Quand les Mères s’en mèlent… Ça marche – When Mothers get involved… it works

29.03.19

March 26th Paris - MMM France celebrated its 25th anniversary at the Assemblée Nationale in what was seen as a successful model of a ‘working dinner’. The evening titled “Quand les meres s’en mélent …ca marche!” – “When mothers get involved it works” - was themed around 15 concrete solutions offered by 15 speakers - for the economy, peace and health, with mothers at the core.

25 concrete solutions for Economy, Peace and Health

It was a rich evening with a program that featured diverse speakers – both public figures and from within MMM itself. Between them, they each brought a personal perspective on the key issues: improving child care services despite budget constraints, facilitating work/life balance, encouraging social cohesion in a popular neigbourhood, preventing maternal burnout, fighting child obesity and educating mothers on health amongst many other topics.

Latifa Ibn Ziaten, Peace Activist

Guests heard from a young mother with a handicapped child who turned to Facebook to mobilise action… and the inspirational peace message of a mother who lost a son to a terrorist attack in Toulouse.

On the strength of their commitment and experience, elected politicians and association activists were all able to discuss and present their good practices. MPs, local politicians and association stakeholders had the opportunity to learn about many initiatives concerning mothers – a source of inspiration for implementation in their own territories.

MMM France President Jocelyne Le Pivain commented: “This evening, innovative solutions have been shared and now we are relying on each of you to take over the initiatives and act on them.”

The 15 innovative solutions presented during the dinner are also detailed in a book and completed with 12 additional initiatives or activities from various stakeholders, including our European and UN Delegations.

Read the Book of MMM France 25th Anniversary dinner (in French)

Our UNESCO Delegation on the night was represented by Pauline Ambrogi and Gabrielle de Milleville who delivered two strong messages of peace and education on health.

Mothers and Peace

Pauline Ambrogi, MMM Representative at the UNESCO

Pauline spoke about her soon-to-be-published book Mothers and Peace in which she interviews 70 mothers in 40 countries. The book’s predominant questions: What does peace mean for mothers? How do they act on a daily basis to promote peace within the family, society and at international and governmental institutions?

Read Pauline Ambrogi’s full speech

The power of health education and mother training

Gabrielle took us to Cote d’Ivoire and presented the story of MMM’s Associate Member AJAD (Aide à la Jeunesse Africaine Défavorisée). Funded by the Participation Programme of UNESCO and supported by the Cote d’Ivoire National Commission for UNESCO, the successful project on health education and training of mothers reduced both teenage pregnancies and child mortality.

Gabrielle de Milleville, MMM Representative at the UNESCO

As Gabrielle says: ‘this experience highlights that thanks to supporting the mobilization of mothers and rallying fathers and decision makers to their cause, mentalities can change and life conditions of a whole community can be improved’.

Read Gabrielle de Milleville’s full speech