2024-04-24 09:07:29
We had the pleasure of interviewing the Director General of the Ensemble foundationJérôme Laederach, who received us in the foundation’s offices.
The mission of the foundation together
The Ensemble foundation is a private law foundation financed mainly by the State of Geneva. Registered in the panel of service providers in our Canton, the Foundation has the particularity of being aimed at both minors and adults. The Foundation is part of a mutual aid network with other social actors such as the Clair Bois foundation or the Aigues-Vertes foundation, among others.
The Ensemble foundation works in the field of moderate to profound disabilities: “we support people from early childhood to adulthood and aging. The idea for beneficiaries is not to start and end their journey at the Foundation, but to have several opportunities to develop and to also benefit from other providers who collaborate.”
The field of moderate to profound intellectual disability remains a delicate subject, because the people concerned need support allowing them to be as close as possible to their citizenship rights, taking into account their potential. Even if the person can never be fully autonomous, the Foundation tries to be as close as possible to their right: to have training, a job, a home.
The Ensemble foundation now supports around 250 people with socio-educational and therapeutic teams, as well as administrative, logistical and support teams. It is made up of 360 employees, for 227 FTE (Full Time Equivalent).
Ensemble Foundation, born from a parent initiative
The Ensemble foundation was born from a parents’ initiative at the end of the 1960s. More than one person with a disability was then taken care of in psychiatric settings, and the parents were not partners at all. Families then mobilized to change this and created associations, such as insieme Genève – which was previously called APMH (Geneva Association of Parents and Friends of Mentally Handicapped People). In 1967, this association created an institution, Claire Fontaine, then 5 other institutions from early childhood to adulthood which are the basis of the Ensemble foundation.
Rightly believing that it was not its role to manage care structures, the APMH wanted to concentrate on its mandate of managing and defending the rights of disabled people, and created the Ensemble pour foundation in 1986. ensure the management of these structures and guarantee the sustainability of their mission.
Since 2017, the foundation has evolved its organization, more agile and more transversal, to better deploy its services. Thus, the Ensemble foundation wants to promote internal solutions as well as in conjunction with external partners. We therefore include artists’ workshops, personal development spaces, as well as partnerships with major distributors, sites within ordinary schools, or even innovative variations of inclusive housing.
Gateways to professional locations
The right to work does not necessarily consist of having an employment contract, but of having an activity resembling work and requiring specialized support.
If the Ensemble foundation does not hide the fact that the diagnosis is important, it considers that the environment is essential to enable the person living with an intellectual disability to overcome their difficulties and develop their potential. Projects to work in partner establishments are therefore personalized. For some people it is easier to be in these workplaces than for others. This is why some can be present a few days a week and others all week. It is a very meticulous job to adapt the project to the person, throughout the process.
The evolution of the support profession in the social sector
We talk a lot today regarding the rights of people with disabilities, highlighted by Switzerland’s 10 years of ratification of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
To succeed in this paradigm shift, the professional himself must evolve in his position and be recognized as a facilitator within the environment in which he exercises his skills. For example, within a business, the educator or socio-educational assistant is as much a coach of the employee of this business as of the person with a disability for whom he is the referent.
Jérôme Laederach’s wish is to be able to work on these lines of change and to contribute to the citizenship of people living with disabilities through innovative projects.
Photo credit : Ensemble
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