Creation and national development of a solidarity GPS for people experiencing extreme hardship.

To tackle the social exclusion of the most vulnerable people, Solinum has since 2015 been working to develop digital services in partnership with social services. The association's aim is to identify, support and develop social innovation by designing innovative and strategic projects to respond to the problems of homeless people and those living in extremely precarious situations.

To this end, Solinum compiles the knowledge and experience of various actors: academics, economic sector representatives, entrepreneurs, association leaders, workers and social mediators...

Two projects

Solinum has two projects that help achieve its goals. The first, Merci pour l'invit', is a network of citizen accommodation which invites individuals to take in homeless women in order to help them reintegrate into society. Being tested in 2020, this scheme has already benefited 25 women with a total of more than 1,000 overnight stays.

The second program is a solidarity GPS developed since 2018: called Soliguide, it is based on the observation that although tens of thousands of associations and systems exist to help them, nearly half of the homeless do not have access to their rights. Where to eat? Sleep? Put their belongings? Do the necessary paperwork? How to access housing? These questions arise every day for the most destitute people and the answers are not always accessible. Soliguide seeks to address this problem by offering a helpful directory of places and resources for homeless.

The association has worked on making this directory accessible by designing an online site as well as providing interactive terminals in train stations. The approach is intended to be inclusive. In order to adapt to the diversity of situations, the website ergonomics have been developed with all stakeholders (direct beneficiaries, associations, local authorities, social workers, etc.).

Nationwide development for Soliguide

With the support of the Veolia Foundation, which presented it with the 2nd Prize in the Student Solidarity Awards 2018, Solinum was able to develop versions of Soliguide in Romanian and Kabyle. The aim is to enable as many people as possible to make this genuine social reintegration GPS their own.

In parallel, the association has strengthened its links with social actors throughout the territory beyond the Gironde, where it had started listing useful addresses. In 2019, more than 7,000 structures will be listed on Soliguide. That same year, more than 90,000 referrals were made possible thanks to this tool.

In the spring of 2020 and as the world has been traversing a health crisis with the Covid-19 pandemic, the Foundation renewed its support for Solinum to enable it to deploy the system nationwide, notably in partnership with the French Red Cross. The lockdown measures taken to combat the virus have jeopardized many of the services providing assistance to the homeless. Any tools, especially when they are digital and sustainable and can help to compensate for the shortfalls, are welcome.