Having joined Passerelles numériques (PN) in Paris about two years ago, Fabrice Filachet, Education and Social Mission Manager, left France to come live in Phnom Penh, in the context of the creation of a centralized office in Asia and a lightening of the coordination in France as of 2016.
Greetings and Happy New Year Fabrice! It would appear that 2016 is a year for change. Indeed, a few weeks ago you came to live in Cambodia. Could you tell us a little more about your job and the reasons you moved here?
I am Manager of the education and social project. It is a support role for the education and training teams. My aim is to coordinate and define the various education and teaching projects, in liaison with the field teams in the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia.
When I was based in France, I spent a third of my time on missions and two thirds in Paris. The creation of an office in Asia is a wonderful opportunity to get closer to the teams and optimize collaboration between them (support and operations).
What are the advantages to this new proximity to those in the field? How will it impact your work?
More synchronized collaboration, better reactivity. There will be more opportunities for exchanges and meetings, which will also be more varied, and will allow me to improve my in-depth relationship with the different teams and thus create a more automatic operating system. Moreover, living permanently in one of the countries in which we operate provides a source of inspiration for future projects.
Being based in Cambodia, I shall have to ensure a balance of the time spent in the three centers.
Fabrice Filachet with PNP students as they are learning about programming, thanks to Lego Mindstorm
What are the main future projects for the Passerelles numériques education teams?
Passerelles numériques is moving into an innovation phase and our model is evolving. The movement was initiated last year with the launch of the pilot class in the Philippines and it will be implemented in Vietnam and Cambodia.
Along with the three education Managers (see their joint interview here), we are going to redeploy our vision of education in order to reinforce our links with the teaching teams and thus offer our students an experience of learning and life in a community which relate to our values and our basic pillars. Concretely, there will be a phase of (re)defining our education plans and the development of new ideas, such as the recent creation of a student association in PN Cambodia (see the article about it here).
In your view, what do Southeast Asian countries need to do to encourage or improve the education of those who are most disadvantaged?
There are a lot of initiatives that work. There should now be closer collaboration with local institutions so that they may take these solutions on-board and develop them nationally. Other than funding, skill development seems to me to be one of the most important levers.
You have been with Passerelles numériques for almost 2 years now. How did you come across the NGO?
Slightly by accident and thanks to a happy series of circumstances. Passerelles numériques needed someone and I was looking for something. So there it was. I wanted to continue working in education and training, in a new context, in an exciting human adventure, and PN was offering all of that.
And what is your professional background?
I come from the teaching profession. I have done a lot of different things in a little over 10 years. I began by teaching in 2001, then I became a supervisor and subsequently co-director of a school group, in charge of a vocational college. I had to explore different aspects of teaching: exams, teacher-training, educational support, etc. I also participated in the writing of school textbooks.
You haven’t come to live here on your own since your wife and 7 year-old son have just joined you. How are they coping with this change and their first days in Cambodia?
A mixture of stress and excitement, but what carries the day is a real desire to discover this beautiful country and its culture, no longer through the stories of my missions, but by themselves. Going out to discover others whilst living a real experience of family life (my mother will be joining us in 2016).
Thank you Fabrice and welcome to Asia!