ten years of commitment to social...

TEN YEARS OF COMMITMENT TO SOCIAL INCLUSION

This publication was produced in association with Carenews. The examples highlighted in the text were chosen from among the hundreds of partners of the Societe Generale Corporate Foundation. They

represent only a fraction of the associations supported by the Foundation.

For the past ten years, our Foundation has supported associations committed to the social inclusion of people in difficulty. Since it was formed in 2006, the Societe Generale Corporate Foundation has supported nearly 850 projects and 250,000 beneficiaries. The past decade has seen the creation of a wealth of initiatives. The Foundation provides long-term support to associations, the best examples of which include Apprentis d’Auteuil, Ares, CARE France, Emmaüs Défi and Sport dans la Ville. As we celebrate our tenth anniversary, we have decided to extend the Foundation for a further five years and increase its annual budget to €3 million - three times the initial amount. This will allow us to continue to support the associations that work every day to help people in need find training and work.

But the financial commitment of our Group would be worthless if it were not for the daily support and solidarity of our teams. This year, nearly 15,000 members of staff worldwide took part in initiatives organised by Societe Generale. Our staff’s willingness to get involved reinforces the Foundation’s financial support and strengthens our company.

We are extremely proud of our staff’s commitment, their initiatives embody the values of our Group and illustrate our company’s strength and ability to take action.

Frédéric OudéaCEO of Societe Generale

Chairman of the Societe Generale Corporate Foundation for Solidarity

C O N T E N T S

01. PROFESSIONAL INTEGRATION

A MEANS TO ACHIEVING SOCIAL INCLUSIONp.6

02. A RANGE OF METHODS

FOR A BROADER FIELD OF ACTIONp.12

03. BEYOND FINANCIAL SUPPORT

HUMAN COMMITMENTp.14

15,000

PROFESSIONAL INTEGRATION

INTEGRATION THROUGH SPORT AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

FOUNDATION.SOCIETEGENERALE.COM FONDATIONSOCIETEGENERALE FONDATION_SG

COMMITTED STAFF MEMBERSAROUND THE WORLD

PROJECTS SUPPORTED

850 €20MILLION DONATED TO

CHARITABLE PROJECTS

BENEFICIARIESHELPED

250,000

THE FOUNDATION SUPPORTS

THE SOCIETE GENERALE CORPORATE FOUNDATION

TEN YEARS OF COMMITMENT

6 T H I S P U B L I C AT I O N W A S P R O D U C E D I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H C A R E N E W S

Being employed allows indivi-duals to play their role in society. It is an important means of achie-ving social inclusion. Gaining, or regaining, employment helps ex-cluded individuals use their skills, earn respect from others and gain confidence and dignity. Despite the 2.25 million long-term unemployed in France in 2014 (Source: Le Monde, February

2015), social inclusion organi-sations recorded that 63% of individuals registered with them had found a job or training. This encouraging figure highlights the effectiveness of reintegration actions undertaken by specia-list companies and the need to continue professional integration activities.

DEFINITION AND BACKGROUND

WHAT IS

PROFESSIONAL INTEGRATION A process by which individuals gain access to long-term employment that generates sufficient income for them.

PROFESSIONAL INTEGRATIONA MEANS TO ACHIEVING SOCIAL INCLUSION

01.


INTEGRATION THROUGH ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

Visionaries? In the 1970s, and even more so in the 1980s, following the oil

crises and the arrival of mass unemployment, social wor-kers began to rethink the link between employment and ex-clusion. Instead of campaigning for state handouts, they argued that employment was the key to regaining independence for ex-cluded individuals, using the slo-gan “nobody is unemployable!”. Abandoning their original roles as social workers, they formed a new profession - that of “social entrepreneur”.

It was quite a challenge. On top of the difficulties they already ex-perienced as social workers, they had to acquire new skills as com-pany leaders, find professions to invest in that were accessible without qualifications, and open doors over the long term for the employees being integrated. At first they turned to the building sector, gardening, waste collec-tion, among others. Some, in line with their own values, instinctively sought to move towards areas of innovation in the sustainable development sector, such as organic farming, recycling, and

ecological construction.Similar companies developed in the 1990s, as integration through economic activity became reco-gnised as a way to fight against exclusion. The year 2000 was a turning point for so-called “mo-dernisation”. The economy was placed under increasing strain while social vulnerability became more widespread. The instability that social integration compa-nies dealt with was becoming increasingly complex. In addition to the support provided during employment by social integra-tion companies, and guidance

