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Samira Djouadi is the president of the association Stop Illettrisme, which fights against illiteracy in the workplace.
During the summer break, the teams at impact.info invite you to (re)listen to one of our episodes published this year.Samira Djouadi , president of the association Stop Illettrisme .
Enjoy listening!
Juliette Boulegon
impact.info journalist
Published on 26 August 2024
Transcript Audio in Français — text automatically translated· AI-generated transcript
0:00 Hello and welcome to the podcast for those who want to make a difference 0:08 within their company. 0:10 In France, 1.4 million people are illiterate and more than half 0:16 of them are employed. 0:18 A major obstacle in both professional and personal life. 0:21 Stop Illettrisme, chaired by Samira Djouadi, is trying to eliminate this issue. 0:27 So, my name is Samira Djouadi, I'm 54 years old, I have 3 children and in life, I 0:34 am a serial entrepreneur but in the social sector. 0:38 First, I was a sports teacher a long time ago and then I created an 0:41 association called Sportavie. 0:43 Sportavie was a way to tell my beneficiaries, 'be actors of 0:48 your life.' Then, I was recruited by one of my partners, which is the group 0:54 TF1. 0:55 He, of course, offered me a sales position at the agency, it was the beginning of the internet 0:59 and I proposed at that moment a foundation project because it is important that 1:05 this company has a foundation. 1:07 And then he said to me, 'listen Samira, I trust you completely.' 1:10 And I also, well I didn't create it but I gave a new dynamic to 1:15 this association, the association Stop Illettrisme which wasn't called Stop Illettrisme when 1:19 I took it over, it was called BABA. 1:21 So, an association that was originally founded by the L'Oréal group, I'll tell the 1:27 story later, etc. 1:29 And so, I am still the president and I address these issues related to education, 1:35 illiteracy, entrepreneurship. 1:37 That's why I identified myself as a serial killer of social entrepreneurship. 1:42 Quickly, we can go back to the history of Stop Illettrisme, why 1:43 it was founded and today, its scope, and what do you actually do? 1:47 How did this program come about? It started at a research site in Lumnais-sous-Bois 1:51 which belongs to the L'Oréal group where researchers wrote on a whiteboard 1:52 their formulas and of course wrote underneath 'do not erase.' Except 1:58 that every evening, the board was cleaned by the cleaning staff who are there 2:03 to clean the boards, the floor, etc. 2:07 The researchers started to get annoyed and then one of them said, 'but 2:12 wait, maybe the person who erases, since they are the cleaning staff, 2:15 might not know how to read and therefore since they are tasked with cleaning, they clean 2:19 everything for us.' 2:24 So, they quickly inquired and realized that indeed, this was 2:27 the problem and from there, they decided to create some sort of codifications to 2:28 2:32 2:38 that people understand when to erase, when not to do it. 2:41 It goes up to the headquarters and the HR director Jean-Claude Legrand, who is still there, 2:42 decides to extend this initiative to the other production sites of L'Oréal 2:49 saying, "if we had this problem at this research site, we might have the same thing at our production sites, at headquarters, etc., since the cleaning staff is everywhere." 2:54 And indeed, it had quite an incredible scope and especially a lot of enthusiasm from the employees, and from there, they decided to set up an association, initially called Béaba and then it became Stop Illettrisme. 2:58 The idea is to say, "we're going to try to identify these beneficiaries and especially tell them why this program can have an impact for them, both professionally, but also the impact is also in their personal, private life. 3:04 I think it's important to remind what illiteracy fundamentally is and especially which people it affects, because it affects many more people than we think, not always the people we think of, and so I think it's also important to remind that. 3:05 Exactly. 3:11 So illiteracy, of course, we have a false idea about it. 3:15 By the way, we took the time to address it and that's where the surprise was, is that we decided to address companies where everyone thinks that because people work, there is no problem with illiteracy. 3:18 In fact, our first meetings are often with HR directors who tell us, "but no, we don't have a problem with illiteracy, otherwise we would know, etc." And there, we start to explain to them that many manage to outsmart things, manage to, at the moment you send them an email, when you're not with them, they will ask a colleague to write for them, or when they receive a text, they will do the same, or even just the employment contract. 3:23 Often, they tell us, it's true that it's strange, when we ask them to sign the employment contract, they never sign it in the company, they always ask us to take it home to read it quietly, but in fact, it's not to read it quietly, it's to have someone read it to them who will explain everything that is written in this contract. 3:28 So, there are many things that have been outsmarted and so, this audience, which is often, at least for us, our audience, who are particularly people working in cleaning, in catering, in security, are profiles of people who come from immigration, who were either born or not born at all in France, and who have not received any schooling. 