the citizens’ voice heard at COP 21, and to make an impact on the decisions made on the energy transition. It was exhilarating!

The mission that left the strongest impression on me

The first! It was such a challenge and fitted very well with my interest in anthropology: every day, I got to speak to correspondents of twenty or more nationalities.

What motivates me to do this job

I do this job to help push the boundaries of governance at every level, but especially at global level. My dream is a political society in which different forms of democracy complete and enhance one another. What I love is the random draw, which brings fresh views, openness and a long-term approach to politics – which is really just going back to basics. My PhD thesis covered this topic.

My first ‘public mission’

My first encounter with the Missions Publiques team was in 2007 via a citizens’ jury assessing the climate policy of the Poitou-Charentes region, the area I covered when researching my thesis. I was just an observer but rapidly became a participant too.

The mission that left the strongest impression on me

That was probably the Worldwide Views on Climate and Energy on June 6, 2015. It was a unique opportunity to experience a global consultation. And it was a milestone, after two and half years working hard to convince stakeholders and bring the project to fruition.