A pioneer of the solidarity-based economy, integration through economic activity, although relatively unknown to the general public, has been creating solutions to fight social vulnerability for over thirty years. It attempts to reconcile economic and social concerns, bringing together “typical” companies and those who are excluded from them.


towards long-term employment, social workers were faced with new challenges such as housing, debt, and childcare for single women. And today? The sector is in-creasingly a part of the larger field of the Social and Solidarity Economy. The original social worker entrepreneurs have been joined by a generation of social entrepreneurs. These former ma-nagers from typical companies and recent graduates of pres-tigious universities are keen to combine economic activity, ethics and social utility. Rémi Tricart, Director of Emmaüs Défi, is one of them. He spent 15 years as an Engineer in the industrial sector before joining in 2013 Emmaüs Défi, an integration infrastructure dedicated to helping the home-less. “I was keen to work in an area that reflected my values more closely. What I found inte-resting in integration through eco-nomic activity is that it turns the old economy upside down. The economy is used to serve huma-nity, rather than humanity serving the economy.” This change is also found in new activities, allowing differentiation, providing more long-term jobs, greater environ-mental responsibility and being more rewarding for the individuals

in integration. Recycling is ta-king on new markets, from toys to removal boxes. Integration is also cropping up where you least expect it, by teaming up with fa-mous chefs or fashion designers in fabric recycling. Value is created based on values. And alliances are formed, many of them with typical companies. Whether working together in a supplier-client relationship, or as part of a return to work pro-gramme for employees in inte-gration, the ties become stronger over time. First of all, through sponsorship programmes: dona-ting money, products, etc., and, of course, skills. Precious resources to launch new projects that would otherwise weigh too heavily on the social integration companies and their financial resources. ‘Co-construction’, the ability to create new ways of working together is already under way between in-tegration companies and typical companies. But there is much work to be done. Because social integration - and the contemporary values it has embodied for over 30 years - remains unknown to the general public. Why? “Firstly, because the fight against exclusion is not as easy to un-derstand as help in the form of

ACTORS OF INTEGRATION

THROUGH ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

3,700 COMPANIES

130,000 EMPLOYEES IN INTEGRATION

Source : French Labour Ministry, 2014

Integration Project Workshops

(IPW) and Integration Companies

(IC) produce goods and services, with IPWs often addressing the most marginalised groups in society, forming the first step

towards a return to employment with, for instance, 26-hour contracts instead of the

35-hour ones offered by the ICs.

Intermediary Organizations and Temporary Work Integration

Companies offer temp jobs as a means for people in unstable situations to return

to work.


WHEN SOCIAL INCLUSION BECAME FASHIONABLE

The gourmet restaurant run by the Aurore association in Paris

“Emmaüs made” gives your old belongings a new lease of life

Simplon.co makes digital technology accessible to everyone

Staff of Fringuette transform second-hand clothing

© A

uror

e

© E

mm

aüs

© iS

tock

© iS

tock

housing, food or nursing that humanitarian associations pro-vide,” explains Thibaut Guilluy, Managing Director of the French social inclusion group ARES. “At a time when more than half of French people are afraid of finding themselves living on the streets one day, making a commitment

to employment can cause a great deal of anxiety.” However, everyone can get invol-ved in social integration through economic activity. Donating your old clothes to a social integra-tion company to give them a new lease of life. Visiting - perhaps wi-thout realising it - one of the social

integration bakeries, laundrettes or garages that now exist. After all, in their attempt to reconcile social issues with economic is-sues, social integration compa-nies seem to have already taken on all the forms of tomorrow’s company.


WHAT ARE THE FUTURE PROSPECTS FOR PROFESSIONAL INTEGRATION COMPANIES?

INTERVIEW WITH THIBAUT GUILLUY, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ARES

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES CURRENTLY FACING THE PROFESSIONAL INTEGRATION SECTOR? The first is encouraging new ini-tiatives. Professional integration companies help people back into society and are part of an active policy to fight social exclusion. Yet the creation of new jobs in the sector depends on the state.

When you consider that for every euro of subsidy, we pay back 2 euros in social contributions and taxes, it’s a hurdle that we need to overcome, notably to allow certain professional integration companies to consolidate.

WHAT ABOUT INNOVATION? Innovation is also essential be-cause we need to adapt to chan-ging trends in employment. There is no point in preparing people for jobs that are set to disappear. We need to keep in touch with issues like the digital transition, robotics

and 3D printing, which are all fu-ture areas of employment. Our professional integration compa-nies need to be in step with tech-nological progress in order to help individuals through these radical changes that are taking place.

