Déconstruire le Discours de Haine

Facilitated a 4-hour Design Thinking workshop for 50 participants that doubled from the planned 2 hours. Produced 8 slogans, 6 theater pieces and roleplays, and 12 prototypes — using the Iceberg Model, empathy mapping, and Harvard's Counterspeech methodology.

Pedagogical Engineering

How the workshop was structured

Human Network Ice-breaker — Used a yarn ball to materialize invisible connections between participants. This kinesthetic exercise demonstrated empirically how our words propagate and connect us in a social "web."

The Iceberg of Hate — Instead of imposing complex definitions, participants mapped what's "above water" (symptoms: cyberbullying, exclusion) and what's "below" (root causes: fear of the other, ignorance, prejudice).

Empathy Mapping — "Si j'étais à sa place" — Groups immersed in the empathy map of three specific personas: a marginalized NEET youth, a girl victim of cyberbullying, and a young person facing origin-based exclusion. Analyzed through all four empathy quadrants.

Harvard Counterspeech Framework (2021) — Introduced the evidence base: empathy-based counterspeech concretely pushes hate speakers to retreat. Armed with this "Theory of Change," 50 participants moved to action.

Results & Impact

What 50 participants produced in 4 hours

The massive engagement generated immediate, high-impact deliverables: 8 slogans and awareness talks (reports, interviews, inspiring hashtags for social media); 6 theater pieces and roleplays (averaging 8 minutes each, illustrating forms of hate speech, its sources, and how to absorb violent discourse with benevolent speech); Alternative Dictionaries replacing hurtful words with vocabulary of support and encouragement; and Micro-Engagements — individual responsibility commitments anchoring change in daily behavior. The session was so engaging that it doubled from the planned 2 hours to a full 4 hours.

What Comes Next

The chain of transmission

TOT — Training of Trainers This workshop is just the beginning. The Formation de Formateur (TOT) program that follows will enable participants to train others — multiplying the impact exponentially.

Each participant becomes an ambassador. 50 trained × their networks = hundreds reached.

The real power of this initiative isn't the single workshop — it's the chain of transmission it creates. Supported by USMBA, Centre Maroc Extrême pour le Développement (CMED), École de la pensée critique, Institut français de Fès, and "En toute lettre," this program turns 50 participants into 50 trainers who each reach their own communities. This is how social change scales — not through campaigns, but through people.

Professional Relevance

How this workshop creates professional value

Workshop Facilitation at Scale

Managing 50 participants for 4 hours — the session doubled due to engagement. Proved ability to facilitate large groups with complex methodologies.

Design Thinking Application

Applied the full Design Thinking cycle — from empathy mapping to prototyping — in a real social impact context, not a theoretical exercise.

Evidence-Based Methodology

Integrated Harvard University research on Counterspeech into a practical workshop framework — bridging academic research and community action.

Multi-Institutional Collaboration

Worked across USMBA, CMED, École de la pensée critique, Institut français de Fès, and "En toute lettre" — managing stakeholder relationships across institutions.