• Pratik is a Web application, created by the Young Economic Chamber of Montpellier, which allows, in a few clicks, homeless people or people in need to know the places where to eat, wash or take care of themselves.

  • Each help structure has a descriptive sheet, and is geolocated.

  • Most homeless people (71%) have a smartphone, according to research by Solinum.

Pratik is a real compass, for the most deprived people.

This Web application, created by the Young Economic Chamber (JCE) of Montpellier (Hérault), with the support of Entraide SDF, the Integrated Reception and Orientation Service (SIAO) of Hérault and the metropolis, allows, in a few clicks, people who are homeless or in need to know where to eat, wash or take care of themselves.

But initially, the project carried by the JCE was not that one.

The association, which brings together young people who are involved in civic initiatives, first had the ambition to create a place to remedy the lack of access to hygiene for homeless women.

A survey in the field allowed the members of the JCE to realize that there were “many similar projects that were being created, or already created, confides Julie Gaillard, co-director of the project.

We wondered about the relevance of adding one more project.

And we reviewed our copy.

»

“It was very important to create this device”

For the members of the JCE involved in this project, it was much more useful “to make the services available to potential beneficiaries better known and to facilitate their access to them”, continues Julie Gaillard.

Thus was born Pratik.

This application, which will be regularly updated, offers 14 categories of needs: catering, medical care, administrative support, needs for animals, or access to the Internet or leisure activities.

Each aid or support structure has a descriptive sheet (with the address, opening hours and access conditions).

And it's geotagged.

“We found it absurd that if we are looking for sushi, a smartphone can tell us which restaurants are nearby, but when we are looking for things as essential as a shower or a hot meal, it is not possible “, laments Julie Gaillard.

There was, says Antoine Marc, member of the Entraide SDF association, a real need to create a tool that brings together all this information, in one click.

Most homeless people have a smartphone

"With Entraide SDF, like many other associations in Montpellier, we go on patrols, and we realize that, all the time, people on the street ask us where they can have access to this or such a service, does it exist, etc., he confides.

The people most affected are not aware, it's terrible.

It was very important to create this device.

»

Because most homeless people have a smartphone.

In 2018, the Solinum association, which acts for digital solidarity, carried out a survey on the homeless and digital uses, which still serves as a reference: 91% of the homeless people questioned have a mobile phone and 71% have a smartphone.

Most of the people surveyed by Solinum use the Internet almost every day, mainly for entertainment: to watch movies or listen to music (40%), use social networks (37%), or learn about the topicality (24%).

The JCE would also like, however, to set up one or more physical terminals, which would embed the application.

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  • Society

  • Montpellier

  • homeless

  • Application

  • Occitania

  • Languedoc Roussillon