Translations

A "positive relocation" thanks to RELAIS FRANCE

7. Community involvement

Community development

Sector Services

Year 2012

Country France

Transmitter

Context

Social insertion through the workplace: A founding principle
Nominated for the 2006 Citizen Action Award in the category "Action to promote social innovation", the Relais is a network of companies that have been engaged in actions for nearly 30 years to favor the social insertion of marginalized population segments, via the creation of sustainable employment. Registered as a company for socioeconomic benefit, the Relais offers an alternative, solidarity-based corporate model placing the economy at the service of mankind.
This Relais, founded in Bruay-la-Buissière in the mid-1980's, has developed for its purposes the industrial sector of textile collection / reuse, where it has become France's leader, and in doing so invented an innovative corporate model from a social / employment perspective.

Objectives

Counter social exclusion through the creation of sustainable jobs for marginalized members of society
Expand local employment opportunities in France
Develop a viable industrial sector.

APPROACH

Requiring a labor-intensive operation with low-skilled workers, textile collection / reuse was quickly chosen by Relais as the preferred means for creating local employment opportunities in France. In just a few years, Relais developed a bona fide industrial sector, climbing to France's number 1 spot in the collection and reuse of textiles, household linens and shoes.

Thanks to its 28 local branches, the organization today operates throughout the French territory. As the only national operator to exercise control over the entire textile recycling chain, Relais puts its 15,000 containers to good use in accounting for 65% of France's textile collection, in managing 14 material sorting centers and finding reuse channels for 90% of collected textiles.

For Relais, misery plagues the Southern as well as Northern hemispheres:

In 2003, Relais set up a location in Burkina Faso, followed in 2006 in Senegal and 2008 in Madagascar; two motivations prompted this decision:
- The first was ethical: by sharing the same working tool, jobs can be created and resources generated in these partner countries;
- The second was economic: retaining a competitive edge in the export market.

By virtue of this "positive relocation", the African Relais operation was able to create more than 350 direct local jobs and 10 times as many in indirect employment. The revenue generated by this activity continues to be reinvested locally, thereby enabling many development projects that specifically address local needs (e.g. a beekeeping cooperative, the Spiruline Farm project, a training center for orphans in Burkina Faso; automobile manufacturing and a rice cooperative in Madagascar; vegetable farming in Senegal).

CONTRIBUTION TO COMPANY PERFORMANCE

In France, support for the collection and sorting activity (job cuts avoided and consolidation of the sector)
In Africa, creation of over 350 direct local jobs, plus 10 times that number in indirect employment.

Benefits

Personal adhesion to the project on the part of each employee, combined with a collective commitment
A "positive relocation" contributing to job creation both HERE and THERE.