ESC: Solidarité et écologie européennes au coeur de la mobilité des jeunes

Located in Western France at 30 minutes away from the coast and 5 minutes away from Nantes’ city centre, Rezé has got 40000 inhabitants. The City of Rezé is a local authority made up of 1000 agents. It is a member of Nantes Métropole and benefits from the economic dynamism of the department 44. The cultural activity is abundant and affordable. In addition to its mandatory public service competences, the City develops voluntarist policies in the fields of youth, fostering equal opportunities, international mobility and intercultural learning, as well as the fields of inclusion, solidarity, sustainable development, numeric transition, and European and international cooperation, fomenting citizen participation and transversal work between the Council’s services. The City Council is a structure that includes a multitude of services that have the vocation to address all audiences. Thus, it has the capacity to mobilize various actors and networks at a local, national, European and international level. Therefore, it is relying on its own competences and on those of its partners that the city of Rezé is able to impulse a local dynamic at the service of its citizens. Furthermore, the Council has partaken in the elaboration of the COREMOB charter of which it shares the educational values in favor of intercultural practices. The institution is organized into 3 general directorates, including Life and animation of the city. The political program of the municipality for the years 2020-2026 affirms the implementation of transversal actions between the different sectors through the creation of 7 hubs. The European and International Relations (EIR) department and the Youth Service that carry the ESC program belong to this administrative organisation. In this regard, these two services rely on the competences of one another and on the existing structures such as the Youth Information Center and four socio-cultural centers. Among the latter, the SCC Château is working on the digital divide and will be a privileged partner to host a volunteer. We also collaborate with several local partners : the Local Mission which is the French official agency supporting youth professional integration, the local Young Workers Residence, the Departmental Association for Specialized Prevention towards young people (DASP) and the highschools of Rezé. More broadly, as a City Council, we have the possibility to work transversally with other services that can bring their own added value to the volunteers’ projects (environment, culture, solidarity…) as well as other local partners. 37% of the population of Rezé is under 30 years old. It is heterogeneous and includes young people with fewer opportunities who are a priority of Rezé’s public policies. They are in particular far removed from the European dynamics and systems which nonetheless promote inclusion. They have less opportunities to meet people from other European countries and thus to get to know other cultures and consider a mobility project. However, mobility is a vector of social and professional integration, particularly in a globalized society. To take this situation into account we wish to encourage volunteering projects, mobility and interculturality, providing the volunteers with a very close and personalized support all along their ESC projects. Certified since 2017, Rezé has gained valuable experience in supporting the youth for mobility in Europe and internationally, as a host, support and coordinating organization. Over the years, it has reinforced its skills and its partnerships. Then, the ecological policy that Rezé has developed is an asset to allow the volunteers and the young rezéens to develop their environmental culture. Indeed, the House of Sustainable Development (MDD) of Rezé will participate in the project of hosting new volunteers while engaging them in its projects for a more responsible consumption and solidarity initiatives. The city wishes to increase the partnerships with European organizations that promote environmental projects. In addition to the European project, the City has developed 3 decentralized cooperations with the Municipality of Ronkh in Senegal, the City of Abu Dis in Palestine and the Sahrawi refugee camp of Awserd in the Algerian Sahara. There, with our partners, we set up several projects in the fields of health, environment, education, youth policies, access to drinking water. These cooperations allow young people to go to these countries and to be hosted by our partners to participate in these projects (Chantiers Jeunes and International Civic Service in Senegal, internship missions in Palestine...).