Why such project ?

Migration, for many of us, is part of our personal and familial history. For the record, this is the case for one French person in three. Nevertheless, the myth of “our ancestors the Gauls”, as known as the “native, born and bred Frenchperson”, remains rampant in our society and expresses a widespread reluctance to consider France as a country built on immigration. The 2,5 millions French people who are currently immigrants in other countries are rarely evoked. At the same time, mass media keep feeding the perception of a never-ending stream of immigration towards France - a stream bringing loads of threats (cultural, economic, for our identity,...), and barely any enrichment.

This is a breeding ground for an action designed to understand how our prejudices and stereotypes on migration are built, so that we can see the harmlessness - maybe even the benefits!- of cultural mixing for our society. e-graine’s education engineers team, supported by a scientific committee, have taken up this challenge and the result is the experiential exhibition “Nous, d’ailleurs”. The aim is to provide a chance to get hold of the ethnocentrism of our society to deconstruct the imaginary line between Us and Them - the “Others”.

Learning objectives

We have imagined a vibrant and immersive exhibition, ingrained by active pedagogy. It is designed to be set up in schools, universities, or in areas open to a broader public such as collective places or third places. The exhibition will be travelling, and is meant to cover all the territories where social diversity is very limited and stereotypes are the strongest.

L’exposition se composera de deux espaces principaux

• the first one will enable the participants to assess their own stereotypes construction mechanism
• the second one will confront their representations of migrations in France with the reality of it : France is a closet immigration country.

Education on migration needs to be democratized

Beyond the economic, social, political and environmental crisis, we are experiencing a cosmopolitan crisis (Greek. cosmos = world, politês = citizen), in which we struggle to think of ourselves as inhabitants of one same planet. The educational program “Un univers citoyen” thus seeks to initiate an intellectual deconstruction of migrations: all at one in terms of personal prejudices and of the political challenge to live together in harmony. The first aim is to reconcile the personal experience with the citizen’s representation of migration.

Even more : the outcome of the perspective shift regarding the diversity of migrations must be to meet one another. Meetings between citizens of the world: men, women, children - settled or moving from one country to another - equals in their diversity and their cultural rights. But also encounters with local actors and militants. Their experience, their competences, and their commitment have great value, and it should pervade the society.

Lastly, facing the need for integration for newcomers, “Un univers citoyen” is calibrated to bring about a powerful societal effect. It will be deployed with the active and structured cooperation of local and national actors involved in migration matters.

The purpose is to break down the barriers between actors, to actively involve foreigners, to seize and expose in the public sphere the academic and scientific expertises, so that, in fine, the largest number of people get to develop their critical thinking skills. In response to the cosmopolitan crisis, this program is meant to work as a social cohesion accelerator and as a lever for solidarity ; a medium arousing cooperation between migration actors, Humans, and projects.

The program goals

• generating a powerful social effect : 300 000 persons should be reached by 2022
• creating opportunities for people from all backgrounds to deconstruct their own stereotypes and develop their critical thinking skills
• acting as a levier for solidarity, thereby contributing to the integration of foreign people
• experimenting a cooperative framework for different migration actors, Humans and projects.

Cooperation : for what purpose ?

Social workers, teachers, researchers, elected representatives, entertainment workers, militants, cultural mediators, citizens,... Many of us are already actively committed in the migration matters, but our initiatives are often too isolated.

That is why e-graine has chosen to initiate a cooperative action bringing together all the actors committed for education on migration, around a unique program: “Un univers citoyen”.

This cooperation forms a consortium of national actors, completed by local consortia.

Les acteurs engagés

• peoplee-graine

  The ways we consume, produce, eat, work, travel, and communicate are about to undergo an intense transformation. Our associative project “Cultivating the desire to act” falls within this ecological, social and human transition; since 2006, we partake in the transformation of individual, interpersonal and collective behaviours.

  
  Operating in six metropolitan regions (Hauts-de-France, Île-de-France, Grand Est, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Occitanie et Nouvelle-Aquitaine), we create spaces of reflection, debate and concertation alongside citizens. Our expertise: educational engineering, which materializes into multimedia supports.
  We are convinced that popular and participatory education is a powerful tool to trigger the mindset change needed, but also that it should not only be for youngsters, but for people of all ages. Hence we can adapt our tools to children, citizens, professionnals,... The core characteristic of our tools is to use the ludic approach, and to tackle subjects such as solidarity, environment, culture, geopolitics, science & technology, peace, health, economy, and communication.
  Our actions aim to engage citizens into a path towards a comprehensive vision of their daily actions and their effects on the world. In other words, our actions are designed to develop a feeling of belonging to a global citizenship.
• peopleThe national consortium
  It includes partners of different kind :
  

  • institutional partners : HCR, Diair, MAE, MENS
  • scientific committee : National Museum of the History of Immigration, Res Publica, Desinfox migrations ; and scientist specialized on migration : C. Withol, O. Reveyrand Coulon, A. Follenfant, A. Prouteau
  • cooperation supports: e-graine, Faireprod
  • civil society organizations : MENS, Forim, La Tente à sons, Habitat et Humanisme, Médecins sans frontières, La Croix-rouge française, GRDR, Anvita
• peopleOur official partners
  • L’Agence Française de Développement (French Development Agency)
  • La Fondation du Crédit Coopératif / Crédit Coopératif Foundation

• laureate of Global Education Innovation Award
• supported by Bridge 47
• has a dedicated article in La Croix magazine "La Croix"

What we need

Financially supporting us, means that we will be able to complete the production of this ambitious exhibition, then to distribute it and to spread it throughout the country.

The broader the support, the easier it will be for us to get past the diffusion in schools, towards a broader audience. Supporting this project also means to make it become a vector for a widespread citizen mobilisation.

We have benefited from a first donation from the association xxx. Being dissolved, its members chose to give 5000€ to our project, for it coincides with their own purpose. We found it relevant, for the sake of transparency, to inform you about this.

How we will use it

The chart below illustrates how the funds collected will be used.

Education on migration calls for a broader support to be democratized. We are counting on you ! Thank you !