Geffroy (Marie-Thérèse)

ANLCI (France’s national agency in charge of curbing illiteracy) director / Foundation executive committee member (april 2009)

Marie-Thérèse Geffroy had always dreamed of becoming a “baker in San Diego.” But this classical-literature associate professor wound up at the helm of ANLCI, France’s national agency in charge of curbing illiteracy. This agency gathers all the public-sector organisations, labour organisations, business firms, associations, foundations and other organisations working on this agenda. Prior to that, this active Gaullist had been in office, as a Lyons district mayor and Rhône-Alpes regional councillor, for 15 years.

ANLCI was established in 2000. Father Joseph Wresinski (ATD Quart Monde), the first man to raise the alarm on the illiteracy in France, seems to have been taken seriously: “I grew up in a family with parents who were active in Action Catholique. Then I joined JEC (Jeunesse Étudiante Chrétienne). I learned that whoever I am face-to-face with is the same as me. Anyone. I try to live by that principle every day. That may be why the problem of illiteracy hit home so hard. I also learned that ambition is a good thing, but not just for me: for others and with others too,” says the woman who serves as World Skills vice-president and chairs that organisation’s French office. She has also worked at the High Council for Education and National Commission to debate the future of schools, and chaired the committee coordinating regional educational, vocational training and apprenticeships.

ANLCI is down to earth and hands-on, and its mandate fits into three words: measuring, organising and equipping. Its main office is in Lyons and it has antennas in all French regions. A permanent forum monitoring practices circulates best practices, i.e. the ones that work and deliver results. But where did that “baker in San Diego” thing come from? “I often wonder! Maybe it’s because I love travelling. And no doubt because I admire the people who make life’s essentials day in, day out, even though we underestimate their talent. When we coach youths through the school system, they rarely rank careers as bakers very high on their lists of priorities. That way of looking down on people who have fewer academic qualifications hanging on their walls is actually discrimination, and every form of discrimination is wrong.”