3:33 And so, how many people does illiteracy concern approximately? Do we have a figure that will demonstrate all this? 3:38 3:42 3:45 3:47 3:48 3:51 3:56 4:01 4:05 4:10 4:16 4:23 4:27 4:31 4:32 4:36 4:41 4:46 4:50 4:51 4:55 5:00 5:06 5:12 5:14 5:18 5:20 The illiteracy rate in 2011 was 7%, and it dropped to 4% in 2022. 5:26 So, how do the programs you implement work with this illiteracy rate? 5:27 Do you intervene directly within companies to offer different ways of doing things? How does it work? 5:32 What have we decided to put in place? It's a program that will teach them the French language, so a diploma that is, I would say, the highest level, it's the CLEA. 5:36 These are the diplomas required for people applying for French nationality, by the way. 5:38 These are state diplomas, so there is a real diploma at stake. 5:42 There are two parts, the first is the training, which is quite intensive since it's two times three hours a week for almost a year, okay, 5:47 where the training takes place on-site with a training organization that we identify 5:49 and that comes to give classes to the staff who have volunteered for our program. 5:54 What's important to say is that this training is tailored to the jobs they will do. 5:55 So, if it's cleaning jobs, all the training will revolve around that job, 5:58 which makes it less of a theoretical course, less academic, less school-like, etc. 6:04 So, there are groups of ten, no more, because in that same group of 6:09 ten, in reality, we have ten different people with completely different profiles. 6:15 Some can speak but can't write, some can't speak or write at all. 6:23 So, it's very, very, very varied, and alongside that, each beneficiary 6:26 will have a mentor from the company where they work who will follow them throughout 6:27 their year of training. 6:32 So, there is a real sense of achievement, and we see it, the employers see it too. 6:37 There is a spectacular success rate for these people who undergo this training. 6:43 I see it because when we gather them before the training, when we ask them 6:48 to say a few words into the microphone, no one speaks. 6:51 Everyone is intimidated, no one dares to express themselves, and a year later, these same people 6:52 take the microphone and express themselves, it's really quite astonishing, so a total success 6:58 for everyone. 7:04 The idea with Notre Média is to highlight those who are eager 7:06 to make a difference. 7:11 So, in your opinion, how has Stop Illettrisme been making a difference for almost 15 years? 7:12 Illiteracy, when we talk about illiteracy, it's shameful, it's shameful. 7:18 Right away, and that's why these people don't declare it, because 7:22 first, it's a shame in front of their employer and then to think, what is... 7:25 7:31 7:37 7:38 7:41 7:42 7:48 7:52 7:55 7:59 What are people going to think of me? I can't speak, etc. 8:02 And so, Stop Illettrisme managed to break that by saying, it shouldn't be a 8:08 source of shame, on the contrary, we need to highlight these individuals and support them 8:13 because the real pride is to see these people's success, to 8:18 think, wow, a year ago, they couldn't speak at all, they didn't say a 8:23 word, a year later, not only can they speak, but worse than that, they take on 8:26 responsibilities in their own company. 8:29 So now, they become team leaders, for others, they ask for even more 8:36 to take other training courses, whereas at the beginning, it was complicated, employers 8:39 told us they didn't like going for training, but we know why, we know 8:43 why they don't like it, simply because they can't read and write. 8:47 After this training, they ask to take other courses. 8:51 Impact.info, doing business differently. 8:55 We're going to conclude this interview with a question that concerns you. 9:00 I'm sure you already had the answer at 16, given everything you've done. 9:05 I imagine you were already overflowing with energy, but there you go, 16 is the 9:09 legal age in France to start your first business. 9:12 Did you know what you dreamed of when you were 16? 9:16 Well, I knew, honestly, earlier I tried to think 9:20 about where I was at 16. 9:22 At 16, I was in sports studies in Fontainebleau, because I love sports 9:27 and I was doing high-level athletics. 9:30 And even at that age, I was fighting to be unique and to work and be 9:37 different from my own siblings, thinking, well, our destiny is something we 9:41 create, so it's up to us to be masters of our destiny. 9:45 And I remember, my parents couldn't afford to pay for boarding school because 9:48 I had to be a boarder, but I harassed them so much, made them feel so guilty, thinking that they would 9:55 prevent me from doing what I love, that the poor things sacrificed themselves to let me go and pay for this boarding school 9:59 to pursue this passion. 10:04 So even back then, I knew that what I wanted was to be different 10:06 from others and especially to go all the way, all the way, all the way with my ideas and passions. 10:15 Thanks to Samira Djouadi, who heads the association Stop Illettrisme, which works for employees 10:20 in situations of illiteracy. 10:25 You can find this interview on impact.info, in the CSR section, which brings together all 10:27 the episodes addressing the challenges faced by leaders who place responsibility 10:32 at the heart of their company. 10:36 Embed this interview on your site
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