Mapping talents in Marseille

Before you can accompany a young person, you need to see what they are good at. That is the heart of Step 2 of the We Are Streetwise methodology: a map of talents, built together with the young person rather than imposed on them.

In April 2026, we gathered in Marseille for a stakeholder meeting with many partners of Contact Club, all working with young people in the city centre. In one of the workshops, we dug into a practical question: how do you actually approach this talent mapping? Many tools were discussed. Here are the ones that stood out.

Educational work sites (chantiers éducatifs). Hands-on projects in which young people simply start working (building, cleaning, setting up a room) reveal two kinds of talent at once: manual skills and soft skills. Watching how a young person handles a task, a team and a setback says a lot, often more than any conversation could.

Formal and informal conversations. A structured interview captures one side of a person. A chat during a break, on the way to a site or over a coffee captures another. Both are needed, because young people often say different things in different settings.

Exchange between partners. Associations, schools and parents each see a different part of the young person. Bringing those views together gives a fuller picture than any single organisation could, and it helps avoid labelling a young person on the basis of one context only.

Limiting group pressure. Young people often behave differently in front of their peers. Creating moments where they are less exposed, such as one-to-one moments or small groups, helps them show who they really are.

The positive portrait. Instead of listing problems, identify strengths that matter for employability. This reverses the usual gaze: we start from what works, and from there we can build.

Self-esteem work. Talents are hard to name when you don’t believe you have any. Building confidence is part of the mapping, not a separate task.

Digital mind-mapping tools. Tools like Miro can help young people visualise their strengths and connect them. They link naturally to the positive portrait: once strengths are identified, a visual map makes them tangible and easy to revisit.

Two reminders closed the workshop. The first is to not forget the girls. Adapt the tools to the interests and needs of girls as well. A toolbox designed with only one profile in mind risks missing half of the talent in the room. The second is that none of these tools works alone. Their strength lies in combining them and staying flexible enough to adapt to each young person. Mapping talents is not an assessment. It is the start of a conversation.