Solidarity-oriented projects at IÉSEG: focus on the association “Récolte Sans Faim”
06/29/2020
The association Récolte Sans Faim (Harvest without Hunger in English), a collective solidarity-oriented project created in 2016 and made up of 9 students from the Paris La Défense campus, aims to collect food and clothing for disadvantaged people in the Paris region. The association also visits secondary schools to raise awareness among teenagers about the situation of homeless people, and has addressed broader themes such as food waste and world famine.
During the 2019/2020 academic year, the association greatly exceeded its initial objectives, since nearly 7 tons of food and more than 1,600 kg of clothing were collected from partner schools and colleges, as well as companies and associations. The clothing collected was then donated to associations such as the Red Cross, Emmaus and the Secours Populaire.
The collection of food, carried out in partnership with the agro-industrial group Avril, was distributed to associations such as the la Banque Alimentaire, the Red Cross and Au Coeur de la fraternité.
“Being part of the association Récolte Sans Faim enabled me, first of all, to learn how to take on concrete responsibilities,” explains Inès Bertrand-Souleau, a member of the association.
“Then, as a communications manager, I had to keep myself constantly informed about issues relating to homelessness and poverty, food waste, and actions carried out by various associations or towns/cities..”
In the context of the lockdown (linked to Covid-19), the association also organized a Facebook live session with a former homeless person, and now president of the Entourage network’s street committee, in order to raise awareness among schoolchildren.
Solidarity-oriented team projects at IÉSEG are integrated into the curriculum of 2nd year of the Grande Ecole program. Students work in teams of 6 to 10 students within an association. The pedagogical objective of these projects is to develop the students’ creativity, to give them the opportunity to work in teams and plan operations, to help them design and manage a budget, or to develop their ability to communicate to an external audience, while responding to humanitarian and charitable issues. Each year, more than 90 projects work with different audiences in the Paris region or the Hauts-de-France region.