HENCE THE ADVANTAGE OF WORKING WITH COMPANIES THAT ARE ALREADY ACTIVE IN THESE AREAS That’s another challenge: getting more in touch with the economy through active collaboration. Ares has already formed several “so-cial joint-ventures” with typical companies, including Log’ins, supported by the Societe Generale Corporate Foundation. The project allows individuals with

disabilities to find jobs in logistics. Last year, we formed another one in the digital arena. The aim was to offer “social relocation ser-vices”, such as call centres and billing services.

The Societe Generale Corporate Foundation has supported Ares since 2007.

Since 1991, the charity ARES supports people who find themselves distanced from

employment or acutely separated from society, thereby accumulating numerous difficulties. The aim is to offer an assisted

contract with general social support which reduces the different obstacles to

professional insertion.

Ares is above all a space where people can sit down, sort out their problems and

gradually prepare for their professional and personal future. The charity helps people

to regain their self-confidence through independence, the keystone to long-term

employment.

Ares is a group which brings together six employment integration companies, including

Ares Atelier, Ares Services, Ares Coop, La Petite Reine, Log’ins

and Ateliers Sans Frontières.


REDESIGNING PROFESSIONAL INTEGRATION TO BETTER SERVE THE MOST SOCIALLY MARGINALISED

EMMAÜS DÉFI

“At Emmaüs Défi, the need for innovation comes from our social objective of helping people living on the street to get back on their feet through employment,” ex-plains Rémi Tricart, Director of the association, which was formed in Paris in 2007. “Society has changed; so too has social vulne-rability. Typical social inclusion programmes were not designed to take into account the enor-mous difficulties that the most socially marginalised individuals face. Working 26 hours a week, for example, is impossible when you live in a tent or on the streets in Paris, even if you truly want to start working again.” To help people regain confidence, rejoin society and find their feet in the workplace in a long-term way, the Emmaüs Défi association has come up with a system called “First Hours”. New employees start off by working just four hours a week, then eight, then twelve etc. until they reach the full 26-hour integration contract.

And it works. Eight out of ten em-ployees who return to work using the first hours system reach the 26-hour goal, usually in just a few months. “Moving beyond employment, there are many other factors at play. Helping the employees find housing, supporting them physi-cally when they undergo a medi-cal check-up in order to help them overcome the enormous appre-hension about problems that might be uncovered...,” explains Rémi Tricart. The need for such comprehensive and reinforced support gave rise to another in-novative system: “Convergence”. Intended to be for widely used, the system tries an extended period of integration (up to five years, instead of the usual two-year integration contract) and relies on various forms of sup-port tailored to the needs of the individual. The Societe Generale Corporate Foundation for Solidarity has supported Emmaüs Défi since 2011.

EMMAÜSDÉFI

Emmaüs Défi’s aim is to create innovative solutions to get people off the streets and out

of emergency situations. The Professional Integration Project offers an employment

contract and personalised support to people who are severely socially marginalised.

Emmaüs Défi has 110 employees in professional integration and runs a second-

hand goods business (collection, sorting and sale).

The organisation also leads other initiatives for combating social marginalisation such as the Solidarity Equipment Bank, which enables underprivileged households to equip their first home. The organisation

provides general support around the issues of employment, healthcare and

accommodation.


ENCOURAGE DIVERSITY Capital Filles is a sponsorship programme connecting staff from large corporations with female high school pupils from underprivileged areas.

SOCIAL INCLUSION AFTER PRISON L'Îlot is an association that supports and guides individuals through reintegration, particularly when they leave prison.

PROFESSIONAL INSERTION FOR DISABLED PEOPLE Handeway is a collaborative web platform allowing young disabled individuals to help one another.

SOCIAL INCLUSION THROUGH MOBILITY Apreva : “a car for a job”. This association offers mobility solutions for individuals in difficulty.

RESOCIALISING Carton plein collects and transforms boxes used to package bicycles.

A RANGE OF METHODS FOR A WIDER RANGE OF ACTIONS

IN FRANCE

In the 1970s, when employment first became a key path to social inclusion, no one could have imagined that in 2016, we would still need to work together not only to integrate those excluded from work, but also those affected by other forms of exclusion. The reality today is that social inclusion has a much broader scope. Beyond professional integration, inclusive systems now involve people of all ages, from school-aged prevention to helping seniors avoid isolation. Integration today covers various types of social exclusion that prevent people from living in society.

