Environment and Biodiversity
Place
France, Écourt-Saint-Quentin (62)
Sponsor
Paul Mousty
Grant(s)
32,000 € to the Selection Committee at 2004/11/30
Project leader
La vie active
« The values promoted by La Vie Active are those we defend in our work: respect for the environment and building trust. I feel that this is a very worthy project which meets a social need by offering assistance to young people living in difficult circumstances. »
Paul Mousty
For the past forty years, the La Vie Active association has been working in the Pas-de-Calais region to rehabilitate young people who are disabled or socially excluded. It operates sixty or so centres offering services, training or accommodation.
In order to help the young people who attend its establishments (around 2,500 in number), it is keen to develop an angling activity allowing them to learn how to achieve independence and assume responsibility towards themselves, nature and other users.
A 30-hectare plot
To this end, it is working on a project to redevelop the Eclusettes site belonging to the district of Ecourt-Saint-Quentin (20 km from Arras). The young people will learn how to respect the environment around the Ecourt-Paluel pond and in the surrounding woodland. An instructor from their partner, the Artois Scapre Association, will teach angling while La Vie Active facilitators will be responsible for general management and teaching theory (ecology, regulations, etc.).
However, to meet certain criteria for public establishments and ensure special access for those in wheelchairs or on crutches, La Vie Active must carry out work on the banks, refurbishment of classrooms, construction of appropriate toilet facilities, and installation of an autonomous waste water treatment system, etc.
The Veolia foundation has chosen to finance this redevelopment work so that these young people in difficult circumstances will be able to experience the thrill of reeling in a fish.