France: Fighting locally against poverty

The ” new agency for active solidarities “, created in last february by three leaders from the non-profit, private and public sectors, wants to challenge the traditional Welfare system. According to the last figures, just published by INSEE – the State statistics institute -, the 2003 French poverty rate moved from 5,9% to 6,3%. Such upward tendency, already foreseen by a range of experts, is paving the floor today for partnership initiatives. One of the main innovative, put on the table by a call from Emmaüs France by Martin Hirsch, its acting President, reshuffles the way to combat poverty and precariousness. Two other leaders, originated from the private and public sectors and holding high professional positions, support the view that the Welfare State must be regenerated by a series of local experimentations, enhancing social innovation and realistic evaluation, as well as involving better the public and private actors for change in comprehensive programmes. ” Solidarités actives “, funded by grants to speed-up its start-up, will support some 5/10 projects up to the end of the year. As a non-profit organization, its business model relies on selling its consultancy work and on associating to the core staff, secondees and volunteers. solidarites-actives.com