A patron in solidarity with its region

TotalEnergies gathered its new partner associations to celebrate their initiatives to support young people in the area. 

Young people have been particularly hard hit by the current health crisis. It is important and essential to support the associations that give them the opportunity to take control of their own futures. This is why the TotalEnergies Foundation created a Call for Partners (AAP) in 2020. Composed of a central version for national-level structures and of a single local version in France, allocated to our region, it has catalyzed the emergence of innovative projects. Out of the 21 applications that met the set criteria, six were shortlisted to give a pitch presentation to a jury, and three were then selected. They have now signed a three-year patronage agreement with the TotalEnergies Foundation as part of its action in support of Youth Inclusion and Education.

The event, which took place on October 1 on the premises of the association AJIR, was an opportunity to find out more about these projects and to create synergies between players in the Béarn region: 

• Science Odyssée, a project to create and develop a third place for young people devoted to science at the heart of the Saragosse quarter, proposed by Lacq Odyssée, a scientific, technical, and industrial culture center. 
• A priori TV, Vous ne croirez pas ce qu’il se passe dans les quartiers, a local people’s media, produced by young people coached and trained by professionals, presented by the MJC Berlioz. 
• Take off, which offers an educational alternative to young people suffering from social and professional exclusion, through supervised work experience abroad, carried by Pistes Solidaires. 

“We are here today to celebrate the commitment of our new partners. Patronage is one of the means we have of contributing to the life of the region that welcomes us. It’s completed by measures such as sponsoring and volunteering skills, but also by the presence of more than 3,000 TotalEnergies employees and their families in the Béarn region.” declared Thierry Renard,  Head of the Pau Site and the TotalEnergies representative in South West France. He also added that “We are well aware that the company is a stakeholder and has a role to play in its ecosystem. As a responsible player, that's why we would like to be a factor of positive change. The call for partners enables us to reach out to the associative world to compile initiatives that are beneficial to young people as part of their education and professional integration. It is one of the main focuses of the international solidarity program of the TotalEnergies Foundation.”

The representatives of the three new partner associations – Saïd Hasnaouï for Lacq Odyssée, Jean-Michel Fragey for the MJC Berlioz and Mathieu Decq for Pistes Solidaires, took turns to express their views. They represent different models of support to socially vulnerable young people, and it is this diversity that makes us who we are. “We want to work hand in hand with complementary partners for whom the objective is to obtain support in their projects other than just funding,” explained Thierry Renard, also a member of the jury. “I'm really very happy to have the opportunity to meet and thank our three new partner associations as well as the members of the jury and all of you in general who work toward supporting our young people and creating a future for them,” he concluded. 

Rebonds! and AJIR who were selected in the first edition also took the floor to explain what this partnership had enabled them to do, the former as part of the deployment of its activities, the latter in the creation of a new program aimed at young migrants. 

The event took place on the premises of AJIR, hosted by its Director Yves Poingt and its President Youssef Mekhalfi. The team of L’Atelier, the training restaurant of the Planterose vocational school, and its CAP students, were in charge of preparing and serving at the cocktail party at the end of the morning, in compliance with the applicable health rules.