Interview with Francois Bienfait

Interview with François Bienfait - Deputy Commissioner for Refugees and Stateless Persons at the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons - the 1st instance authority in the Belgian asylum procedure.

Name, title, and country:

François Bienfait, Deputy Commissioner for Refugees and Stateless Persons at the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons - the 1st instance authority in the Belgian asylum procedure.

When and how were you first involved in the project?

My first involvement was at the EAC launching conference in Madrid 2006. I was then asked to lead a workshop with the objective to determine the themes for the EAC Curriculum, which later became the 13 modules.

I was later on involved as one of the experts in the team for the conception of the module Inclusion and as a team coordinator for the conception of the module on Evidence Assessment. I also became an official EAC trainer for both modules and for the train the trainers’ sessions.

Since 2009, we have seriously started with the implementation of some EAC modules in our office.

Our office has started collaboration with the asylum office in Burundi (ONPRA). We have already trained their staff with the EAC modules Inclusion and Interview Techniques, with the face to face sessions in Bujumbura and in February 2011 we will use the module on Evidence assessment, probably later also the module on COI.

How come Belgium is so involved in the EAC-project in comparison with other countries?

Probably the main reason is that the Belgian General Commissioner for Refugees and Stateless Persons, Mr. Dirk Van den Bulck, was himself very positive since the very beginning with the concept of this EAC project. He really considered that –contrarily maybe to some other EU projects- this one could be very concrete and contribute to a real harmonization of the EU asylum policy. The day that all case workers in the EU will be trained with the same standards and same requisites, we should avoid –at least diminish- secondary flows between EU Member States. So the General Commissioner considers that it is a real investment for the future.

What are the main benefits of using the EAC-education?

I think that I have already partially answered this question. I would like to add that in my opinion, one of the main goals is that similar asylum cases are treated alike by case workers. This is of course valid between different countries, but this objective can also be very valid at a national level, to make sure that whatever the Region, the Unit, the case worker etcetera is, the outcome of an asylum claim -and the guarantees given to the applicant- would be the same.

What are the challenges of working with the EAC-education? 

I would say that in my opinion the main challenges are: time, language and size of the asylum authority.

Time: it is again the question to find the right balance between productivity and staff training, particularly in crisis situations.

Language: naturally it depends on each country. But countries where the average command of the English language is not optimal will soon face the challenge of needing a translated version of the suitable EAC modules.

Size of the asylum authorities: when you have a large staff, it makes sense to organise EAC sessions in groups of 12 to 15, which is the ideal number, but for smaller bodies, this can be very difficult and not realistic. If I take the example of our neighbours in Luxemburg, it seems out of proportion for them to invest so much in EAC. So we need to think in more regional solutions.

What are your experiences from the developing- and the implementation-process of EAC?

Some advice from our experience:

• Two trainers for each session, a first trainer and a backup, as it makes the dynamic in the group much better. However this is only for the 2 days face-to-face. And why not in the future, one national trainer with a colleague from another EU country? That would certainly help for more EU harmonization.
• Groups of ideally 12 to 15 trainees.
• Start with an introductory session of one hour before the e-learning starts, in order to make the group meet with the trainers, to get aquatinted with the EAC platform and to clarify the expectations for the e-learning.
• Make some modules compulsory depending on the issue. For instance, staff members dealing with children should follow the module on Interviewing Children. Or staff members specialized in exclusion cases should follow the module on exclusion.

A key issue is that the management is committed to the development of this project. Ideally, in my opinion, the management should follow one module, to be aware of this EAC dynamic. Last summer, Mrs. Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs, attended together with the Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Immigration issues, Mr. Melchior Wathelet, a part of a real EAC session which was taking place in our office at that time. We were of course very glad to see the high interest they expressed towards EAC at that occasion.

Have you seen any improvements in your country’s work on asylum management since you adopted the EAC-education?

No later than yesterday, I read a decision by our asylum court. It was perfect in my opinion. The court decision was very well elaborated and was referring to the quality of the decision made in my office.

What are your thoughts about the structure of the EAC-concept of the face-to-face sessions combined with e-learning?

The EAC concept is very well conceived. I was certainly not an expert myself for this kind of learning tools. Fortunately EAC got the help from specialists in didactics, e-learning platforms and pedagogic methods to be used. The very good and complementary mix between the e-learning phase, which is more focused on theory, and the face to face part has become very obvious to all of us. Every time after an EAC session we proceed to an evaluation by the trainees and they always insist on the importance of the two phases, which complement each other. It would denature the concept if we were to use only the e-learning or the face to face without the other one. I am very convinced about this.

What is the outlook for your future national trainings on asylum management?

In total, at the end of 2011, we should have 20 EAC trainers and 328 participations of staff members in my office, some having followed two or three modules. For a total target group of around 250 persons, if we consider that every case worker should follow as a basis three EAC modules, this means that on the present rhythm, we could get to this result by the end of 2013. So four years to get all staff members properly trained at our EAC requisites. But of course, an important development will be the installation of the European Asylum Support Office in Malta in 2011, and the view that this new office will have towards EAC for the following years.

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