Compagnons Bâtisseurs Bretagne

description of organisation

Since 50 years, the Association Compagnons Bâtisseurs Bretagne has developed actions destined to help people facing economical, social or psychological difficulties to improve their homes and their life environment and indirectly : to improve their well-being. By very concrete actions, the Compagnons Bâtisseurs defends housing rights for everybody, the importance to participate in his own housing project and life project, the empowerment of people, the solidarity and the non formal education. Our solidarity actions to the inhabitants have several aims: better well-being, social mobilization, social link, combating against indecency, capability to act, come out of isolation, housing appropriation, combating energy precariousness, solidarity in rural areas.

Target Groups
Who can be a volunteer?
- Young people between 18 and 30 years
- Work time is 35 hours per week
- Mobility from 2 to 12 months (from 2 weeks for young people with fewer opportunities)
- Transnational mobility
And for the young volunteer with fewer opportunities? What are the aims?
Young people between 18 and 30 years more isolated or exposed to another system for several reasons:
- Young people doesn’t find an answer in the conventional devices or at least « not selected » because the vocational choice does not seem consolidated.
- Without an established project
- Without request
There are proposed here an experiential pedagogy in order to create a desire motivation, commitment, vocation.
- Value the commitment
- Encourage initiatives
- Acquire and transmit skills
- Belonging to a collective
- Promoting the mobility of young people for the discovery of another horizon (local, national and international)
- Allow the volunteer to define and prepare a post-volunteering project.

What activities will you participate in?
- Co-lead the solidarity workshop with the volunteer team on learning and mutual aid themes around issues of living together.
- Support the volunteer team to organize their actions.
- Animate the network of mutual aid between inhabitants.
- Offer friendly moments for volunteers, permanent workers, young people in voluntary service, neighbourhood résidents.
- Communicate the actions carried out at the solidarity workshop.
- Participate in housing improvement projects for and with inhabitants.
The association promote citizenship, voluntary participation and community life by giving a place for anyone who wants to grow up and take part in the society by involving in the actions of the association. From the beginning, the association is hosting and working with volunteers. Today, volunteers are french or foreigner, are hosted under the French Civic Service or the European Volunteer Service program, and have different backgrounds and different motivations. They work in team, nearby the staff and the families we accompany, on classical actions of the organisation and on any new action they want to initiate.

The main aims of the association are:

- Accompanied self-renovation actions: Through the technical and educational skills of their technical leaders, Compagnons Bâtisseurs supports families or isolated persons for housing environment improvement. Consequently, the renovation projects mobilize the participation of the inhabitants who are not able to face their housing issues alone (for different reasons). Resident's involvement, alongside the young volunteers, encourages empowerment and proactivity as well as helping each other and local solidarities. This concrete action on the structure should enable vulnerable people to appropriate housing, restore social relationships and help people feel better.

- To enable the professional rehabilitation of job-seekers into the building trades / Develop educative and training actions in the building sector :
The association responds to the professional rehabilitation difficulties faced by those job-seeker alienated from the world of work and wishing to orient themselves towards building trades. This action is based upon the creation and organisation of "chantiers d'insertions" as part of the IAE (inclusion by economic activity).