14 October 2021

35 years of professional skills serving international solidarity: from emergency to development

On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Electriciens sans frontières, the representatives of our 14 regional delegations, partners and members of the Board of Directors met again after nearly 2 years without a face-to-face event.

On the agenda: numerous exchanges, speeches, a conference, a round table and feedback.

Experience sharing at the heart of our NGO's continuous improvement process

In order to show a diversified panel of projects carried out within our structure, project leaders were invited to present and explain the main stages and challenges of these projects. The audience was then able to interact with the project leaders on the specific characteristics of each project:

Remote management of a project in red zone or for health reasons
Central role of local actors in the definition of needs, responses and follow-up
Importance of training and support beyond the technical aspects

A huge work has been done to enable us to continue our actions in red zones. Our teams had to set up a protocol in consortium with partners and consultancy firms who know the region well. This approach was also essential in the process of obtaining funding in order to reassure our donors."

Jean, Gulmu project manager in Burkina Faso

These exchanges have been very enriching because they allow Electriciens sans frontières to capitalize on these different experiences. In addition, a focus on the remote action mode during periods of lock down made it possible to capitalize on these innovative procedures.

The notion of interculturality essential to a sustainable development project

Karine Dellière, teacher in intercultural approaches in business at Sciences Po and is Secretary General of the Fond Agir Pour L’Emploi at EDF, is also a volunteer with the Île-de-France – Hauts-de-France regional delegation of Electriciens sans frontières.

” Electriciens sans frontières, whose work consists in providing access to electricity and water for all, everywhere in the world, does not limit its intervention to technical aspects. The notion of interculturality is essential to the proper functioning of relationships between the various stakeholders in a project. ”

Project leader, Karine works on the implementation of the Café Lumière model in Benin and intervenes on subjects related to the notion of interculturality, which is essential to understanding the needs up to the implementation, the follow-up and thus the success of a development project.

Six companies from the energy sector came together to talk about their commitments to our NGO

Muriel Inizan, in charge of CSR partnerships at Legrand, François Milioni, Director of Training at Schneider Electric, Laurent Tardif, Chairman of Prysmian Southern Europe and Chairman of the FIEEC, Nicolas Perrin, CSR Director at Enedis, Denis Bouchard, Director of the International Solidarity Unit at the EDF Group Foundation, and Renaud Czarnes, Director of Communications at RTE, discussed the different aspects of a company/NGO collaboration.

This anniversary was also an opportunity for RTE and the FIEEC to renew their commitment to us.