Sport, culture, digital technology and design are just some of the many different paths that social inclusion can take. In addition to the traditional integration workshops and educational programmes, associations and institutions are heading down new

paths. Today, nearly all cultural institutions offer access and creative programmes like “Orange Rouge”. Trials in the field of sports have been successful, with an increase in projects in a wide range of fields combining physical activity and social inclusion, such as Sport in the City. This association, based in Lyon, is active in the Lyon and Paris regions, and has become the leading association for social inclusion through sport in France. Team sports are rewarding and enjoyable activities that serve as a path for social and professional integration. The first step encourages some 4,500 individuals aged from 7 to 25 to improve their skills and give themselves a better chance to find a job or even create a company, for instance via the Entrepreneurs in the City programme

The Societe Generale Corporate Foundation for Solidarity has supported Sport in the City since 2007.

CHILDREN

PL4Y International ADOLESCENTS

Proxité YOUNG

PROFESSIONALS

Mozaïk RH

ADULTS (40 Y.O.)

Solidarity for the Unemployed

02.


WORLDWIDE

In over 90 countries around the world, the international humanitarian agency CARE, founded in 1945, fights extreme poverty by attacking its root causes and defends access to basic rights. In countries in the southern hemisphere, it works with young people, in particular women, who have left school. Faced with problems such as illiteracy and lack of access to education and healthcare, young women are particularly

vulnerable and need targeted support to become economically and socially independent. Since 1991, CARE has provided a solidarity-based form of assistance designed to help the poorest populations in over 70 countries, known as Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs). VSLAs involve groups of beneficiaries who save and borrow using a group fund, and undertake activities that generate revenue. They can also take courses in literacy and basic entrepreneurial management training. The system is runs in Morocco and Cameroon. In Cameroon, the project includes the most underprivileged children who no longer attend school, providing them with technical training and courses in growing professions. The Societe Generale Corporate Foundation for Solidarity has supported CARE France since 2011.

© C

ARE

Fran

ce


Within companies, new ways of encouraging team spirit, motivation and sharing values are constantly appearing. These are of particular benefit to professional integration companies, for which they form a pool of skilled volunteers keen to help them develop. Through the Societe Generale Corporate Foundation, a company’s staff members can sponsor a person in difficulty and help them to think about their career. They can also put their skills to use by getting involved in projects or financial education sessions for young people in difficulty, in particular to raise awareness about debt.

Ronald tells us about the unique experience he had with his team. The aim of the solidarity day is to give pupils from a horticultural school run by Apprentis d’Auteuil, a helping hand. The school provides professional training in landscaping and horticulture for young people in difficulty. As Ronald, a volunteer for the day, explains, “The experience forces you to get up from your computer, leave your bubble, and get back to reality.

It makes you want to do more, and you realise that it isn’t that difficult to give up some of your time and be useful.”

The Societe Generale Corporate Foundation for Solidarity has supported Apprentis d’Auteuil since 2011.

BEYOND FINANCIAL SUPPORT HUMAN COMMITMENT

03.

© E

xtra

it de

la s

érie

« 4

his

toire

s de

col

labo

rate

urs

enga

gés

»

FOUNDATION.SOCIETEGENERALE.COM FONDATIONSOCIETEGENERALE FONDATION_SG

EACH YEAR, THE SOCIETE GENERALE CORPORATE FOUNDATION ORGANISES THREE CALLS FOR PROJECTS, LASTING ONE MONTH EACH,

IN FEBRUARY, JUNE AND NOVEMBER.

Applications will not be accepted or examined outside the call for projects periods.

IN THE “ORGANIZATIONS” TAB, CLICK ON “SUBMIT A PROJECT” AND DOWNLOAD THE GRANT APPLICATION.

SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION AND ATTACHMENTS ONLINE.

ASSOCIATIONS INVOLVED IN THE SOCIAL AND SOLIDARITY ECONOMY,

DO YOU HAVE PROJECTS FOR PROFESSIONAL INTEGRATION OR SOCIAL INCLUSION THROUGH SPORT OR CULTURE?

VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOUNDATION.SOCIETEGENERALE.COM

1

2

3

02/12/16 19:28

thank you

TO THE 15,000 STAFF MEMBERS COMMITTED TO SOLIDARITY

foundation.societegenerale.com

ten years of commitment to social...

Documents