France/Citizenship: the government launches the "réserve territoriale citoyenne" to give people the means to "get involved in serving their community".
The "Civic Hour" scheme will enable people to donate one hour of their time each month to a charitable project.
On Thursday February 29, the government launched "a territorial citizen's reserve in partnership with the 'Civic Hour' initiative, to give everyone the means to get involved in their local community".In a press release , Dominique Faure, Minister Delegate for Territorial Collectivities and Rural Affairs, announced the launch of a "territorial citizens' reserve".
The "Civic Hour" scheme was launched by the Voisins solidaires association, which also created Neighbours' Day. The concept is simple: give an hour of your time each month for a solidarity action. The State "must facilitate this desire to get involved". To this end, the government hopes to build on the 'l'Heure civique' platform "by directing it towards mayors and local elected representatives".
"One hour a month, we can all do it," Atanase Périfan, creator of l'heure civique and partner in the government initiative, assured franceinfo on Friday morning. "It's the first step in civic engagement," he explains. "Today, we can see that we're all overwhelmed. We don't want constraints, we don't have much time, and we can see that traditional volunteer work is getting old," he stresses.
Promoting solidarity between neighbors
On the site, "every citizen will be able to tell his or her mayor that he or she is available to give a little of his or her time to help others in his or her commune, and every mayor will be able to call on the residents who have come forward to support him or her in events in his or her commune: support at events, help with crossing children, maintenance of green spaces, etc." explains the press release." explains the press release. "When you think about it, an hour doesn't seem like much - it's the length of a session at the gym or an episode of a TV series. However, one hour can change everything," comments Dominique Faure.
Atanase Périfan insists that the citizen hour is not in competition with paid odd jobs: "It's about one-off help. Someone can come and change a light bulb. No professional is going to come into your home to change a light bulb," asserts Atanase Périfan.
The "réserve territoriale citoyenne" is a factory for mobilizing solidarity, an army of good-willers ready to invest in the service of their community, for the sake of a better quality of life together," says Dominique Faure. She is "convinced that the generosity of citizens can irrigate public action and make it more effective and powerful". As "we have seen in recent years with the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a reservoir of solidarity in our communities, and residents want to feel useful", continued the Minister in her press release.
The project began to take shape last July. At that time, Dominique Faure "initiated a process aimed at improving the conditions under which local elected representatives can exercise their mandate" last July. As part of this, and "in response to discussions about a crisis of commitment, in November 2023 the government launched a citizen consultation using the Agora application". The results "revealed, among other things, that although nearly 7 out of 10 French people are not committed to serving their community, half would like to get involved, provided that their commitment has an impact on their daily lives", the Minister points out.
"The civic hour is the best antidote against depression and gloom," concludes Atanase Périfan.
Source: www.msn.com/
