This year, 124 student associations submitted their applications (98 applied in 2017). 25% were internationally based (United Kingdom, Senegal, Gabon, Cameroon, Benin, Hungary, Russia, etc.), which is 5 times more than last year. The top 10 projects were presented before two panels made up of representatives from higher education, associations and Veolia.
The 4 winners of the 2018 edition
The 1st Prize went to the "Campus Market" association at HEI Lille (France). This association recovers furniture from students leaving one of the two campuses in Lille. The furniture is collected using three-wheeled trolley-bikes and then renovated in the heart of campuses. It is then sold to new students at very attractive prices. The association donates 10% of revenue to Planteurs volontaires. Thanks to the Student Solidarity Awards, Campus Market will receive a grant that will be used to both purchase a second trolley-bike and rent marquees for furniture sales.
The 2nd Prize went to the Soliguide project initiated by a student at ECE Paris. Designed by the Solinum association, Soliguide is a "solidarity GPS" for people with difficulties (homeless people, refugees, students and workers in precarious occupations, etc.). Soliguide maps the places and the associated resources (for eating, resting, leaving luggage, washing, undertaking administrative procedures, receiving support). It facilitates access to this information through digital tools and interactive terminals located in strategic places such as railway stations and day centers. The Student Solidarity Award grant received by the association will fund the translation of the database into Romanian and Kabyle.
The 3rd Prize goes to the project run by the association "Tarisznya Taborok (Knapsack Camps)" at Central European University (Hungary). The association’s volunteers organize summer camps (academic support, manual and sports activities, etc.) for children aged 10 to 14 from the most disadvantaged regions of Hungary. The objective is to improve both their academic and social skills. The Student Solidarity Award will make it possible to buy a computer, equipment for the summer camps, and will also pay catering costs.
The Public’s Award* recognizes "TR Monde" the student association Ecole Nationale du Génie de l’Eau et de l’Environnement de Strasbourg (ENGEES). The humanitarian association TR-Monde, in conjunction with the association Médecins d'Afrique, is renovating a gravity water system** which supplies 8,700 inhabitants with drinking water in the district of Kombé, south of Brazzaville in Congo. The project includes ensuring public awareness of good drinking water consumption practices and structural maintenance. At the end of the project, a water operative and a local water management committee will be appointed. The Student Solidarity Award will be used to purchase materials.
Student Solidarity Award selection criteria
Each project, supported by a Veolia employee sponsor, must fulfil a number of criteria:
- The quality of the application: clarity, proposed methodology, overall intelligibility
- Professionalism: understanding of the local context, involvement of the public authorities concerned
- Project feasibility: technical and financial, partners and institutional set up
- The project impact: economic, social and / or environmental
- The synergies sought by the association: co-financing and external support
- The nature of the aid being requested
- Sustainability: involvement of local resources to sustain the project.
---
*The Public’s Award is based on the votes of the general public on social networks (LinkedIn and Facebook).
**Water tower.