Alter'Actions is a project that was born 15 years ago from a dual observation. First, that young people are increasingly eager to act towards a society that is fairer, more engaged, and want to contribute, feeling legitimate to take action.
And secondly, that the social and solidarity economy sector suffers from a lack of human and financial resources, and sometimes struggles to access certain skills and address all the challenges it faces.
“So, with Alter'Actions, we thought it would be interesting to combine these two issues and propose ways to enable young people to cooperate and work in support of ESS actors who need reinforcements,” says Julie Lacroix.
The association operates through a program called "Solidarity Consulting." This program offers social and solidarity economy structures the opportunity to benefit from consulting missions on their strategic, development, and structuring issues. These missions will be unique in that they are carried out by teams of four volunteer students, who will also come from different backgrounds and fields of study. These students will be supervised by professionals during their four-month mission.
Companies can also participate by offering, for example, their employees the opportunity to engage in mentoring teams of young people on these consulting missions. They can also provide profiles to assist in project management, sharing their skills in action tracking, writing, and professional practice.
These actions will thus allow young people to gain a genuine professional experience where they will take the lead on their mission. They will be able to bring their vision, energy, and skills to the service of projects. There is also a real issue of knowledge transfer for professionals in companies, fostering intergenerational links and evolving their own management practices.
And for project leaders, it is an opportunity to access strategic contributions for their development.
“We are convinced that this cooperation brings a lot because it allows for a stronger mutual understanding between these different worlds: students, companies, and ESS project leaders, each facing specific challenges,” explains Julie Lacroix.
"And we are also convinced that these young people will have an impact at every moment of their lives. Perhaps a student will later be responsible in the public sector and will be able to make different decisions, knowing the ESS sector, or they will be within a company and can encourage skills sponsorship. For us, this cultural awareness is extremely important,” concludes Julie Lacroix.
