Sustainable development and environmental conservation also involve the family

For over sixty years, Familles Rurales has been working in various fields to meet the needs of families, defend their interests, counsel the parents in their educational duties, and participate in the stimulation of rural areas. With its 2500 local associations, spread over 10,000 communes and its 18,000 member families, the association, recognized to be of community interest and approved as a consumers' association, was engaged nationwide in 2009 in the implementation of "Agenda 21 for Families".
This project involves developing a practical tool to initiate a dynamic of behavioral change among individuals in all areas of sustainable development.

Obtaining a maximum of family commitment and a significant increase in behavior favorable to sustainable development

The effectiveness of the tool and the methodology employed will be tested by before/after comparison, over a period of nine months, on fifty families spread among the districts of the Morbihan, Doubs, Aube, Indre and Pas-de-Calais. They will be monitored to observe the fulfillment of these commitments and the maintenance of the behavior patterns. The second phase, scheduled over two years, will see the dissemination of the project nationwide, with a secondary target of the participation of 2000 families.

The entertainingly presented tool will have a dual character: a recycled cardboard box symbolizing a house with drawers for 10 themes (water, energy, waste, transport, etc.), twinned with a relay internet site for updates, exchanges between users, and networking. The topics will be developed through simple, informative sheets, with awareness raising details, practical aspects, self evaluation criteria and engagement forms.
 
The Veolia Foundation has been asked to contribute to the production of the tool and to provide its skills, supplemented by the experts of the Ademe, Comité 21 and the ministries concerned.