Secretary of State Sarah El Haïry, in charge of Youth and Engagement, 01/25/2021.
-
Romuald Meigneux / Sipa
From this week, volunteers will no longer be forced to perform 24 hours minimum per week of civic service, but will be able to adapt their weekly volume of hours according to their constraints, announces at
20 Minutes
the Secretary of State for youth, Sarah El Haïry.
This should help attract more students.
Another announcement: from this week, all scholarship holders will receive an additional bonus to their civic service allowance.
To be useful, to share, to acquire skills… Civic service is 10 years old this year, and in this period of health crisis where many young people are suffering from loneliness and the decrease in their activities, it represents more than ever an opportunity.
The Secretary of State in charge of youth, Sarah El Haïry, announces in
20 Minutes
a reform of civic service, which aims to facilitate the engagement of young people.
The duration of civic service is at least 24 hours over 6 days, but you want to offer more flexibility in the hours to allow young people to get involved.
Can you explain it to us?
The law required young people who performed civic service to devote themselves at least 24 hours a week to this mission, which made it difficult for some, especially students, to engage.
Today, we want, with Jean-Michel Blanquer [Minister of National Education], to provide them with answers.
Because in this period of pandemic, they want more than ever to feel useful
From this week, civic service will adapt to be more accessible to students.
There will no longer be this weekly time constraint.
For example, a young worker can devote 10 to 15 hours to civic service one week when he is in school and work more than 24 hours the following week when he is on vacation.
This will allow more young people, and in particular students, to participate at their own pace in a public service mission over a period of 6 to 8 months, while breaking the feeling of isolation that they often feel at the moment.
How many students do you expect to attract through this?
Currently, 45,000 are doing civic service.
We hope to double their number in 2021. This corresponds to the need for meaning that they express.
They want to be actors in our daily life.
This will also provide them with financial support, as a civic service mission is compensated.
Secretary of State Sarah El Haïry, in charge of Youth and Engagement.
- Romuald Meigneux / Sipa
Precisely, why have you not decided to increase the remuneration of civic service, at a time when the precariousness of young people is increasing?
A volunteer receives 580 euros per month.
And until then, scholarship holders of levels 5, 6 or 7 received in addition 108 euros.
I am announcing that from this week, these additional 108 euros will be paid to all scholarship holders, regardless of their level.
In addition, I remind you that the civic service allowance is not taken into account in the calculation of the grant.
It is additional financial support.
Do you want to attract other audiences?
There is not a youth in France, but youths.
Civic service is accessible to everyone, as the latest figures show: a quarter of volunteers have less than the bac, 40% have the bac or equivalent and a large third have more than the bac.
And if in 2019, 1,250 volunteers were disabled, we aim to double their number by 2022, by facilitating the financing of the necessary arrangements in the organizations that host them.
On July 14, Emmanuel Macron announced that 100,000 additional missions would be funded by 2021. Isn't that a bit ambitious?
It is a historic step forward to celebrate the 10th anniversary of civic service.
The budget that will be devoted to it will go from 508 million euros in 2020 to 868 million in 2021. In total, 245,000 missions will be offered in 2021. Today, 65,000 are already provided, there are still 180,000 for our young C ' is ambitious, but if, like me, we believe in France as everyday heroes, we will reach them.
Because civic service is one of the most beautiful inventions of the last ten years.
And since September, I have been touring France every Thursday and Friday, meeting associations and communities to extol the merits of civic service.
Many of them do not know that the compensation paid to volunteers is paid by the State.
There is still a huge pool to be conquered.
As for the volunteers, we should find them without any problem since last year, we counted three applications on average per offer.
Secretary of State Sarah El Haïry, in charge of Youth and Engagement, 01/25/2021.
- Romuald Meigneux / Sipa
How to ensure that, in times of crisis, civic service does not replace salaried workers?
No assignment is validated by the civic service agency if it looks like a job.
We have established an evaluation grid of 60 criteria defining what should be a civic service mission, which must above all be of general interest.
Despite this, some young people alert the agency when they are surprised by the nature of the mission entrusted to them.
We are also vigilant with regard to operators who always recruit the same profile of young people for several years in a row.
In case of suspicion, a team from the agency is responsible for carrying out checks.
Have civic service missions changed since the health crisis?
Some have adapted, because the need to strengthen the social link and solidarity has been felt.
As the elderly have expressed a strong need for contact with the young, 10,000 civic service missions will thus be created in nursing homes this year.
Some elderly volunteers having withdrawn, charities recruited more young people in civic service to carry out food distributions.
Other volunteers have been recruited to support students in university residences, to support farmers impacted by the coronavirus crisis, to raise public awareness of barrier gestures, to introduce seniors to digital tools, etc.
Before confinement, 75% of the volunteers were in employment or in training 4 to 8 months after this experience.
Is this likely to change with the crisis?
Whatever the economic situation, civic service will always be a springboard for finding training, a vocation or a job.
We always emerge grown from such an experience and we have more self-confidence.
In addition, we are working with Frédérique Vidal [Higher Education] and Jean-Michel Blanquer on how we could better promote these missions on Parcoursup, so that they can be better taken into account when a young person applies for training.
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