La Voix des parents: a collaborative process

What can be done to improve our community so that it becomes the best-possible environment for raising our children?” This is the question parents are asked to answer when they decide to become involved in the La Voix des parents process.

This local initiative, which is  based on appreciation and participation,  was implemented by Avenir d’enfants in an effort to foster collaboration between organizations, the community and parents with children aged 0 to 5, including those from underprivileged  backgrounds.

What is the La Voix des parents process?

 La Voix des parents is:

• Ten parents  organized into a working group
• One facilitator
• Fifteen meetings over a period of approximately six months
• A local group of partners that initiates the process, collaborates and listens

Its goals are to:

• Imagine a community that is conducive to young children’s development
• Foster communication and mutual understanding between parents and organizations
• Involve parents as actors who contribute to decisions
• Encourage extensive collaborations between parents and early childhood development partners  

Parents have a distinct expertise. The La Voix des parents process analyzes the community by drawing on parents’ knowledge about their children.  In addition to the parents’ reality and experience being recognized, this also serves to enrich their partners’ perspectives.   As a result, small and large changes have been made in the respective communities.

In order to encourage the participation of parents and make their voices heard, partners frequently resort to measures such as organizing discussion groups, carrying out surveys or extending invitations to meetings. By securing a place for parents alongside the partners, this constitutes an empowerment approach.

La Voix des parents process stages

Benefits for parents and for partners

Parents in the working group:	Group of partner organizations:
take pride in the work they accomplish build a social network and become more familiar with available resources strengthen their sense of being competent, their self-esteem, skills development and empowerment	gain a better understanding of local families’ priorities and can directly access parents’ knowledge and expertise develop and adopt communication processes that facilitate parents’ participation establish longer-term projects and guidelines that are adapted to the reality of local families
get to know one another better and build trusting relationships undertake concrete short-term measures that address the priorities, concerns and wishes of local families

Diversified action

The measures and initiatives that have resulted from La Voix des parents tend to relate to parenting support, parent empowerment, information access, and recreational activities for families. Over 125 such initiatives and measures have been identified to date.