Origin The first Network was born in Orly in 1971. It came out of a common willingness from approximately 40 people (among whom pupils, former pupils, parents, teachers, council libraries, association members, social workers, shopkeepers, neighbors, friends…) all gathered around the project of Claire and Marc HEBER-SUFFRIN. In 1979, the Evry network was created, from which the Reciprocal Knowledge Exchange Networks have grown since 1985, in France and in other countries, in cities, neighborhoods, towns, schools, teachers training centers and firms. Statements Everyone carries an important lot of knowledge and of ignorance. Everyone can ask for or supply (...)

Young people are sometimes the cause but are most certainly often the victims of a climate of violence. The idea that they may be mediators for their peers has therefore started to spread. The organization Generation Mediators (GM) is convinced that it is possible to associate the education for peace and for non violence and the challenge to raise youngsters so they become responsible adults who can then become the actors of their own lives. Since 1993, GM has therefore worked with this objective. The specificity of GM is that it trains instructors (teachers of course but also supervisors, nurses, parents, social workers etc.) to manage conflicts and to (...)

Abstract Collaborative relationships are held as all important in school reform, but the research and practice literature provides little guidance on how to create them across social divides marked by mistrust and even violence. Using a qualitative case study methodology, this chapter provides a detailed analysis of a successful practice, Transformational Social Therapy (TST), as it was applied in a school-community planning project in the French equivalent of an inner city. TST combines a variant of action research, consensus-based community organizing, and techniques from group therapy to facilitate dialogue, information sharing, and the development of (...)