In June 2020, the DRAD was born, the result of the merger between the Territorial Network Directorate (DRT) and the Directorate of Admissibility, Orientation and Access to Rights (ROAD). This new department, which brings together all the reception and claims filing procedures, strengthens the links between the Paris headquarters and the regional network, with the aim of being closer to claimants.
This new department brings together 48 agents at the head office, including 12 CPRs, working in the regions or overseas territories, 12 people responding to the public on the telephone platform (Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm), a mail service, and 536 voluntary delegates of the Defender of Rights, in 872 duty stations.
What are the DRAD's missions?
The department is responsible for recruiting, training, and supporting the work of the delegates. It provides the legal support they need to fully exercise their delegation and participate locally in activities to promote rights and equality. An analysis of complaints sent to the head office is also an essential mission of the DRAD, which ensures the
distribution of cases between the central services and the network of delegates.
To ensure that claimants have access to their rights, the DRAD prepares cases, responds to requests that do not fall within the institution's remit, and deals with disputes within the framework of an amicable settlement. Its role is also to manage the telephone information platform and mail.
What is the composition of this new management?
The director, Mr. Benoît Normand, and his deputy director, Mr. Fabien Dechavanne, coordinate the management, which is divided into 3 divisions:
• The "Network" division, focused on essential
"support" functions (recruitment, training, logistics), contributes to the growth of the network and its qualification. It also manages the transmission of complaints to delegates, including those related to the experimentation of mandatory prior mediation (MPO) or the telephone platform.
12 agents make up this centre, headed by David Manaranche.
• The “Legal” division is responsible for analysing all complaints sent to the institution's head office and for responding to requests that do not lend themselves to processing at the level of
Eva Ordinaire, head of regional unit for Burgundy, Franche-Comté and Seine-et-Marne.
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an investigative unit. It is divided into two sectors: the "proximity treatment" sector, which favours direct treatment with claimants through telephone or e-mail exchanges. Investigating officers handle the preparation of cases, reorientations and “simple” closures. In the “Guidance and Investigation” sector, the lawyers are responsible for the guidance of all referrals received, the investigation and handling of situations that are not intended to be dealt with by the specialised investigation centres, handling by means of amicable settlements, and the most urgent situations. The head of this division, made up of 16 agents, is Guillaume Fichet.
• The heads of regional units (CPR). They are distributed throughout the major regions and Overseas territories. Most of them are in charge of a region, plus, for some, neighbouring departments. These heads of regional units, now essential to the territorial organisation of our institution, play a linking role, provide legal support to the delegates, coordinate the processing of cases at the regional level, as well as actions to promote equality and awareness.
Territorial distribution of heads of regional units
HAUTS-DE-FRANCE Clémence Levesque
MARTINIQUE/GUADELOUPE/FRENCH GUIANA Christelle Cardonnet
REUNION ISLAND/MAYOTTE Didier Lefèvre
CORSICA/
PROVENCE-ALPES-CÔTE-D'AZUR Yolande Eskenazi
OCCITANIA Mariam Chadli NOUVELLE-AQUITAINE
Romain Blanchard
GRAND-EST Élise Geslot
AUVERGNE/RHÔNE-ALPES Charlotte Deluce BURGUNDY/FRANCHE-COMTÉ/
SEINE-ET-MARNE Eva Ordinaire PARIS/ESSONNE/VAL-DE-MARNE/
SEINE-SAINT-DENIS/VAL-D'OISE Sophie Pisk
BRITTANY/PAYS-DE-LA-LOIRE/
CENTRE-VAL-DE-LOIRE Julie Béranger NORMANDY/
HAUTS-DE-SEINE/YVELINES Fawouza Moindjie
One Media and Communications department for the whole institution
While, for several years, two separate departments had handled all press relations on the one hand and the institution's communication on the other, a restructuring led to the creation of a Media and
Communications Department. Its aim is to consolidate the information provided to the public, and to disseminate the institution's messaging and image more widely.
The creation of this department has made it possible to set up a transversal, responsive and coherent work, at the service of access to rights. In addition to the audiences of experts to whom the communication department strives to promote the use of reference knowledge, the department contributes daily to informing the public about the missions and the recourse that the Defender of Rights represents. It also works to strengthen its media presence in the territories, supporting the creation of heads of regional units, which it supports for better visibility.
The challenge of proximity to the public In recent years, the institution's
communication department has focused on developing outreach activities for different audiences, in order to increase understanding of its essential public service mission.
Throughout 2019 and until March 2020, the Defender of Rights carried out a series of trips to the regions, which were opportunities for dialogue with the local press and to promote the institution's use and proximity to all people in the region. A dedicated publicity campaign, which began in 2019, ended in the summer of 2020 after Jacques Toubon's last trip to Strasbourg on 6 July 2020. Aiming to raise awareness of the use of the Defender of Rights' delegates, by emphasising the legal listening, advice and support service provided by the delegates, several publications
promoting the territorial network were distributed in all the regional daily media over several months, with 1,233,027 copies printed.
Ouest-France: raising awareness as close as possible to everyday life
Since the establishment of the partnership with the daily newspaper, Ouest-France in February 2018, the institution has written and published 120 columns on access to rights.
Every Tuesday, the Defender of Rights' office explained to readers of the paper and digital newspaper what the law says about certain problems of everyday life and the steps to be taken to assert one's rights.
Since October 2020, the partnership has evolved to give way to testimonials from territorial delegates in the regional daily newspaper, telling readers about their concrete actions to support the people who have called on them.
specific accompaniment
The deconcentration of the institution's work also took place in terms of communication:
specific support within the Media and Communications Department was set up to enable the CPRs to become real regional relays for the Defender of Rights' office, and to raise awareness of the possibilities for contacts at the level of each territory.
The installation of the CPRs in the regional institutional and media landscape was thus consolidated with the publication, in November 2020, of the Annual Report on the Rights of the Child, enabling CPRs to raise local awareness of the issues of children's rights and particularly the right to participate, enshrined in Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Since she took up her position on 22 July 2020, the Defender of Rights, Claire Hédon, has wanted to continue strengthening this proximity with local, association, and institutional players.