Éléonore Iriart (E99): “I’m Committed to Access to Education in Developing Countries”

Cambodia, Philippines, Lebanon... For the past ten years, Éléonore Iriart (E99) has been committed to supporting underprivileged young people in developing countries. Here’s the interview. 

ESSEC Alumni: How did you get into development and educational aid?

Éléonore Iriart: After ten years in Europe working in marketing and customer relations/loyalty, I sat a skills assessment and took a sabbatical to travel around Latin America and Southeast Asia, as well as to try my hand at voluntary work, initially in through private lessons and tutoring in Peru, and then in a nutrition centre in Guatemala. That whole experience made me want to permanently transition into working for NGOs in development aid.

EA: You then joined Pour un Sourire d’Enfant (PSE) in Cambodia…

É. Iriart: That organisation was founded in the early ‘90s by Christian and Marie-France des Pallières when the country opened up after the terrible years of the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese occupation. The couple wanted to do something about the distressing conditions experienced by rag-and-bone children working in the rubbish tips of Phnom Penh, initially by giving them food, and later by giving them access to education.

EA: What educational programmes did PSE put in place?

É. Iriart: The charity first opened a school and created catch-up courses. Next, it developed vocational training so that the children it supported could train in a profession and find skilled jobs when they grew up, to lift them permanently out of poverty.

EA: What were the results?

É. Iriart: Today, PSE supports more than 6000 children who go on to work in hospitality, management, sales, or the construction industry. And there’s now several generations who are able to support themselves and their families.

EA: What were your responsibilities at PSE?

É. Iriart: I began with two years of teaching advertising, PR, and e-marketing. In parallel, I also helped to create a practical market research project as a “junior enterprise” to serve local companies, led by second- and third-year university students. Then I was the head of the PSE Sales & Management school for 3 years.

EA: How did the school grow under your leadership? 

É. Iriart: It grew from 200 to 400 students, and the teaching team grew from around 20 to more than 50 staff, including not only teachers but also people to manage relations with businesses and work placements for students, as well as supporting them in finding their first job. This growth was accompanied by the construction of new local premises and upskilling for the teaching staff. Other initiatives include the opening of a shop managed by students, business missions and sales for students, and the supply of household and hygiene products and school equipment for students and staff at PSE... I should also mention the support and advice I received from the professors and management at ESSEC. ESSEC even became a partner to the charity.

EA: What is your overall take on the experience?

É. Iriart: Firstly, I had to adapt to a very different culture, both in terms of the education system and in how projects and people are managed. There is a huge difference in the way things are done between developed and developing nations. So I learned a lot about management and conflict resolution... But the most gratifying thing was to see students make progress, gain independence, advance in their careers, start a family, and leave their impoverished dwellings for solidly built homes with access to clean water and electricity.

EA: After five years at PSE, you took over at the helm of Passerelles numériques. 

É. Iriart: It’s an organisation that works in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Vietnam to train underprivileged young people for digital careers: system and network installation and maintenance technicians, web, mobile, and information system developers, testers, etc. The classes aren’t limited to simply acquiring the necessary technical skills, but also include learning English and the development of soft skills (communication, teamwork, creativity, problem solving, leadership, etc.) and even the promotion of certain values (responsibility, trust, solidarity, respect, discipline) as well as extracurricular activities and support with everyday life and access to employment. It’s about education in the broadest sense of the word. The young people are housed, fed, and live in a community. And it works! 100% of students find a job within three months of graduation.

EA: What initiatives did you launch with Passerelles numériques? 

É. Iriart: I managed the Passerelles numériques centre in Cebu in the Philippines for three years, then the Phnom Penh centre in Cambodia for two years. An important part of my role was selecting which young people were eligible for our programmes, which involved guidance, communication with their families, the organisation of written exams and interviews, social surveys, etc. Other aspects of my role were fundraising, managing relationships with partners and businesses, and accreditation by local authorities and monitoring of educational reform. Not to mention managing everyday problems that were far from insignificant: for example, repairing a leak in a country where the monsoon and typhoons are never far away can become a major strategic problem!

EA: What was your everyday life like?

É. Iriart: The Passerelles numériques centres work 24/7. In a single day I could be having lunch with a partner, taking a road that stretched the definition of the word to attend a board meeting in a neighbouring town, taking in a show put on by our students, then taking a night boat for a meeting with a partner on an island the next day. 

EA: What did you learn from the experience?

É. Iriart: I really developed my independence and ability to make a decision: when you report directly to the CEO of an NGO that’s 10,000 km away with a seven-hour time difference, you need to be able to keep a cool head and take the initiative. I also had a front row seat for the rapid and chaotic development of the countries I was working in, with the emergence of a middle class, a consumer society with leisure-time, and a network of start-ups.

EA: You spent a total of ten years in Southeast Asia. Did those years change you as a person?

É. Iriart: I can’t say I’m fully European anymore, nor fully Asian. My personality has definitely changed through contact with the different influences I’ve encountered, sometimes driven by discovering new ways, other times disconcerted or even discouraged by the difficulty in adapting to an often alien context.

EA: You then left Asia to move to Lebanon. Why did you make that decision?

É. Iriart: I wanted and needed to see new horizons. And I was curious about discovering Lebanon, both because I’d heard so many good things about it, and because I found meaning in helping to rebuild a severely struggling country – even though until that point I’d never worked in crisis situations. Nor did I imagine just how much worse the situation would get in the months following the explosion in Beirut.

EA: What projects did you work on in Lebanon?

É. Iriart: I took a role as a manager of education, training, and access to work programmes for the European Institute of Cooperation and Development (IECD), an international aid organisation that supports human and economic development projects in around 15 countries. I supervised a number of projects: the creation of technical baccalaureate programmes with around 20 private and state schools in subjects like electrical engineering, industrial maintenance, and IT development; opening around 20 career guidance and employment offices with partner high schools; managing a social/education centre for tutoring and counselling for child refugees, mainly from Syria, and poor Lebanese children; inclusive education... And, of course, adapting to the crisis with a restructuring of existing initiatives and the launch of new projects less focused on development and more on responding to basic needs and continuity in education.

Interview by Louis Armengaud Wurmser (E10), Content Manager at ESSEC Alumni 

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