Social Issues from All Angles: Associative, Private, and Public...
Her interest in social matters indeed leads her to spend several months in Milan, working with an association that organises cultural and leisure activities for adults with disabilities, as part of a European voluntary service. She discovers the role of social accompaniment. This hands-on experience has been beneficial for her. Upon her return, she has a brief experience (4 months) at Groupe SOS, a social enterprise whose goal is to use economic efficiency for the public good. She participates in the development and writing of projects that seek private funding, particularly in the fields of childhood and inclusion.
She then secures a position at ODAS, the National Observatory of Social Action, where she remains for 3 years. She works alongside Cyprien Avenel, a sociology lecturer at the STU master's programme, who was then the Director of Research at ODAS. ODAS is an association that runs a network made up of local authorities, municipalities and departments, as well as social protection organisations and associations while reflecting on social cohesion policies. This takes various forms: working groups, studies, action-research... Caroline is responsible for studies focusing on the financial and strategic aspects of departmental social action. This allows her to gain a nuanced understanding of social policies in a comprehensive manner (finance, strategy, governance) and sectorally (child protection, support for the elderly and disabled, integration, etc.). In the course of her missions, Caroline undertakes a lot of fieldwork in witness territories.
She also works for the Apriles agency (Agency for Local Practices and Initiatives) - which is affiliated with ODAS - tasked with identifying and promoting best practices through fact sheets in the area of social development. While her experience at ODAS helps her to recognise the regulatory and financial constraints affecting decentralisation and the complexity they create, her investigative work for Apriles aids in understanding the importance of disseminating actions – sometimes very simple – that work and can have a genuine impact on local life.
A Tour of Europe with Young Social and Cultural Initiative Leaders: A Pivotal Moment Towards a Career in Journalism
In 2013, Caroline decides to undertake a more personal project. She embarks on a journey to meet engaged youth across Europe, without a sponsor, travelling for several months through about fifteen countries. She interviews young adults involved in projects of general interest, presented in various forms - associative, social enterprise, etc. Also keen on educational innovation and the incorporation of civic engagement in education, she seeks to understand the impact – educational, civic, etc. – of these experiences on the pathways of the young people she meets. This project has been showcased in a blog and in two media outlets: Le Journal de l’Action Sociale (JAS), a monthly magazine targeting local authorities, and the bimonthly magazine Socialter dedicated to social and environmental innovations.
Thus, she becomes a freelance journalist for these different titles. She then works full-time for a year at Localtis, a news daily published by the Caisse des dépôts that analyses current affairs for local authorities. Her areas of interest include youth, education, social and solidarity economy, citizenship, and participatory democracy. In these areas, as current events are often less urgent than in others, she can sometimes keep a topic for two or three weeks, delve deeper, and have a comprehensive view, without spending months on it, which she enjoys immensely. However, she believes that the analytical work done at Localtis for the local authorities could be better highlighted.
Today, even though Localtis is the main media outlet she works for, she has returned to freelancing. She contributes to other media, including Le Journal de l’Action Sociale - in a more occasional capacity but with more in-depth fieldwork - and a new online media outlet, Gynger, which focuses on childhood and education. For someone like her, with a broad range of interests, being freelance allows her to have a diverse activity, occasionally dive deep into specific issues, and pursue other projects.
Moreover, Caroline notes that since the beginning of her career, she has often been in a position of observation, analysis, and promotion. This role pleases her, but she is now considering, in parallel, getting involved in the implementation or support of a project.
Caroline’s Advice
- Read Localtis; it is a useful tool for keeping up with current events, specifically dissected through the lens of local public action, yet few students are aware of it. It has been very helpful to Caroline in her work at ODAS.
- Gradually build her areas of expertise, focusing on themes as well as skills, without fearing a non-linear path, nor locking herself into the idea of a specific profession. Caroline often wondered if she was on the right track: she reassures us that while the Urban School's master’s programmes allow for orientation towards very different careers, the themes are always interconnected, which enables one to pivot.
- Do not hesitate to pursue personal projects, create her own association or business.
- Continue being curious, read widely and not just within her field of expertise, meet new people… It is through connecting different realms that ideas emerge. This can also be an opportunity to discover a new professional universe.
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